Can Checkout Links replace draft orders completely?

For most use cases — repeat orders, sales-rep deals, sample sends, account-specific promotions — yes. Draft orders still win for true one-off custom invoicing (bespoke line items, partial payments, manual processing flows). Most teams keep draft orders for the bespoke 20% and switch the rest.

What's wrong with draft orders?

Three things. (1) They're one-off — every repeat order is a new draft. (2) The customer-facing draft-order UI is functional but not designed for marketing — it feels like an invoice form. (3) No analytics layer — you can't tell which draft drove which revenue or which channel.

Can I set custom prices like I can in a draft order?

Yes — via Shopify Functions (which Checkout Links bundles, no developer work needed). Cart-line and delivery discounts apply automatically when the link opens; the customer never sees a discount code field.

Does Checkout Links work for invoicing flows?

If 'invoicing' means 'send a customer a URL and let them pay through Shopify checkout,' yes. If 'invoicing' means 'generate a paper-trail PDF invoice with bespoke line items and accept payment outside Shopify,' draft orders are still the better tool.

Can I let the customer modify the cart at checkout?

Yes. Like any Shopify checkout, the customer can adjust quantities at checkout. The discount and base pricing are baked in by the Checkout Link, but the customer retains the usual checkout flexibility.

Checkout Links for Shopify Draft Orders

Shopify draft orders are how merchants handle the "send a customer a custom pre-built cart they can pay for" workflow. Sales rep negotiates a deal → builds a draft → emails the customer the draft-order link → customer clicks → pays.

It works. But every step of that flow is built for staff convenience, not customer experience. Checkout Links replaces the customer-facing half with a single URL that does the same job better.

What changes

	Shopify draft orders	Checkout Links
Reusable	No — one-off per order	Yes — same URL, edit behind it
Customer-facing UI	Draft-order invoice page (functional)	Standard Shopify checkout (branded, marketing-grade)
Discount	Set in admin, customer sees discounted total	Set in admin, customer sees discounted total — no code field appears
Analytics	None per-draft	Per-link clicks, checkouts, revenue
Attribution	Manual reconciliation	Per-link UTM, per-source automatic
Sales-rep workflow	Build draft → send link	Build link once → reuse
Repeat orders	New draft each time	One link covers ongoing reorders
Pricing	Free (built into Shopify)	$25/month

When to use a Checkout Link instead of a draft order

Repeat orders. Standing-order wholesale, recurring B2B refills, predictable sample reorders. Build once, reuse forever.
Sales-rep deal handoffs. Rep negotiates, drops the link, customer pays. No draft-order portal friction.
Sample / first-order outreach. Per-prospect link with a one-time discount baked in.
Account-specific promotions. Wholesale accounts each get a personalised link with their tier pricing.
Campaign-style B2B. Quarterly restock campaigns, end-of-season clearance for wholesale.

When draft orders are still the right tool

Bespoke invoicing. Truly one-off orders with custom line items negotiated per-deal.
Manual order processing. When the order won't be paid through Shopify checkout (payment outside the platform, deferred billing).
Paper-trail compliance. Some B2B and government accounts require a formal draft-order invoice as part of their procurement.

For everything else, Checkout Links is a strict upgrade.

The B2B angle

Draft orders are the legacy wholesale workflow on Shopify. With B2B-for-all available on Basic / Grow / Advanced in 2026, a lot of merchants are realising they can run wholesale through standard checkout — and Checkout Links is the link layer that makes it usable.

See Checkout Links for wholesale and the B2B & wholesale playbook for the full picture.

Set it up

Install Checkout Links — 7-day free trial. Build a link in two clicks: pick products, optional discount, copy URL. Drop it into the email you'd otherwise send a draft-order link in.

Implementation walkthrough: How to replace Shopify draft orders with checkout links.