A Shopify form can open a draft order when the buyer cannot check out at a fixed price. In SK Form Builder, a submission can create that draft order from product fields through Shopify’s Admin API. The same app can email a Shopify discount code instead. Neither action charges a card inside the form.
Staff still price custom work on the draft order. The form collects the request. It does not negotiate, and it does not apply NET terms. Those jobs sit in Request a Quote and Hide Price, which can turn an accepted quote into a draft order with tax, shipping, and NET 7, 15, 30, 60, or 90. Use the form when you need a structured request. Use the quote app when the buyer must counter a price.
When a draft order is the right record
Use a draft order when the product exists in Shopify but the price, the options, or the artwork are not ready for a normal cart. Engraving, a print file, a wholesale first order, and a bundle staff will assemble by hand all fit.
Do not use a draft order when the product already has a price and the buyer should pay now. Send them to checkout. Do not use it when you need a hidden retail price and a back-and-forth quote. The form will not hide prices on the product page.
- The buyer picks a product you have allowed on the form.
- The buyer adds quantity and a note, and optionally a file.
- The app creates a draft order. Staff open it, set the price, and send Shopify’s invoice when they are ready.
The catalog describes the create call as a real Admin API request from product-type fields. It does not say every text field on the form becomes a line item. Build the form with the product selection field, not with a free-text product name, if you expect a real draft order.
Product selection and quantity
Product selection uses Shopify’s admin resource picker when you configure the field. You choose which products the shopper may request. The quantity stepper is a separate component. Put both on the form if the draft order should carry a quantity.
- Product selection: a Shopify product, chosen from the products you attached to the field.
- Quantity stepper: a number of units, so staff are not guessing from a sentence.
- Textarea: finish, date needed, or other instructions that are not a Shopify variant.
- File upload: artwork or a reference image, checked against an extension allowlist. No megabyte cap is published. Test one file you would actually accept.
Country and state fields can collect a ship-to address on the form. The draft-order action is documented only from product-type fields. The catalog does not say street, city, country, or state is copied onto the Shopify draft order. Do not promise a complete ship-to from this form. A production store was not used to test that copy, and this theme repo does not contain the form app’s source.
A discount-code email is a different action. The app can generate a real Shopify discount code and email it. That is not a draft order. Do not turn both on and then describe them as one feature. Decide which result the team expects.
What staff still do by hand
Staff confirm the product, type or adjust the price, add shipping if the form did not settle it, and send the invoice from Shopify. The form’s merchant email uses reply-to set to the customer, so a reply goes to the buyer. That email is a notification. It is not the draft-order invoice.
If the submission includes an email, it also becomes a support ticket with an SLA due date. Useful for tracking the request. Not a substitute for the draft order screen.
Customer matching can look up or create a Shopify customer, apply tags, and write metafields. Turn that on if the draft order should sit on a known customer. Leave it off if you do not want a new customer for every casual enquiry.
There is no Stripe field and no in-form card charge. If someone on the team expects the form to take payment, stop and use checkout or a draft-order invoice after the price is set.
How this differs from a quote
A quote app is for hiding a price, collecting a request, and negotiating. The quote catalog includes a portal where the buyer can counter, and where staff can accept, decline, or counter. Accepting a counter updates the quote total. The quote can then become a draft order with deposits and NET terms.
The form’s draft order skips that negotiation. It is the right tool when your price list is internal and staff will set one number. It is the wrong tool when the buyer must propose a price on a portal without creating an account. The quote app’s portal token does that. The form does not describe a token portal.
You can use both products. The application or custom-order form creates the first draft when the job is simple. The quote app handles the orders that need a counteroffer. Do not merge the instructions into one email. Buyers should know which link they are opening.
What to test on the first request
Submit one form from the storefront with a product you attached to the field. Open the new draft order in Shopify admin the same day.
Check the variant, the quantity, and the customer email. Check whether the note and the file are on the submission in SK Form Builder even if they are not line items. Check that no payment was captured. Then have a second person price the draft and send the invoice to a mailbox you control.
Plan prices for the form app are Starter at no charge, Basic at $4.99 a month or $49.90 a year, and Pro at $12.99 a month or $129.90 a year. The catalog does not say the draft-order action starts at a particular tier. Confirm that in the app before you publish the form.
Questions about form draft orders
Does the form charge the customer?
No. The catalog has no in-form card payment. Staff send a Shopify invoice from the draft order after they set the price, or they email a discount code if that was the action you enabled.
Which plan includes the product field?
Product selection is in the field list. The catalog does not assign it to Starter, Basic, or Pro.
Can the buyer negotiate on this form?
Not as a quote portal. They can type a note. Counters, NET terms, and price hiding are the quote app, not this draft-order action.
Create the request form in SK Form Builder when staff will price a draft order. Install SK Form Builder after a test draft looks right in your admin.