The cash flow of a custom furniture order, week by week

Week 13. The container clears Long Beach, the broker sends a $750 duty bill, and the customer’s $3,000 balance is not due until delivery in week 15. You took a 50% deposit. The order still needs $1,125 before the sofa gets home.

That is the cash problem hidden inside an otherwise profitable sale. Draw the timeline before committing to the purchase: customer money in, vendor and arrival costs out, then the remaining customer payment. The deposit percentage matters because of those dates, rather than because half sounds like a comfortable amount.

Start with the commitments, not the bank balance

An order cash plan tracks what the store must pay and when it expects to collect the money that funds it. Begin with the accepted selling price, customer payment schedule, vendor terms, estimated arrival costs, and delivery arrangement.

The bank balance alone cannot identify which orders it needs to finish. Several customer deposits can arrive together, making the account look healthy just before a group of factory balances falls due. Read the bank position alongside those commitments.

Keep expected receipts distinct from received money. A payment request is not a deposit in the bank. Likewise, a customer saying they will pay before delivery is not yet a cleared payment. Put the expected date in the forecast, then replace it with the actual receipt when the event happens.

The owner’s dashboard guide places this cash view beside written orders and delivered margin. Here, we will stay with one sofa long enough to see where its funding changes.

Write down the assumptions for the imported sofa

The opening scenario is a worked example, not a current shipping quote or a statement of duty law. It uses a $6,000 sale, a $3,000 factory price, a $750 duty charge, and $375 for allocated freight, drayage, and brokerage. Sales tax, payment fees, customer delivery expense, and store overhead are excluded so the order-funding arithmetic remains visible.

The customer pays $3,000 at ordering and $3,000 at delivery. The factory takes 30% of its price, or $900, to begin, with the other $2,100 due against shipping documents. Production and transit dates below are assumed for the example.

A manufacturer’s own published payment terms illustrate a real 30/70 structure: a minimum 30% production deposit, with the balance due after shipment against copies of shipping documents. Those are that vendor’s terms, not a rule for every factory. Your forecast needs the terms on your actual purchase.

Keep the event description precise. “Balance before arrival” does not tell the bookkeeper whether payment is required before shipment, against document copies, or after the goods reach the warehouse. The distinction can move the funding need by several weeks.

Week 0: the customer deposit starts two obligations

The customer’s $3,000 arrives before the factory’s $900 deposit goes out. The order then has $2,100 of cumulative cash left to support later payments.

That amount is still attached to an unfinished sale. It is not the margin the store has earned. The factory balance, import costs, and final delivery remain ahead. If the store uses the money elsewhere, the cash plan needs to show how it will replace it when those commitments fall due.

Record the customer payment against the correct order, with the payment date and method. Record the factory deposit against the linked PO. Customer money and vendor money should be traceable to each other through the sale and purchase, while remaining distinct transactions.

For a multi-vendor order, repeat the calculation for each purchase. A sofa and dining table on one customer order may need payments at different times. The combined customer deposit can look sufficient while one vendor’s early prepayment creates a shortfall.

Week 9: the factory balance uses the remaining cash

The $2,100 factory balance brings cumulative order cash to zero. The furniture has shipped, but the customer has not received it and the arrival costs have not been paid.

Read the vendor’s documents against the PO before releasing payment under the agreed process. The cash plan should use the actual payment trigger and amount, while purchasing verifies the specification and quantities. A financial schedule cannot establish whether the maker has shipped the right leg finish.

If shipment moves, update the forecast immediately. A later shipment can delay both the factory payment and the customer’s balance, but not necessarily by the same interval. Other expenses may remain due on their original dates.

The vendor payment-terms guide compares prepayment, document-based balances, and net terms. That conversation is most useful before the next PO is placed, when the store can still plan around the agreed schedule.

Weeks 13–15: arrival creates the low point

The $750 duty payment takes cumulative order cash to negative $750. Paying the $375 allocated arrival costs takes it to negative $1,125. The store must fund that amount until the customer’s final payment arrives.

The lowest point is the useful funding measure. The ending balance does not tell you whether the store could get through the preceding weeks.

Keep freight estimates visible until the actual bills arrive. If an estimate changes, change both the landed-cost expectation and the cash forecast. The freight-budgeting guide explains how to plan for that uncertainty without treating a past container rate as the next shipment’s quote.

Allow for a delay at receiving too. A damaged carton, incomplete shipment, or customer scheduling problem can push the final balance beyond the assumed delivery week. The vendor may already have been paid. Add a delayed-collection case to the forecast before relying on a narrow cash cushion.

Week 15: the balance arrives, and margin still has a definition

The final $3,000 collection brings cumulative order cash to $1,875. Under the costs included in this example, the $6,000 sale has $4,125 of landed acquisition cost.

Factory-only gross margin is 50%, because the factory price is half the selling price. Including the assumed duty and arrival charges gives $1,875 divided by $6,000, or 31.25%, rounded to 31.3%. Customer delivery, payment fees, overhead, and any other excluded costs still need their place in the store’s financial review.

Keep that distinction visible when discussing the sale with the team. The associate may have quoted from the correct template price, and the buyer may have paid the correct factory invoice. The order can still earn less than expected because the acquisition charges changed.

The payment history and cost history tell different parts of the story. Paying a vendor earlier changes the funding timeline even if the purchase price stays the same. A higher freight bill changes both funding and margin.

Compare a domestic vendor on net terms

A domestic purchase can have a much easier funding pattern when the vendor allows payment after shipment. The benefit comes from the agreed dates, not simply from the vendor’s location.

For a separate comparison within this example, keep the $6,000 selling price and $3,000 factory cost. Assume the domestic vendor ships in week 9 on net 30, freight is $375 in week 10, and the customer receives the sofa and pays the final balance in week 10. There is no import duty in this scenario.

The initial $3,000 customer deposit remains available until the $375 freight payment, leaving $2,625. The customer’s $3,000 balance then brings cumulative cash to $5,625. Paying the factory $3,000 at its due date leaves $2,625. The order stays cash-positive through these assumed events, and its cost differs from the imported case because there is no duty.

If the domestic delivery slips beyond the vendor’s due date, redraw the line. Net terms reduce the gap only while collection and payment dates support the plan.

Calculate the deposit that covers the assumed gap

The opening deposit needs to cover the costs due before the next dependable customer payment, unless another identified funding source covers the difference. That is a cash calculation, not a universal recommendation for a store’s deposit policy.

In the imported example, $4,125 goes out before the final balance. Dividing $4,125 by the $6,000 selling price gives 68.75%. That percentage would cover only the example’s specified outflows, assuming the money remains available and every timing assumption holds.

A round 70% deposit would be $4,200, leaving only $75 after those costs. The arithmetic closes the modeled gap, but the cushion is small and excluded costs remain. The number is useful for understanding the problem; it is not proof that 70% is the right policy for the store.

Another structure could collect 50% at ordering, 25% at shipment, and the remaining 25% at delivery. The second $1,500 receipt would cover the $1,125 shortfall and leave $375 before final collection. The agreement and the payment route must support those milestones.

Agree on a second payment before the shipment notice

A second customer payment can fund the period between factory payment and delivery when it is part of the agreed sale. Explain its amount and trigger clearly before the customer commits.

Use a concrete event: a confirmed shipment notice, for example, with the documentation your store will provide. “When needed” does not give the customer a payment schedule. Make the final balance easy to understand after the second payment is received.

If the original agreement calls only for a deposit and a delivery balance, an unexpected request midway through production needs a conversation and an agreed change. Keep the revised terms with the order, and follow the normal signature process for customer-facing changes.

If the customer wants to pay early, confirm the current balance and settle any pending specification or price change first. Collect through the supported payment flow and record the receipt once. Early collection improves the cash timeline, but the furniture still needs to be supplied under the agreed terms.

Negotiate vendor timing without assuming it will improve

A vendor may consider a smaller production deposit, later balance, or net terms, but the forecast should use confirmed terms. A history of successful orders creates a conversation; it does not create an automatic entitlement to credit.

Compare alternatives by their effect on the low point. Reducing a factory deposit from 30% to 20% releases $300 at the start of this example. If the remaining factory balance is still due before customer collection, the total pre-delivery funding need may be unchanged. The cash moves later rather than disappearing.

If a domestic vendor suddenly requires prepayment, pause the next commitment long enough to recalculate it. Keep existing agreed purchases separate from proposed terms on future orders. Identify the earlier cash demand, consider customer payment timing, and establish how the store will fund it.

Record the accepted vendor terms with the purchase and tell the person preparing the forecast. A buyer’s conversation that stays in a personal inbox cannot help accounting prepare for the changed date.

Decide where deposits sit and who releases them

A separate bank account can make customer-deposit cash easier to see and manage. The practical question is whether the team can reconcile money held, deposits owed on open orders, and commitments needed to complete those orders.

Moving cash between accounts does not remove the need for an order-level deposit record. Keep the customer-deposit liability and the bank reconciliation distinct, then compare them during the review. The account balance and the amount recorded against open orders answer different questions.

Write down who can transfer or spend the funds and what evidence supports the release. A routine review can match upcoming vendor payments to the orders they serve and identify a funding gap before the payment deadline.

Include refunds and cancellations in the cash plan. An expected customer balance may disappear while a vendor commitment remains. Handle that order explicitly rather than letting the next customer’s deposit conceal the missing funding.

Follow the customer’s payments in OrderPilot

OrderPilot keeps the customer payment history and remaining balance with the quote or order. Staff can request a supported amount and see what is paid and what remains due, with requests limited to the outstanding balance.

Enabled Admin deposit orders collect deposits on quotes or drafts on any Shopify plan; native percentage payment terms, POS Take Deposit, partial manual payments on placed orders, and minimum-deposit requirements need Shopify Plus. Use the plan-by-plan deposit guide to match the proposed payment schedule to the store’s route. For the staged-payment example, the staff member should see the first receipt before issuing the next request. Resolve any unpaid request with the wrong amount and reconcile money received another way. The customer should have one clear next action and a balance that reflects completed payments. Shopify’s draft-order documentation describes the underlying invoice link and payment-term options. In the store’s day-to-day process, the important result is that the customer receives the correct request and the team can see the receipt against the sale.

Follow the vendor’s money on the linked PO

Create the PO from the agreed order so purchasing retains the selected specification. Record the factory deposit against that PO, identifying the bank or credit-card account used. The vendor payment is separate from the customer deposit even when one funds the other. With QuickBooks Online connected and mapped, prepayments can be sent as vendor deposits and applied to bills as they become available. Choose the payment mode that matches the transaction’s state, rather than treating a prepayment as payment of a bill that does not exist yet.

The vendor-deposit and prepayment guide follows that accounting handoff. Reconcile the bank transaction to the recorded payment so the same money is not entered again as a separate expense.

Purchasing charges capture freight, duty, and brokerage with their estimated or final state. Receiving records the quantities that actually arrived and the costs allocated to them. A partial receipt should leave the remaining goods and their expected cash events visible. For final collection, the customer can follow the supported payment link, use the portal where included and enabled, or pay through the store’s supported POS route. Staff can then read the remaining balance and complete the handover.

Keep the forecast beside the records

Maintain the dated cash forecast in a worksheet or accounting process, using the order and PO records as its evidence. OrderPilot supplies the connected payments, purchasing charges, and receipts; the forecast combines them with bank cash and the store’s other obligations.

Update the forecast when an event changes: a vendor moves its ship date, freight becomes final, a receipt is partial, or the customer reschedules delivery. Put the changed date and owner beside the amount. A forecast is most useful when the person reading it can tell which assumption needs attention.

Use this one-order worksheet as the starting structure:

Finish by writing five policies: the opening deposit, any second-payment trigger, the conditions for releasing POs, where deposit cash is held and reviewed, and who can approve exceptions. Then take the worksheet to the owner’s dashboard review, where the store’s orders can be considered together.

Sources

1. Trade & Export Terms — Solid Teak Furniture; the manufacturer’s own 30/70 payment terms.
2. Creating draft orders — Shopify Help Center.