How to send Shopify B2B invoices and receipts to accounts payable (not just the buyer)
On Shopify B2B, the person who places the order is rarely the person who pays for it. The buyer gets Shopify's order confirmation; accounts payable and the company's accountant get nothing, so they email you asking for the invoice, and again for the receipt once it's paid. This guide covers what Shopify can and can't do here, the manual workarounds, and how to send invoices and receipts to the right people automatically.
Short answer: Shopify sends the order confirmation only to the customer who placed the order, and it can't be copied to other addresses. Shopify Flow can't send a receipt for a paid order either. You can download invoices by hand from an app like Order Printer and forward them, or store the accounts-payable address on the B2B company and let an automation email an invoice when an order on payment terms is placed and a receipt when it's paid.
Why this is a B2B problem
- The buyer isn't the payer. A purchasing manager or a store employee places the order; finance pays it, often from a different inbox or system.
- Net terms need a document. On Net 30 the customer needs an invoice with the due date and their PO number to schedule payment. Without it, the payment clock effectively starts when they finally get the invoice.
- Branches. One company can have several locations, each with its own accounts team.
Merchants raise this on the Shopify Community regularly. A thread from December 2025 sums it up in its title: "Send a Receipt – How is this so hard for a B2B platform".
Option 1: Forward invoices by hand
Install an invoice app such as Shopify's Order Printer, open each order, download or print the invoice and email it to the customer's accounts team. Then do it again with a receipt when the order is paid. It works for a handful of orders a month and costs nothing, but it's the first job to slip on a busy week, and it depends on someone remembering who wants what.
Option 2: Make the accounts team a company contact
You can add the accounts-payable person as a second contact on the B2B company and give them a role that can view the location's orders (Location admin), so they can look orders up in their customer account. It doesn't email them anything when an order is placed by someone else, so they still have to remember to check.
Option 3: Send invoices and receipts automatically
This is what our n8n template does:
- Store the extra addresses on the company (or on a
location, for branches) in a metafield, for example
custom.receipt_emails, as a list of email addresses. Put them on the customer instead if you don't use B2B companies. - When an order on payment terms is placed, email an invoice: company and location, PO number, terms, due date, items, amount due and how to pay. Skip orders that are already paid.
- When the order is paid (card, bank transfer marked as paid, or partial payments completing it), email a receipt with the amount paid.
- Attach a PDF. Many accounts teams forward invoices into their bookkeeping system, which wants a file, not an email body.
- Leave the buyer out by default. They already get Shopify's confirmation.
- Log every document (time, order, company, who it went to) so you can answer "did you send it?" in seconds.
Which one should you use?
| Forward by hand | Extra company contact | Automatic (n8n) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Free | Free version; Pro $29 once |
| Accounts payable gets the invoice | When someone remembers | Only if they log in | Automatically, with due date |
| Receipt when paid | By hand | Only if they log in | Automatically |
| PDF attached | Yes | No | Pro |
| Different addresses per branch | By hand | Per contact | Per company location |
| Record of what was sent | Your sent folder | No | Google Sheets (Pro) |
FAQ
Can Shopify copy the order confirmation to another email address? Not to a customer's second address. The order confirmation goes to the customer who placed the order. You can add staff notification recipients, but those are for your team, not your customer's accounts department.
Can Shopify Flow send a receipt to accounts payable? Flow can send internal emails to your staff, and B2B stores can send invoices for draft orders, but there's no Flow action that emails a receipt for a paid order to an address you choose.
Where should I store the accounts-payable address? On the B2B company, in a metafield that holds a list of emails. If branches pay their own invoices, put it on the company location instead, which takes priority. Tagged wholesale customers without B2B can have it on the customer.
Do invoices need to be PDFs? Not always, but most accounts teams prefer one: it's what they file and what their bookkeeping software imports. An email with the same details is fine for smaller customers.
Skip the setup
The B2B Receipts and Invoices Pro n8n template sends invoices on payment terms and receipts when paid, with a PDF and a Google Sheets log, for $29 once. Receipts only? The free version does that. Or have it installed and adapted for your store.
More guides
- How to sell classes and workshops on Shopify without overbooking
- n8n for Shopify: setup, one-time cost and what it changes (vs monthly apps)
- Automated payment reminders for Shopify B2B: built-in, apps or n8n (Net 30 without a monthly fee)
- Repurchase & replenishment reminder apps for Shopify: prices compared, plus a no-monthly-fee option
- Why Shopify orders go missing from your n8n workflow (and how to catch them)
- How to spot Shopify wholesale buyers who stopped reordering (and remind them on the right day)
- How to add a wholesale application form to Shopify B2B (and approve buyers in one click)
- How to track who owes you on Shopify B2B (outstanding balances, partial payments and credit hold)
- How to get alerts for wholesale and B2B orders in Shopify (email, Slack and Sheets)
- Automatic Net 30 payment reminders in Shopify (before and after the due date)