Connect Afterpay to WhatsApp and AI Chat for Shopify
Yes. AeroChat works directly with Afterpay for Shopify stores. Your Shopify store is built into AeroChat, and Afterpay connects through its Online API. AeroChat sends a checkout link where the shopper can choose Afterpay, checks your Afterpay order limits, reads Afterpay payments and their refunds, and answers in the chat, on WhatsApp, Instagram, web chat and every other channel your shoppers use.
If your Shopify store offers Afterpay at checkout, shoppers who message you still ask the same things: can I pay with Afterpay, did my Afterpay payment go through, where is my refund. AeroChat answers from both systems. It reads the order in Shopify, checks the payment in Afterpay, and replies in the same conversation. Shoppers pay on Afterpay’s own checkout, so AeroChat never sees card details and never holds money. You describe the workflow in your own words, AeroChat builds it, and Shopify and your Afterpay Business Hub stay the places your team checks.
The Afterpay On-Site Messaging app shows the installment price on your product pages. It is display only. The chat side runs on your Afterpay merchant account and its API.
What you can do with Afterpay and AeroChat
- Send a checkout link where the shopper can pay with Afterpay. AeroChat confirms the items and total from Shopify, checks the total is inside your Afterpay limits, and sends a Shopify checkout link for the order. The shopper chooses Afterpay at checkout.
- Answer “can I use Afterpay for this?”. AeroChat reads your minimum and maximum Afterpay order amounts from Afterpay and tells the shopper whether their cart qualifies.
- Answer “did my Afterpay payment go through?”. AeroChat finds the Afterpay order from the payment on the Shopify order and reads whether Afterpay approved or declined it.
- Explain an approved payment that has not been charged yet. If your store captures payments when orders are fulfilled, Afterpay shows the payment as approved but not yet captured. AeroChat tells the shopper what that means and when the charge happens.
- Check Afterpay refund status. AeroChat reads the refunds on the Shopify order and on the Afterpay payment, and tells the shopper the amount and the date.
- Pass refund requests to your team. AeroChat collects the order number, the items and the reason, adds a note to the Shopify order and hands the conversation over. Your team refunds from Shopify as usual.
What it looks like on WhatsApp
Customer: Can I pay for the walnut side table with Afterpay? (example)
AeroChat: Yes. The walnut side table is $240 plus $15 delivery, $255 in total, which is within the Afterpay range for our store. Here is your checkout link. Choose Afterpay on the payment step.
AeroChat: Thanks, your order #3108 is confirmed and paid with Afterpay. It ships within 3 business days.
In Shopify and Afterpay: order #3108 is created from the checkout and paid with Afterpay. Afterpay shows the payment as approved.
Customer: I returned my lamp, has my Afterpay refund gone through? Order #3054. (example)
AeroChat: Yes. A refund of $89.00 for order #3054 was issued to your Afterpay account on November 4. Afterpay applies it to your installments.
In Shopify and Afterpay: nothing changes. AeroChat read the order’s refund in Shopify and the refund on the Afterpay payment.
Works on every chat channel
Your shoppers ask about Afterpay wherever they already message you. The same Shopify and Afterpay connection and the same workflows run on each of these channels.
| Channel | What your shoppers can do |
|---|---|
| Message your WhatsApp Business number to get a checkout link, check an Afterpay payment or ask about a refund. Voice notes are transcribed, so a spoken request works too. | |
| Do the same by direct message. A comment on your post can get an automatic reply that moves the conversation to a DM. | |
| Facebook Messenger | Do the same with your Facebook Page. Comments on your Page posts can get an automatic reply too. |
| Telegram | Do the same with your business on Telegram. |
| Web chat | Ask from the chat on your Shopify store, right on the product or cart page. |
| Write to your Gmail or Office 365 address and get the same answer the chat gives. |
How the connection works
There are two parts. Your Shopify store is built into AeroChat: you install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store and connect the store in the dashboard, and it syncs your products and looks up orders. Afterpay connects through its Online API, documented at developers.afterpay.com. Through it, AeroChat reads your Afterpay order limits, reads Afterpay payments with their status and refunds, and finds payments by Afterpay order ID or by your merchant reference.
Afterpay keeps running your checkout through the Afterpay payment app in Shopify. Afterpay’s Shopify guide shows that each Afterpay order in Shopify carries its Afterpay payment ID on the order’s transaction, which is how AeroChat finds the right Afterpay payment for an order.
- What AeroChat reads: from Shopify, the order with its status, total, items, payment method, transaction and refunds. From Afterpay, your minimum and maximum order amounts, and payments with their status (approved or declined), payment state (approved, captured, voided or expired), amount and refunds.
- What AeroChat writes: to Shopify, draft orders whose checkout link goes to the shopper, and order notes. Nothing is written to Afterpay. Refunds stay with your team in Shopify.
To connect, log in to the Afterpay Business Hub as a Hub Admin and open the Settings tab, where Afterpay shows your merchant credentials: the Merchant ID and the Secret Key. Afterpay gives each regional merchant account its own credentials, so use the ones for the region your Shopify store sells in.
You describe the workflow in your own words, for example “when a shopper asks to pay with Afterpay, check the total is inside our Afterpay limits and send a checkout link”. AeroChat builds the workflow as a draft and asks for the Afterpay Merchant ID and Secret Key by name. You enter them in the AeroChat dashboard. They never pass through the conversation.
Payments go to your own Afterpay merchant account under your Afterpay terms. AeroChat does not process or hold any money.
Workflows to copy
Six ready-made workflows for Shopify stores on Afterpay. Copy one into AeroChat, add your Afterpay credentials, and it runs on every channel.
1. Send a checkout link where the shopper can pay with Afterpay
Copy this into AeroChat
When a shopper wants to buy in the chat and asks to pay with Afterpay, confirm the products, variants, quantities and delivery address, and quote the total with shipping from Shopify. Check the total is between our Afterpay minimum and maximum order amounts. If it is, create a draft order in Shopify and send its checkout link, with one line telling them to choose Afterpay on the payment step. If it is not, tell them the Afterpay range and offer the other payment methods at checkout. When the order is paid, confirm the order number and when it ships. Never ask for card details in the chat. Reply in the customer’s language.
2. Answer “can I use Afterpay for this?”
Copy this into AeroChat
When a shopper asks if they can pay with Afterpay, work out the total of what they want, with shipping, from Shopify. Read our minimum and maximum Afterpay order amounts from Afterpay. Tell them whether the total qualifies. If it is under the minimum, tell them the minimum. If it is over the maximum, tell them the maximum and offer the other payment methods. Never promise that Afterpay will approve them, because Afterpay decides that at checkout.
3. Answer “did my Afterpay payment go through?”
Copy this into AeroChat
When a shopper asks whether their Afterpay payment went through, ask for their order number and check that the email or phone number on the Shopify order matches them. Read the Afterpay payment ID on the order and look up the payment in Afterpay. If it is approved, confirm the amount and the order. If it is declined, tell them they were not charged for this order and offer a new checkout link to pay another way. Never share another customer’s order.
4. Explain an approved payment that has not been charged yet
Copy this into AeroChat
When a shopper asks why Afterpay has not charged them yet, find the Shopify order and read the Afterpay payment. If its payment state is approved but not captured, explain that we take payment when the order ships, and that Afterpay starts their installments then. If it is captured, tell them the payment was taken and the date. If it is voided or expired, tell them they were not charged and hand the conversation to our team with the order number.
5. Check Afterpay refund status
Copy this into AeroChat
When a shopper asks about a refund on an Afterpay order, ask for their order number and check that the email or phone number on the Shopify order matches them. Read the refunds on the Shopify order. If there is none, tell them no refund has been issued yet and offer to pass their request to our team. If there is one, read the refunds on the Afterpay payment and tell them the amount and the date. Explain that Afterpay applies refunds to their Afterpay account and installments. Never promise a date.
6. Pass refund requests to your team
Copy this into AeroChat
When a shopper asks for a refund on an Afterpay order, find their Shopify order and confirm which items they mean and why. Check our returns policy in the knowledge base and tell them what it says. Add a note to the Shopify order with the items, the reason and the date of the request, and hand the conversation to our team. Do not issue refunds yourself and do not promise one.
Who uses it
Shopify stores in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada that offer Afterpay at checkout use it for pay-later questions, checkout links and refund questions that arrive in chat. These recipes fit a Shopify store:
What stays in Shopify and Afterpay
Shopify stays your record of orders, stock and refunds, and your team ships and refunds from it the same way. Afterpay stays your record of Afterpay payments, installments, settlements and disputes, in your Business Hub. Shoppers pay on Afterpay’s checkout, so their payment details go to Afterpay and never to AeroChat.
AeroChat handles the conversation. It sends checkout links, reads payments and refunds to answer shoppers, and leaves the rest to Shopify, Afterpay and your team.
WhatsApp workflows that use Afterpay
These end-to-end WhatsApp workflows run with Shopify and Afterpay behind them. See them all in the WhatsApp workflows library.
- WhatsApp Payment Links That Confirm the Order When Paid
- WhatsApp Ordering That Writes the Order Into Your System
- WhatsApp Returns and Refunds Checked Against Your Policy
Questions
Does AeroChat work with Afterpay?
Yes. Your Shopify store is built into AeroChat, and Afterpay connects through its Online API with the Merchant ID and Secret Key from your Business Hub. AeroChat is not an Afterpay product, and AeroChat has no partnership with Afterpay.
Do I need to change my Afterpay setup in Shopify?
No. The Afterpay payment app keeps running your checkout, and the On-Site Messaging app keeps showing installment prices. AeroChat sends shoppers to the same Shopify checkout and reads the payments through the API.
Does AeroChat see card numbers or hold my money?
No. Shoppers pay on Afterpay’s checkout, so AeroChat never sees card details and never holds your funds. Afterpay settles to your merchant account as usual.
Which plan do I need?
On the Afterpay side, you need an Afterpay merchant account and Hub Admin access to see your credentials. On the AeroChat side, workflows via Skills are on every plan, with a 7-day free trial. Choose by message volume: Starter covers 500 AI responses a month, Growth 2,000 and Advanced 5,000. See plans.
Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.
Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.
Take your first Afterpay order in chat
Install AeroChat, paste the checkout link recipe, add your Afterpay credentials, and ask your own chat to pay for a product with Afterpay.
7-day free trial.