From creating selling schedules to pre-orders, made-to-order, back-in-stock notifications, and order management — explained step by step.
SellRules manages a product's sales in stages — “coming soon → pre-order / made-to-order → regular sale” — and automatically switches the storefront buy button to match each stage.
Collect emails or take pre-orders before launch, or keep selling sold-out products as made-to-order — so there is never a moment when a product "can't be sold".
Admin navigation: Home / Schedules / Order Progress / Rules / Waitlist / Notification Log / Settings.
Install SellRules from the Shopify App Store.
Go to Online Store → Themes → Customize → App embeds and enable SellRules. This activates the storefront button switching.
In Settings, configure the sender name and default language for notification emails.
We recommend creating one schedule on a test product first to confirm how it works.
In “Schedule,” set the sales stages and dates for each product.
The stage for collecting email addresses before launch and announcing restocks and launches.
The stage for taking orders before launch (paid upfront).
The stage where you produce and ship after an order comes in.
The regular add-to-cart stage.
Go to Schedules → New and select the target product (or variant).
Enter the start date for the announcement, the pre-order (or made-to-order), and the regular sale.
Once saved, the buy button switches automatically at the set date and time. The calendar view lists the schedule for all products.
To change the dates of multiple products at once, use Bulk Edit.
The product page's buy button switches automatically to match each stage (notify sign-up / pre-order / made-to-order request / regular add to cart).
You can customize the button labels from Settings or the theme app embed.
If the button does not appear, check that the theme app embed is enabled.
Use this for products you make and ship after an order, without holding stock. Set the made-to-order stage in the schedule and the buy button switches to a made-to-order request.
When creating the schedule, set the made-to-order stage and an estimated shipping time (in days).
Orders you receive are tracked as made-to-order in Order Progress.
You can set rules that automatically switch a product to pre-order, made-to-order, or waitlist when its inventory reaches zero — preventing lost sales due to stockouts.
Inventory-linked switching works by monitoring the inventory limit you set inside the app.
From Rules, set per-order and per-customer purchase limits as well as payment-method restrictions.
Select the products (or variants) the rule applies to.
Enter the maximum quantity per order and the cumulative maximum per customer.
Set VIP-only sales (customers with a specific tag) or restrict payment methods for pre-order and made-to-order orders.
Set the "per-customer limit" to be greater than or equal to the "per-order limit". If it is lower, customers effectively cannot purchase, which is a contradictory configuration.
During the coming-soon stage or when an item is out of stock, customers can register their email address. You can review sign-ups in the “Notify list.”
When pre-orders open or stock arrives, registrants are automatically notified by email.
You can edit email templates for each purpose — order confirmation, shipping notice, delay alert, back-in-stock notification, and more.
Edit the subject and body of each template from Settings. Templates support 9 languages, and you can vary the content per language.
Check sent and pending notifications in the Notification Log.
In Order Progress, manage the progress of pre-order and made-to-order orders in one list.
Review the current stage, any delays and the planned ship date in one list.
Change the estimated ship date when needed. If you push it back, you can send a delay notification to the customer (both single and bulk are supported).
Print packing slips, or bulk-fulfill orders in Shopify.
On “Home,” the dashboard shows how many products are in each stage and your latest activity.
You can review or change your pricing plan and billing status from Settings.
For questions, please also check the FAQ and the Changelog (update history).
Contact us via SellRules → Settings → contact form in your Shopify admin, or through the Support link on the App Store.