SellRules / Blog
SellRules guides to Pre-orders on Shopify, with setup steps and checks for day-to-day operations.
21 articles
When pre-orders for your pricier items stall, one cause is the burden of paying the full price before anything arrives. How to read the survey figures, how to check whether it's happening in your store, how full prepayment, deposits and charging at shipping differ, and what a deposit doesn't change.
For stores taking fully prepaid pre-orders with SellRules: how to switch to deposits on the Pro plan. What happens to open orders, whether to switch mid-run or from the next pre-order window, what to check right after, and how to switch back.
What to do when the balance on a pre-order or made-to-order item can't be collected automatically: the first step for each status (Collection failed, Action required, Can't auto-charge), what to tell the customer, charging again, how long to wait, cancelling and refunding the deposit, and shipping once it's paid.
With deposit and balance payments, what do customers read on the product page, at checkout, in their emails and on the cancellation page, and when is the balance charged? The gaps in the built-in wording, and the text your store should add so the balance never looks like an unknown charge, in the order customers receive it.
How to take only a deposit at checkout for pre-orders and made-to-order products, and collect the balance automatically on its due date. Which products it suits and when to take no deposit, what customers and your store receive, what happens when the balance can't be collected, which payments work, and how to set it up on the Pro plan and test it.
Can't fulfill a SellRules pre-order or made-to-order purchase in Shopify? Find out what the hold covers, how to release it, when regular items can ship first, and what to check if a hold won't release or wasn't placed.
Hide cash on delivery at Shopify checkout only when the cart contains pre-order or made-to-order items. Decide when to turn it off, check which methods are hidden, set it up, and troubleshoot with test orders.
How to decide what share of the price to take as a deposit on pre-orders and made-to-order items, and when to charge the balance, based on your price, the money you pay out before shipping, the time until shipping and what you refund on cancellation. With a decision table, three worked examples and how to choose between a specific date and days after checkout.
Card authorizations on Shopify Payments expire after 7 days. If you ship within that window, capturing at fulfillment still gets you paid. For pre-orders a month or more out, choose between full payment up front, a deposit and balance, or charging at shipment, using a table based on your capture method and lead time and formulas you can fill in with your own numbers.
On Shopify, pre-order deposits and balance payments only work with Shopify Payments, PayPal Express, Adyen and Stripe (for some stores). See what happens to cash on delivery, bank transfer and Shop Pay, how to check your own store before switching to Pro, and what to do instead if your payments aren't supported.
Looking at pre-order figures but unsure what to change? Review sales, orders still needing work, stock and order caps on the same day each week, then choose 1 setting to change. Follow the process using SellRules Home and Order progress.
Regular items bought with pre-orders can ship first only on fully paid orders. Learn why deposits hold the whole order, how checkout calculates shipping, what to tell customers and how to test it.
Set up pre-order buttons, sign-up text, shipping estimates and notification emails for customers shopping in different languages on Shopify. Learn what SellRules translates automatically, what you need to write yourself, how to handle languages outside its 9 built-in languages and what to check in each language.
SellRules pre-order button missing from your product page? Start from what the page shows right now, then check the theme app embed, sales schedule, limits and free quota, and the theme's purchase form, in that order.
Compare Shopify pre-order apps on payment timing (full payment, deposits or pay later), sales rules, notifications and pricing. We checked the listings for Timesact, STOQ, Essent and SellRules on October 19, 2026 to see which stores each of the 4 apps suits.
Keep existing Shopify pre-orders in the old app and start only new pre-orders in the new one. Learn what to export, what will not transfer, how to reset Continue selling when out of stock, when to switch, how to switch back and what to check before uninstalling.
Collect email addresses before a Shopify product launch and let customers know when pre-orders or sales open. Learn what signup promises, how to change the SellRules form, which email arrives, how to test on Free and how to check subscribers after launch.
See when SellRules' 4 Shopify Flow triggers run and when they don't: back-in-stock signups, new pre-orders, sales phase changes and shipping delays. Set up internal email or Slack alerts, test without emailing customers, and check for duplicate notifications.
Start selling a Shopify product automatically at launch time. Compare scheduled publishing with SellRules Coming soon and Pre-order, set the dates, check what customers see when sales open, and handle changes to your launch date.
For a sold-out Shopify product, should you take pre-orders, make it to order, offer back-in-stock alerts or use Shopify's “Continue selling when out of stock”? A decision table based on restock timing and how many you can fill, what customers see, and how to move from alerts to pre-orders once the date is set.
The 5 things to decide before you take pre-orders on Shopify (products, dates and limit, ship-date wording, when you get paid, delay notices), and what customers see and receive, in order, once one product is set up in SellRules.