What happens to a Shopify order when the customer never pays the Multibanco or OXXO voucher?

When does Shopify cancel an unpaid Multibanco order?

After 7 days. A customer has 7 days to complete payment from the date they make an order, and Shopify states the outcome plainly: "If the payment is not complete after 7 days, then their order is canceled."

Until then the order shows Payment pending in your admin, and the status switches to Paid when the customer completes the payment. To reverse a paid Multibanco order, you refund it — how Multibanco and OXXO refunds work.

Multibanco is available only to merchants in Portugal, for customers there paying in euros, and only when Shopify Payments is active and not in test mode.

When does Shopify cancel an unpaid OXXO order?

Up to 3 business days after the barcode expires, and only when OXXO is the only payment on the order. The OXXO barcode is valid for 5 days after the order is placed, and once the 5-day barcode expires the payment doesn't fail immediately.

Those 3 business days follow the Mexican calendar, so weekends and public holidays in Mexico aren't counted. Because confirmation can take that long, a customer who paid close to the expiry date might still receive the expiry email (see what a customer sees while an order is pending).

What happens to the stock on an unpaid order?

It stays reserved while the order waits. When a customer pays with a method other than a credit card, Shopify's order status page says the order is created and inventory is reserved for it, but payment isn't guaranteed. For OXXO, Shopify spells out the release as well:

The Multibanco page doesn't say what happens to the stock when a Multibanco order is canceled, and neither do the OXXO or local payment methods pages — see the box below. After a Multibanco deadline passes, check the product's inventory rather than assume it came back.

The partly paid OXXO order keeps its inventory reserved until you act. When you cancel it yourself, Restock inventory is selected by default, which returns the canceled items to your inventory.

Should you ship or cancel while the payment is pending?

On Multibanco, shipping early is your call; on OXXO, Shopify tells you to wait. The Multibanco page lets you decide whether to fulfill before you have received the funds, but notes the payment details can expire before the customer pays, so you might want to wait for payment confirmation.

The OXXO page is firmer. Payment confirmation can take up to 3 business days after the customer pays at an OXXO store, and Shopify's instruction is to wait until the payment is confirmed before you fulfill the order.

Once the status is Paid, one risk is off the table: Shopify states that a chargeback can't be filed for an order paid with Multibanco, or with OXXO. Cancelling too early is the opposite mistake, and for OXXO Shopify warns against it:

Confirmation might still arrive if the customer paid before the cutoff, so wait for Paid or for the automatic cancellation.

Watch the pending orders yourself: the Multibanco, OXXO and Pending payments pages describe no notice to you at the moment an unpaid order is canceled — the emails they describe go to your customer.

Do other Shopify local payment methods work the same way?

Not as one group: Shopify's index puts OXXO alone in cash and voucher, and Multibanco with bank transfers. Those methods let customers place an order online and complete payment later using a barcode or reference number. Multibanco sits in the other group, bank transfer and direct debit, beside Bancontact, iDEAL | Wero, EPS, Przelewy24 and ACH Direct Debit — methods that let customers pay directly from their bank account at checkout.

Shopify's general Pending payments page lists five actions that might be blocked and says an expiry date is typically a week, but it is written for additional providers and never names Shopify Payments, Multibanco or OXXO. The pages for these two methods are exact: Multibanco gives 7 days, and OXXO's 5-day barcode plus up to 3 business days can run past a week.