Introduction
What Is the Layaway App?
The Layaway app lets you set aside products for customers who want to pay later or over time. When a customer picks out items, you can create a layaway that:
- Reserves the inventory so the items are held for the customer until a fixed deadline.
- Captures a deposit right away if the customer wants to put money down to pay in multiple deposits until the layaway expiration.
- Tracks payments as the customer pays over time — in-store at POS or in full via invoice
- Tracks the timeline with an expiration date you choose
- Sends notifications before a layaway expires so nothing slips through the cracks
The Layaway app is primarily a Shopify POS application. Creating layaways, collecting payments, and managing day-to-day operations all happen on the POS device. The web admin dashboard complements POS by providing store-wide visibility, reporting, and settings — but the core workflow lives at the register.
Think of it as a digital layaway system built right into your Shopify POS — customers can reserve items for later, or put a deposit down and pay over multiple visits.
Key Concepts
Concept | What It Means |
|---|---|
Layaway | A record that ties together a customer, a set of items, and a time window for them to pay |
Reservation | When you create a layaway, the app moves inventory from "available" to "reserved" at your location so those items cannot be accidentally sold |
Deposit | An optional upfront partial payment captured at the time of layaway creation. This creates a Shopify order immediately. |
Expiration | Every layaway has a deadline. If the customer does not fully pay by then, the layaway expires |
Order Linking | When a deposit is captured or the customer pays at POS, the resulting Shopify order is automatically connected to the layaway |
Status | Each layaway moves through a lifecycle -- from Reserved, to In Progress, to Completed (or Expired, Canceled, Restocked) |
How It Fits Into Shopify POS
The app adds tiles to your POS home screen. Your staff uses these to:
- Create a new layaway from the current POS cart — with two options:
- Reserve Items -- reserve items with no payment (customer pays later)
- Collect Deposit -- create the layaway and proceed to checkout to collect a deposit
- Update an existing layaway (change items, dates, or notes)
- Browse a customer's existing layaways
Everything else -- tracking payments, fulfillment, expiration, and notifications -- happens automatically in the background through Shopify's order and inventory systems.
You can browse and manage layaways from two places:
- On POS: The Layaway Orders tile on the POS home screen lets you browse layaways at your current location and load them into the cart (to edit or pay).
- On the web: The admin dashboard (accessible from the Shopify admin) gives you a full view of all layaways across all locations, with stats, filtering, settings, and anything that needs attention.
Before You Start
- Install the app from the Shopify App Store.
- Configure your settings -- at minimum, set your default expiration period and notification preferences. See Settings.
- Make sure the POS tile is visible on your POS home screen. The app adds it automatically during installation.
- Train your staff on the basic flows: create a layaway (with or without a deposit), customer makes payments over time at POS, and complete the sale when fully paid.
Updated on: 20/07/2026
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