Credit Limit Glossary: Pending, Owed, Available and More
This credit limit glossary for Net Terms explains each word you see in Credit limit, in alphabetical order. Every entry gives one definition, where you see the term and a short example. For the full picture, start with the Credit limit overview.
All amounts are in your store currency. Numbers marked Example are made up to show the arithmetic.
Credit limit terms from A to Z
Section titled “Credit limit terms from A to Z”Adjustment
Section titled “Adjustment”An adjustment is a change you make by hand to what a customer owes, for example a credit note, a late fee, or an order you created directly in Shopify (Credit limit does not count those, company orders with payment terms excepted). You choose Add to balance or Subtract from balance, enter an amount and a note of 3 to 500 characters. It changes Owed, and it cannot bring Owed below 0. Where you see it: Manual adjustments on the customer page, and in History. Example: a customer owes $200 and you add a $50 late fee. Owed becomes $250.
Available
Section titled “Available”Available is the room a customer has left under the limit: limit minus Pending drafts minus Owed. It can be negative. Where you see it: the Available column in Customer balances and the Balance card on the customer page. Example: $5,000 - $3,200 - $900 = $900 available.
Block Pay later
Section titled “Block Pay later”Block Pay later is a mode of a credit rule. When an order is over the limit, Pay later is not available for that order. The buyer can still pay now at checkout. Where you see it: When an order goes over the limit on the rule form. Example: a customer has $900 available and tries a $1,000 order. Pay later stops for that order.
Check at Shopify checkout
Section titled “Check at Shopify checkout”Check at Shopify checkout is an optional switch that also checks company and location limits at Shopify checkout. It uses only company and location rules set to Block Pay later, only for locations that have payment terms in Shopify. It needs one extra Shopify permission. Where you see it: the Check at Shopify checkout card in the Credit limit settings. Details: Check at Shopify checkout.
Company cap
Section titled “Company cap”A company cap is the limit of a company rule. It is one shared ceiling over the Owed of all the company’s locations, and it applies to every buyer of the company. Where you see it: Company balances. Example: Acme has a cap of $10,000. East owes $5,000 and West owes $3,000, so the company owes $8,000 and has $2,000 available. West has its own $3,000 available ($6,000 - $3,000), yet a $2,500 West order is over the company cap.
Credit alerts
Section titled “Credit alerts”Credit alerts are emails to a buyer when their Owed reaches 70%, 90% or 100% of their limit. Each level is an option and is off until you turn it on. A level sends one email each time the balance goes up past it, and opens again after Owed drops below it. At 100%, only buyers whose rule is Block Pay later are told that new Pay later orders won’t go through. Alerts count Owed only, not Pending drafts, and buyer emails say Used. Where you see it: the Credit emails card, under Email buyers when their balance reaches. Example: limit $1,000. When Owed goes past $700, the 70% email goes out once. Details: credit emails and statements.
Credit rule
Section titled “Credit rule”A credit rule sets a limit and a mode for a customer, a customer tag, a company, a company location or all logged-in customers. Where you see it: Credit rules on the Credit limit tab. Example: a rule for the tag Gold with a limit of $5,000 and the mode Warn only. How to create one: credit rules.
Credit status tags
Section titled “Credit status tags”Credit status tags are Shopify customer tags that BSS B2B Solution adds to customers by credit status, so you can use them in Shopify Flow, segments or other apps. The default names are bss-credit-hold (Pay later is on hold), bss-credit-over (owes more than the limit) and bss-credit-near (has used 90% or more). A customer has one of them at a time: hold first, then over, then near. The tag is removed when the status ends, and tags usually update within a minute when you change a customer’s credit in the app and about every hour after orders and payments. Only tags added by BSS B2B Solution are changed. Where you see it: the Tag customers by credit status switch (off by default) in the Credit limit settings, where you can rename the three tags. Example: a customer at 92% of the limit gets bss-credit-near. If you then place them on hold, the tag becomes bss-credit-hold.
Customer balances
Section titled “Customer balances”Customer balances is the table of customers that an active credit rule covers. Each row shows Status, Limit, Pending drafts, Owed and Available. Where you see it: the Customers view of the Credit limit tab. Example: a customer with a limit of $500 and $215 owed shows $285 available. How to read it: customer balances.
Fail open
Section titled “Fail open”Fail open means an order is never stopped because Credit limit has a problem. If it cannot read a limit, or hits an internal error, the order goes through. Where you see it: nowhere on screen. Example: a limit cannot be read at the moment of checkout, so the Pay later order is placed as normal.
History
Section titled “History”History lists every change to a customer’s balance, limit and holds, newest first, with who made it and when (UTC). Where you see it: the History card on the customer page. Example: a row reads “Balance adjusted”, with the amount before and after, the person and the note.
A hold blocks Pay later for a customer for every order, in every mode and even when no rule applies, until you click Remove hold. Orders and drafts already placed stay as they are. Where you see it: the Pay later card on the customer page (Place on hold, Remove hold). Example: a customer has $4,000 available and is on hold. The buyer sees “Pay later isn’t available” and is asked to check out with a card or contact you.
The limit is the most a customer, company or location can owe, counting Pending drafts and Owed. It is greater than 0, in the store currency. Where you see it: Limit per customer, Limit per company or Limit per location on the rule form. Example: $5,000.
Location limit
Section titled “Location limit”A location limit is the own limit of one company location. The location’s Owed also counts toward its company’s cap. Where you see it: a Specific company locations rule, and Company balances. Example: East has a limit of $6,000 and owes $5,000, so East has $1,000 available.
Opening balance
Section titled “Opening balance”An opening balance is money a customer owed before you started Credit limit, such as invoices outside Shopify or Net Terms orders older than 60 days. You enter Amount owed (0 or more) and Owed as of. Orders from that date on are counted from Shopify, so nothing is added twice. Where you see it: Opening balance on the customer page (Edit). Example: a customer owed $300 on old invoices. You enter $300 and Owed starts at $300.
Over limit
Section titled “Over limit”A customer is Over limit when Available is below 0. An order is over the limit when its total is more than Available; an order that equals Available exactly goes through. Where you see it: the Over limit status and filter in Customer balances. Example: limit $5,000, owed $4,800, pending $400. Available is -$200, so the customer is Over limit.
Overdue
Section titled “Overdue”An order is overdue when it is more than the chosen number of full days past its due date. Orders due on receipt or on fulfillment have no due date at checkout and never count. With Block Pay later when a customer has an overdue order on, Pay later is blocked for every Net Terms customer who has one, with or without a rule. Where you see it: the Overdue orders card in the settings. The Overdue status and the Overdue counter in Totals appear only while the Overdue orders setting is on. Example: with Days past the due date set to 7, an order due on October 1 counts as overdue after October 8.
Owed is the amount a customer owes: unpaid orders plus the opening balance plus manual adjustments. It is never below 0. Buyers see the same amount as Used. Where you see it: the Owed column in Customer balances. Example: $2,800 in unpaid orders + $300 opening balance + $100 adjustment = $3,200 owed.
Pay later
Section titled “Pay later”Pay later is the Net Terms button that lets a buyer place an order without paying now. The order is created as a draft for you to review. Where you see it: at your checkout, for Net Terms customers. Example: a buyer picks Pay later on a $285 order and a draft order appears in Shopify.
Pending drafts
Section titled “Pending drafts”Pending drafts, also called Pending, is the amount of Pay later draft orders waiting for you. It counts toward the limit until you create the order, delete the draft or the reservation ends. Where you see it: the Pending drafts column in Customer balances. Example: a $285 draft is pending. After you click Create order, the $285 moves to Owed.
Recalculate
Section titled “Recalculate”Recalculate reads all tracked orders from Shopify again and updates every balance now. One recalculation runs at a time for each store. It can take a few minutes, and you can leave the page. Without it, the same refresh runs every day at 01:40 UTC. Where you see it: the Recalculate button on Customer balances. Example: you add Credit limit again after it was off. Click Recalculate to bring balances up to date.
Reservation
Section titled “Reservation”A reservation is the amount held for a Pay later draft, shown as Pending drafts. It ends when you create the order, when the draft is deleted in Shopify, or after 30 days. Where you see it: as Pending drafts. Example: a draft you never open still holds $285 for up to 30 days.
Statement
Section titled “Statement”A statement is an email to one customer that lists their unpaid orders and what is left to pay. It has no payment link. You can send one per customer every 60 seconds, and up to 200 per store in any rolling 24 hours. Where you see it: Send statement on the customer page and in Customer balances. Example: a customer has 3 unpaid orders and $3,200 owed. The email lists the 3 orders and $3,200.
Status values
Section titled “Status values”Status tells you where a customer stands against the limit. Where you see it: the Status column in Customer balances.
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Within limit | The customer has a limit and is under 90% of it. |
| 90% used | Pending drafts plus Owed is at least 90% of the limit and Available is not below 0. |
| Over limit | Available is below 0. |
| On hold | You placed the customer on hold. |
| Overdue | The customer has an overdue order. Shown only while the Overdue orders setting is on. |
The 90% status counts Pending drafts and Owed. The 90% buyer alert email counts Owed only. A customer can show 90% used before the email goes out. Example: limit $1,000, owed $800, pending $100. The status is 90% used. The alert email waits until Owed reaches $900.
Temporary limit
Section titled “Temporary limit”A temporary limit raises one customer’s limit for their next Pay later order, or for every order until an end date up to 90 days away. It must be higher than the usual limit and never lowers it. It ends at 11:59 PM UTC on the end date. A hold and an overdue block still apply. It is not applied at Shopify checkout. Where you see it: the Temporary limit card on the customer page. Example: usual limit $5,000, temporary limit $7,000, owed $4,800. Available goes from $200 to $2,200. Steps: the customer page.
Used is the word buyers see for the amount you see as Owed. Where you see it: in the Pay later window when you turn on Show buyers their remaining credit, and in buyer alert emails. Example: Owed $3,200 appears to the buyer as Used $3,200.
Warn only
Section titled “Warn only”Warn only is a mode of a credit rule. An order over the limit still goes through, and the customer is marked Over limit in Customer balances. New rules start in this mode. The buyer sees nothing about the limit. Where you see it: When an order goes over the limit on the rule form. Example: a customer has $900 available and places a $1,000 order. It is accepted and the row shows Over limit.
How do the words match across the admin, the buyer view and the API?
Section titled “How do the words match across the admin, the buyer view and the API?”The same figure has three names. This table maps the name you see in the admin, the name a buyer sees and the field in the Public API for Credit limit.
| Seen by the merchant | Seen by the buyer | Public API field |
|---|---|---|
| Owed | Used | owed |
| Pending drafts | Reserved | pending |
| Available | Available | available |
| Limit | Credit limit | limit |
| Status | Not shown | status |
The status field takes one of five values.
| API value | What the merchant sees |
|---|---|
on_hold |
On hold |
over_limit |
Over limit |
near_limit |
90% used |
no_limit |
No credit rule applies |
ok |
Within limit |
The overdue block, buyer view, tags and emails are all settings that change what these terms show.