You set up a pre-order sale, yet the product page shows no pre-order button. It's a stressful moment with a launch date ahead, but the cause is usually in a predictable place.
Here's the short version: if it's missing on every product, suspect the theme's app embed; if it's only one product, suspect that product's schedule and dates. And if what you see is a "Get notified" signup form, that's not a bug — it's the correct display during the announcement phase. Follow this order and you'll fix most cases on the spot.
First, narrow down whether it's every product or just one
Where you should look depends on how wide the symptom is. Before opening settings screens all over, check the product pages your customers actually see.
| Symptom | First suspect |
|---|---|
| No pre-order button on any product page | The theme's app embed |
| Everything disappeared right after a theme change | The embed is off in the new theme |
| Only one specific product is missing it | That product's schedule and target settings |
| It shows on some variants but not others | Per-variant schedules |
| You see "Get notified" instead of a button | The announcement phase (not a bug) |
| You can see it but customers can't | Browser cache or a display-side issue |
You can check which phase a product is in — Waitlist, Pre-order, or On sale — in the app's Schedules list. Comparing the product page against the list status is the basic move for isolating the cause.
For example, say you set a pre-order to start Friday at 20:00, but on Saturday morning the page still shows "Add to cart". If the list says On sale, suspect the dates; if it says Pre-order, suspect the display side (the embed or cache).
If it's missing on every product, check the theme's app embed first
SellRules switches the buy button on product pages through Shopify's "app embed" mechanism. Shopify's help also describes app embeds as elements you activate or deactivate in the theme editor. When it's off, nothing changes on the customer's screen no matter how correct your in-app settings are.
Here's how to check:
- In Shopify admin, open "Online Store → Themes → Customize"
- Select the App embeds icon at the bottom of the left menu
- Switch SellRules on in the list
- Press "Save" at the top right
Right after a theme change, this is the first place to check. App embeds are configured per theme, so you need to turn it on again in the new theme. Your schedules and settings inside the app stay as they are — switch it on, save, and the display comes back.
Conversely, this is also how you pause all switching across the store. The buy button returns to the usual "Add to cart" and purchase-limit validation at checkout stops working, but your settings data isn't deleted.
One honest caveat: the app embed works with any Shopify theme, but the button's appearance and placement differ by theme. We can't guarantee identical rendering on every theme. If it's on but the position looks wrong or the layout breaks, treat it as a theme-side issue and reach out with the information described below.
If it's only one product, match the schedule status and dates
Open the app's Schedules list and look at what that product's row says. Each status determines what customers see.
| Status in the list | What appears on the product page |
|---|---|
| Waitlist | The email signup form ("Get notified") |
| Pre-order | The "Pre-order Now" button |
| On sale | The usual "Add to cart" button |
A common mix-up is looking for a pre-order button while the product is still in Waitlist. The announcement period collects email signups before launch, so the signup form is the correct display. Once the pre-order start passes, it switches to "Pre-order".
If the product isn't in the list at all, no schedule has been created yet. Create one under "Schedules → Pre-order → Create new" with the target product and dates. Conversely, a product in the Pre-order phase also gets a "Pre-order" badge on its product card, which is another clue.
If the status stays On sale, review the date settings on the edit screen:
- Date order: Dates must be in the order "announcement start < pre-order start < normal sale start" or they can't be saved. Check they're in the order you intended
- Dates in the past: If both the pre-order start and normal sale start are in the past, the product has already returned to normal sale
- Time zone: Dates are saved in the store's time zone. Compare the "Dates are saved in the shop time zone" notice on the create screen with the time zone under Shopify "Settings → General"
- Target product and variants: If you created schedules per variant, variants outside the target won't switch
- Pre-order limit: Once the limit is reached, intake stops automatically and the product shows as sold out
- End settings: If you set "Do not switch to normal sale" or added an end-of-sale phase, the display changes at that date
Also check whether the product is published in Shopify. Draft products or products not published to the sales channel won't appear to customers at all.
For how each setting maps to the screens, see "Start a pre-order sale" in the SellRules user guide.
After fixing settings, retest from the customer's side
The second most common mix-up is fixing things in admin, then staying in the same tab and concluding "it still doesn't work". Browsers can hold on to the old page, so verify in this order:
- Reload bypassing the cache. On Windows press Ctrl+F5; on Mac press Command+Shift+R to discard the stored page and fetch it fresh
- Open it in another window. Open the product page in a private/incognito window or a different browser to see it as customers do
- Allow for the switch delay. Phase switches run on a job about every five minutes, so checking at the exact start time can still show a lag of up to five minutes
- Compare with other products and variants. If a product with the same settings shows the button, the problem is specific to that product
- Check on a smartphone too. Most of your customers browse on phones. If it shows on PC but not on mobile, that difference is valuable information when you contact us
- Reproduce it on a test product. Set the same schedule on a published test product and see whether the same symptom appears. You can isolate the cause without touching live products
If you want to walk through the setup from the beginning, the pre-order setup guide covers the full procedure. To review the switching timing itself, the automatic launch-time switching article is also helpful.
What to include when it still isn't resolved
If the button still doesn't appear after all this, the situation calls for investigation rather than another settings pass. Including the following in your message lets us reproduce the situation faster and reply sooner:
- Your store URL (something.myshopify.com)
- The product name and product ID. If it's about a variant, the variant name too
- When the symptom occurred, with the time zone if you can
- What you expected and what actually happened ("still Add to cart even though it's in Pre-order", etc.)
- A screenshot — having both the product page and the Schedules list shows us the state
- For notification email issues, the relevant row from the Delivery log
You can reach us via the contact page, or through "Feature request" and "Bug report" at the bottom of the SellRules screen. Pre-purchase questions about pricing and specs are also covered in the FAQ.
Frequently asked questions
The app embed is on, but the pre-order button still doesn't appear
The product may have no schedule, or it's still in the Waitlist phase and the pre-order start hasn't arrived yet. Check the product's status in the app's Schedules list. During the announcement period, showing the notification signup form instead of the pre-order button is the correct behavior.
The pre-order button disappeared after I changed themes
App embeds are configured per theme. Switch SellRules back on under the new theme's App embeds and save. Your schedules and settings inside the app remain intact.
The button didn't change even though the pre-order start time has passed
Phase switches are handled by a job that runs about every five minutes, so it can lag by up to five minutes. Wait five minutes, then reload bypassing the cache. If it still hasn't changed, check the dates you entered and the store time zone.
I see "Get notified" instead of a pre-order button
That's the correct display while the product is in the Waitlist phase. It switches to "Pre-order" when the pre-order start arrives. If you want to start taking pre-orders sooner, edit the pre-order start date on the schedule's edit screen and save.
Once it's fixed, make checking the display part of the routine
When a pre-order button doesn't appear, checking the three points in order — the theme's app embed, the schedule status, and date mismatches — gets you to the cause in most cases. And after changing settings, don't stop at "it saved in admin": make confirming the display on the customer's screen part of the same routine, and you won't scramble on launch day.
SellRules features, including pre-launch email collection and automatic pre-order switching, are offered on the Launch plan at $7.99 USD per month with a 10-day free trial. What to check during the trial is covered in the trial walkthrough article.
Features and pricing checked: September 18, 2026. Based on the Shopify App Store listing and the official guide.
Related articles: Deciding on early-access and limited sales / How to start pre-orders on Shopify / No waiting at launch time — automatic switching / Trying SellRules for free? Start with 1 product
