Alva Digital Downloads can sell a personalized product through a checkout link, but only on a link where you have switched it on. That link then opens a short pre-checkout page on your own domain, the buyer types their personalization there, and the text travels with them to checkout and onto the order.
Why it is off by default
A buyer normally types their personalization on the product page. A checkout link skips the product page and lands straight in checkout, so there is nowhere to type it: the buyer would pay and you would receive an order with no personalization to work from. For that reason every checkout link refuses a personalized product until you turn personalization capture on for that specific link.
The setting belongs to the link, not the product. Turning it on for one link changes nothing on your other links, even links for the same product.
Before you start
The product must already be set up as personalized in Alva Digital Downloads — see Set up a personalized product. Two of its settings carry over to the checkout link: the Customer customization prompt becomes the question on the pre-checkout page, and Require customization input before add to cart decides whether the buyer must fill it in. Checkout links need a paid plan.
Turn it on for a link
1. Open the link
In Alva Digital Downloads, click Checkout links and open the link, or click Create checkout link and pick the personalized product. While capture is off you see a warning: "This product needs a pre-checkout page".
2. Turn on the pre-checkout page
In the Before checkout card, tick Show a pre-checkout page before checkout. This is the page that shows the product, its price and what the buyer gets, with a button to checkout.
3. Turn on personalization capture
Tick Collect a personalization on that page. This box stays greyed out until the pre-checkout page is on, and unticking the page unticks it too.
4. Save and test
Save the link, then use Test this link to walk through the page yourself. If you try to create a link for a personalized product, or move a link onto one, without both boxes ticked, the save is refused and you are told to turn on the pre-checkout page with personalization capture.
What the buyer sees
The buyer taps the link and lands on the pre-checkout page. Under Personalize your order they see your customization prompt, or "Your personalization" if you left the prompt empty. If the field is not required, it is marked "optional". A hint underneath reads "Up to 500 characters."
They type their text and tap Continue to checkout. The personalization is shown on the item in checkout, labelled "Customization Request", so the buyer can check it before paying. It appears on the order in Shopify under the same name, exactly as if it had been typed on your product page.
After payment the order is handled like any other personalized order: Alva Digital Downloads holds it until you upload the finished file — see Notify the customer when their personalized file is ready.
The safeguards, and what they mean for you
Every safeguard below exists to stop one outcome: a buyer paying for a personalized product and the order arriving with nothing to personalize. Each one fails safe — a buyer is stopped before checkout rather than charged for a blank.
- Capture only works with the page. A link can never collect a personalization without the pre-checkout page switched on. Turning the page off switches capture off with it, and a save that asks for one without the other is refused.
- The text is never shortened on its way to checkout. Personalization is limited to 500 characters, and the box stops accepting text at that point — a longer pasted text is cut off by the browser, so the buyer should check it. Longer text that still arrives is sent back to the buyer with "That’s too long — please shorten it to 500 characters or fewer." and the first 500 characters of what they typed stay in the box. If the text ever could not be passed on to checkout, the buyer sees "This link isn’t available right now." instead of a checkout without it.
- Each link must opt in on its own. Every click checks this link’s own two settings. If a product becomes personalized after you created links for it, those links pause with the reason "product needs personalizing" and buyers see "This link isn’t available right now." Turn on both boxes and the link works again on the next click.
- Everything is checked again at the last moment. When the buyer taps Continue to checkout, the link is checked again from scratch. If the link was paused, expired or used up, or the product lost its delivery, while they were typing, they are stopped there rather than sent on to pay.
Opting in lifts only the personalization block. Everything else a checkout link checks still applies: the product must be published and available, your store must not be password-protected, and the product must have something to deliver. See Why isn’t my checkout link working? for each reason a link can pause.
Other things to know
- If the field is required, the buyer cannot go on with it empty — a blank or spaces-only entry is sent back with "Please add your personalization before continuing."
- Open in the phone’s browser from Instagram and TikTok does not apply on a link that collects a personalization, so buyers inside those apps finish in the in-app browser. See Checkout links in Instagram and TikTok.
- The buyer’s text is carried into Shopify’s checkout as part of the checkout address, so it can show up in the buyer’s browser history. Ask for things like a name to engrave, never for passwords or other private details.
- Quick sell cannot create a link for a personalized product, because its links go straight to checkout. Create the link from the Checkout links page instead.
Frequently asked questions
A checkout link skips the product page, which is where buyers normally type their personalization. Without a page to type on, the buyer would pay and the order would arrive with nothing to personalize, so Alva Digital Downloads refuses until you turn on personalization capture for that link.
On a pre-checkout page on your own domain, shown before checkout. It displays the product, its price and your customization prompt, with a Continue to checkout button underneath.
Yes, 500 characters, and the box stops accepting text at that point. Alva Digital Downloads never cuts text short on its way to checkout: longer text is sent back to the buyer to shorten, and the first 500 characters of what they typed stay in the box so they can edit it.
Yes. It follows the product's Require customization input before add to cart setting. When that is off, the field is marked optional and the buyer can continue without filling it in.
They pause with the reason product needs personalizing, and buyers see a page saying the link is not available right now. Turn on the pre-checkout page and personalization capture on each link, and it works again on the next click.
No. Quick sell creates links that go straight to checkout, with no page to collect the personalization. Create the link from the Checkout links page and turn on both settings there.