Creating a Layaway

This guide walks you through creating a new layaway from Shopify POS.

Before You Begin

Make sure you have:

• A customer selected (or ready to attach) in the POS cart
• The items the customer wants added to the cart

Step-by-Step

1. Build the Cart

Add the products the customer wants to set aside to your POS cart, just like you would for a normal sale.

[Image placeholder] POS cart with items added

2. Attach a Customer

If you have not already, attach a customer to the cart. The layaway needs to be linked to a customer record.

[Image placeholder] POS cart with customer attached

3. Tap the Layaway Tile

On the POS home screen, tap the Create Layaway tile.

[Image placeholder] POS home screen with Create Layaway tile highlighted

4. Review the Confirmation Screen

You will see a summary showing:

• The attached customer
• The items in the cart
• A total summary

Review everything to make sure it looks correct.

[Image placeholder] Layaway confirmation screen showing customer, items, and summary

5. Review the Summary

On the summary screen, you can:

• Set an expiration date -- this is the deadline for the customer to pay in full. The default is based on your app settings (see Settings), but you can change it here.

[Image placeholder] Layaway summary screen with expiration date picker

Tip: If you want to add notes to the layaway, add them to the Shopify cart notes before creating the layaway. The layaway will preserve the cart note.

6. Choose How to Create

You have two options:

Option A: "Reserve Items"

Tap Reserve Items to reserve the items without collecting any payment.

• The layaway is created with a Reserved status
• Inventory is reserved at your current POS location (items move from "available" to "reserved")
• No Shopify order is created yet
• The customer will come back later to start paying

Option B: "Collect Deposit"

Tap Collect Deposit to create the layaway and proceed to checkout to collect a deposit or payment.

• The POS payment screen opens so you can collect a partial payment (deposit)
• Use split payment to capture just the deposit amount, then tap "Mark as partially paid"
• A Shopify order is created and linked to the layaway immediately
• The layaway starts in In Progress status (since an order is already linked)
• The customer can make follow-up payments later

[Image placeholder] Create options screen showing "Reserve Items" and "Collect Deposit" buttons

What Happens Next?

• The layaway appears in the Layaway Orders tile on POS (for your current location) and in the admin dashboard on the web
• If notifications are enabled, the customer and/or manager will be notified before the layaway expires (see Expiration & Notifications)
• When the customer returns to make payments, see Completing a Layaway

Tips

• Double-check the customer before creating -- you can change the customer later by loading the layaway via "Edit in Cart" and updating the cart customer, but it is easier to get it right the first time.
• Set a realistic expiration date -- too short and customers may not have time to come back; too long and you are holding inventory unnecessarily.
• Use cart notes in the Shopify POS cart to record anything the customer mentioned (e.g., "Will return on Friday" or "Wants gift wrapping"). The layaway will preserve the cart note and display it in the summary.