Pre-Order products are items that you want sell now, but can't be fulfilled and/or delivered until later in the future. Common use-cases include:
- Whole turkeys
- 1/4 beef/pork deposits
- Seasonal / fresh seafood
- Holiday gift boxes
Video Guide
Creating Pre-Order Items
Pre-order items are created in your products dashboard similar to standard items.
Steps:
- From your admin dashboard click Products > All Products
- On the top-right, click Add Product and set the Type to Pre-order
- Setup your name & pricing like you would any other product and click Save
- Select the Checkout tab to configure your pre-order purchasing flow:
- Set your Flow option to Standard or Beta.
- With the Schedule setting, you're able to assign unique ordering dates to this item. If you want to create a new schedule this item specifically, you'll need to create one.
- Enable the Estimate setting if you'd like your delivery dates to display as "Estimated Delivery By".
- The Delivery Method, setting applies to the Beta flow only and will override the customer's assigned Delivery Method and Schedule using the selected Delivery Method's settings.
💡 NOTE
Enabling the Estimate setting for your schedule is strongly recommended unless you know the exact delivery/pickup dates for your pre-order item.
Managing Pre-Orders
Pre-order items are purchased via an instant checkout flow so that it can be separated from the delivery schedule assigned to the main shopping-cart.
Because of this, pre-orders will appear in your system as one-off orders under the Pre-Order status, with the delivery date based on the pre-order schedule you assigned in step 4. From here, pre-orders can be fulfilled and managed as normal.
💡 Subscriptions & Pre-orders
Another benefit of pre-order items is that the instant checkout path will not interfere with your customer's existing subscription order & delivery schedule. It'll create a new one-off order, without the subscription incentives applied.
Note* New pre-order flow is only available on the All Access, Pro, Business, and Customer Enterprise Plans
GUIDE: Selling Freezer Meat
Below is our recommended configuration for selling custom freezer meat (quarters, halves, & wholes) using Pre-Order Products.
GUIDE: Thanksgiving Turkeys
Below is our recommended configuration for Thanksgiving Turkeys (or any other holiday seasonal item) using Pre-Order Products.