Buyer portal vs customer account

Read time: 4 minutes. Who it's for: Merchants understanding which buyer-facing experience QuotWay routes their customers to, and why.

QuotWay supports two buyer-side experiences. Which one your store uses depends on whether your store is on Shopify's new Customer Accounts or still on legacy Customer Accounts.

You don't pick one - QuotWay auto-detects at install + routes accordingly.

The two paths

Customer Account UI extension

Where it lives: Inside your buyer's existing Shopify Customer Account (shopify.com/account or your store's account subdomain).
Authentication: Shopify's own - the buyer is already logged in when they see the QuotWay UI.
Pros: Native feel. No extra login. Single source of truth for the buyer's order history + quotes.
Cons: Bundle-size constrained (60 KB total per extension target). Locked into Shopify's CA UI design tokens.

Hosted fallback portal

Where it lives: portal.quotway.com/<your-shop>/<token> - a QuotWay-hosted page.
Authentication: Magic-link emails. The buyer gets a link in their inbox, clicks it, lands on the portal.
Pros: Works on legacy CA stores. No CA-extension bundle limit. We can ship a richer UI.
Cons: Buyer has to leave your store. Magic links can hit spam filters. No persistent "log in" - every session is a new magic-link round.

Which one does my store use?

Your Customer Accounts	QuotWay routes to
New (default since 2024)	Customer Account UI extension
Legacy (older stores)	Hosted fallback portal

You can check which one is active on your store at Shopify Admin → Settings → Customer accounts. If you see "Customer accounts" as the option (not "Classic customer accounts"), you're on new CA and get the extension.

QuotWay also surfaces this on the Activation status panel:

✓ Customer Accounts V2 - you're on new CA.
⚠ Customer Accounts V2: Legacy - you're on classic; portal active.

Why both?

When Shopify rolled out new Customer Accounts in 2024, they didn't auto-migrate every store. Stores that were live before the rollout could opt-in to new CA, or stay on classic. Both populations still exist.

QuotWay was built to work for both, day one. The hosted portal isn't a "legacy fallback" - it's a first-class path with the same feature set:

Proposal review
Per-line accept / counter
Multi-currency display
File attachment download
Approval chain status (for multi-step approvals)
Acceptance + decline flows

The new Customer Accounts path uses the same backend; only the client UI differs.

Switching from legacy to new CA

If you migrate from classic to new Customer Accounts mid-flight:

Toggle in Shopify Admin → Settings → Customer accounts.
Return to QuotWay → Settings → Activation → Re-check. QuotWay re-reads customerAccountsV2 = true and starts routing buyers to the CA UI extension on their next quote.

Active quotes mid-negotiation stay on whichever path they started

buyers don't get cut off mid-thread. New quotes after the re-check use the new path.

What the buyer sees end-to-end

Customer Account UI extension path:

Buyer requests a quote on your storefront.
Buyer gets an email when the merchant sends a proposal: "Your QuotWay quote #1234 is ready. Sign in to review."
Buyer clicks "Sign in" → lands on their Shopify Customer Account.
QuotWay tile appears in their account nav: "QuotWay quotes (1)".
Buyer reviews + accepts or counters from inside the account.

Hosted portal path:

Buyer requests a quote on your storefront.
Buyer gets an email when the merchant sends a proposal: "Review your quote #1234". Email contains a magic link.
Buyer clicks → lands on portal.quotway.com/<your-shop>/<token>.
The portal renders the quote with your branding (logo + brand color from Settings → Hosted portal branding).
Buyer reviews + accepts or counters in the portal.

Both paths log every action to the same quote audit log. The merchant sees one inbox - no idea (and no need to know) which path the buyer used.

Branding both surfaces

CA UI extension: uses Shopify's Polaris design tokens. Your branding is the Shopify Customer Account chrome - you don't override it.
Hosted portal: customizable. Settings → Hosted portal branding lets you upload a logo + set the primary brand color. Visible on every portal page.

If you want a consistent look across both paths, use the same branding values in Hosted portal branding as your storefront uses for primary CTAs. The QuotWay default is Navy 900 #1B3A5C from the brand guide.

Common gotchas

Buyer says "I can't find QuotWay in my Customer Account". Check if your store is on new CA (Customer Accounts V2 = true in Activation status). If not, they're on the hosted portal - search their inbox for the magic-link email.
Magic links go to spam. Add notifications@quotway.com (or your custom toSend sender) to the buyer's contacts. Also configure SPF + DKIM on your sending domain via toSend's setup.

What buyers see - the full buyer-side walkthrough across both surfaces.
Troubleshooting common issues - when neither path shows the quote.
Plans, trial, and billing - what each plan includes (the buyer experience ships on every plan).