Pre-orders and processing time

Let customers order a product even after it sells out, with the expected ship date, and show your processing time on the product page.

Instead of showing "Sold out" and losing the sale, you can allow pre-orders: the customer orders now and sees clearly that the item ships when it arrives, and on what date.

Turn on pre-orders for a product

Open the product from Products and scroll to the Inventory card.
Turn on Allow pre-orders when it sells out (1).
Pre-orders in the product form
Add an expected ship date (2) and a message for customers if you like (both optional).
Click Save product.

While you have stock, the product sells as usual. When it runs out, it switches to pre-order on its own instead of "Sold out."

Not released yet? Turn on Make every order a pre-order, even with stock, and it shows as a pre-order until you turn that off.

What customers see

The product page shows a Pre-order box with the ship date and your message (1), and the button changes to Pre-order now (2). Collection pages show a "Pre-order" badge instead of "Sold out."

If the product has sizes or colors, only the options that sold out become pre-orders; the rest sell as usual.

Pre-orders on the order page

A Pre-order tag shows next to the item on the order page (1), so you know it ships when the stock arrives.

Stock never goes below zero: units you have are taken first and the rest is recorded as reserved. When new stock arrives, enter the quantity you received on the product; when you ship the order, the reserved units come out of it automatically. If you cancel or edit the order before it ships, only what actually came out of stock goes back.

Processing time

In the same card, set Processing time before shipping (3) in business days. The product page shows "Ships within N business days" (or "Ships the same day" if you enter 0), so customers know when their order leaves. Leave it empty to hide it.

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