Custom orders — mock-ups & approval

How made-to-order orders work: the buyer's card is held, you send a mock-up (optionally with a revised price), the buyer approves or asks for changes, then you capture payment.

Made-to-order items go through a short back-and-forth before any money moves. The buyer's card is authorised (held), not charged when they order — then you send a mock-up for them to approve.

Where to find them

Open Manage → Orders → Custom orders (the chip above the order table). Each custom order shows a Custom badge. Open an order to see the buyer's uploaded photos, their configuration and the full proposal history.

The approval loop

Buyer uploads their photo or description at checkout. Photos are private — only you and the buyer can see them.
You send a mock-up: write a message, attach one or more images, and optionally set a new total if the job costs more (or less) than the buyer paid for. Tick Charge automatically when they approve if you want the payment taken as soon as they say yes.
The buyer approves or requests changes from their order page. Changes come back with their note, and you can send another mock-up.
Payment: once the latest mock-up is approved you can click Approve & charge on the order (or it charges automatically if you chose that on the proposal). The hold lasts about 7 days, so keep the loop moving. For a cash-on-collection order there's no card: record the cash at handover instead — see Cash on collection.

Every round is versioned — the buyer's page and yours both keep the whole history, so nobody loses track of what was agreed.

Revised prices

A proposal can carry a new order total (e.g. a bigger print). When the buyer approves, the held payment is updated to the quoted amount before capture. This only works on orders with one one-off custom item and no voucher discount; for anything else, keep the original total and arrange the difference directly.

Buyer photos

Image-upload options accept JPG/PNG/WebP/HEIC up to 15 MB each. The buyer's uploads appear on the order page (and yours) — open one to view it full size. They are stored privately and are never public.

If the buyer goes quiet

The card hold expires after roughly 7 days. You can use Message on the order to nudge them, Decline to release the hold, or wait for Stripe to expire it.