Create preorder campaign
This guide covers setup, all current features, Shopify limitations, and best practices used for preorders.
What Preorder Does
Preorder lets you sell products before they’re in stock. You can:
Create preorder campaigns at product or variant level
Offer full or partial payments
Apply and display preorder discounts
Control order status at creation
Auto-tag orders and customers per campaign
Create a Preorder Campaign
1️⃣ Create name and button text
Fill in campaign name (this is only showing in-app), not show to customers
Fill in button text and message, it will show to customers
2️⃣ Choose when to show preorder button
Choose one condition:
When product is out of stock
Always show Preorder
When product is in stock (useful for capping preorder quantity via inventory)
Inventory rules (handled automatically on publish):
Track quantity→ enabledContinue selling when out of stock→ enabled (if required)When unpublished, original settings are restored
To know what works best for you, please check this detail guideline
3️⃣ Setup preorder discount (optional)
Offer preorder discounts with strike-through pricing
Fixed amount or percentage
Shopify Payments required
4️⃣ Choose payment options
Pay in Full
Customer pays 100% at checkout
No Shopify Payments required
Partial Payment (Deposit)
Customer pays a deposit now
Remaining balance is collected manually in Shopify Admin
Deposit can be:
Percentage
Fixed amount
Set a due date for the remaining balance
Shopify Payments required
Checkout experience
Clearly shows:
Amount due today
Remaining balance
Due date
⚠️ Theme note Most themes don’t show deposit pricing in cart by default. Use cart messaging fields to explain deposit details clearly.
5️⃣ Customize preorder note
Preorder note is shown on the product page and cart page for customers, and also appears in the order details for merchants, ensuring preorder information is clearly visible throughout the purchase and fulfillment process.
Preorder note: Editable text label (e.g. “Preorder”) that appears next to the product to indicate it’s a preorder item.
Discount note: Optional message with a dynamic placeholder (e.g.
{amount}) to highlight any preorder discount.Full payment note: Custom text explaining this is full payment
Partial payment note: Custom text explaining deposit or split payment terms when partial payment is enabled.
6️⃣ Campaign Tags
Order tags → applied to all campaign orders
Customer tags → applied to customers who preorder
Use tags for:
Filtering
Shopify Flow automations
Segments
Loyalty or remarketing flows
7️⃣ Design
Preorder button matches your theme’s Add to Cart style
Typography controls apply to:
Preorder messages
Price details
Adjust font size and alignment for theme consistency
8️⃣ Choose products
Go to the Products tab and select Add products.
To enable preorder, we’ll automatically turn on:
Track quantity
Continue selling when out of stock for the selected products.
This may take a moment. Please wait until the process finishes before checking your store.
Note: You can remove these settings at any time by disabling or deleting the campaign.
📦 Managing Preorders
In the App
View all preorder orders in one list
Open Shopify order page from each row
In Shopify Orders
Status: Unfulfilled / Scheduled / On hold
Payment status: Partially paid (for deposits)
Actions:
Collect remaining payment
Send invoice
Tags:
Campaign tag
Essential Preorder tag
🧩 Troubleshooting & Common Blockers
Inventory
Track quantity must be ON
Continue selling when out of stock must be ON (if applicable)
Locations
At least one active location with Shipping & Fulfillment enabled
Cart Deposit Display
Many themes hide deposit pricing
Use cart messages to clarify payment terms
Shopify Payments
Required for partial payments and preorder discounts
Subscriptions & Bundles
Cannot combine preorders with subscriptions
Shopify Bundles API products not supported
Bundle apps using discount codes usually work
Large Campaigns
Publishing/unpublishing may take a few minutes to fully apply
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