--- title: Preorders slug: oms/preorders docTags: createdAt: 2026-05-12T15:16:18.457Z --- ## Preorders Preorders are products customers can buy now but ship later (for example, a launch on a specific date). Payment is captured at checkout as normal; the shipment is **held **in the OMS and not sent to your fulfillment service until the release date. ### Marking a product as a preorder Open the product in **Products → \[product]** and set the **Preorder Release Date** field. From the moment that date is set, any new order containing this product is held — it stays in the OMS but is **not** sent to your fulfillment service until the release date. :::BlockQuote If a product has no release date, or the date is today/past, it ships normally. ::: ### The Preorders dashboard **Orders → Preorders** This page lists every held preorder shipment so you can see what's pending. Use it to: - **Filter by product** — narrow to a single preorder product. - **Filter by release date** — drill in from the calendar to see everything releasing on a given day. - **See the pending count** — how many shipments are waiting to release. - **Send one order early** — click *Send* on a single row. - **Send several at once** — tick the checkboxes (or *Select all*) and click *Send Selected*. ### Calendar View Click Calendar View to see upcoming preorder volume by release date. Each day shows the number of held shipments releasing that day; click a day to jump to that day's preorders in the list. The calendar is read-only — release orders from the list view. ### Audit Trail When you manually send a preorder before its date, the OMS records: - **Who** released it (your admin email) - **When** you released it - **The release date that was in effect** at the time You can see these audit fields on the order's detail page. This is useful for resolving customer questions later ("why did mine ship on Tuesday?"). ### Mixed orders & split shipments By default, if an order contains **both** in-stock items and a preorder item, the whole order is held together until the preorder releases — the in-stock items wait too. Your store can optionally turn on **split shipments**, which ships the in-stock items right away and holds only the preorder items: - In-stock items go into a shipment that ships immediately. - Each preorder item is held in its own shipment until its release date. - Items with **different** release dates each get their own shipment. Shipping is charged once per order; the held preorder shipment ships at no additional shipping cost. ### Automatic release If you do nothing, preorder shipments are released to your fulfillment service automatically on or after their release date — the same background job that handles normal fulfillment picks them up. ## Troubleshooting **An order is paid but the preorder hasn't shipped** Check in this order: 1. **Is it still a future release date?** If any line-item product has a future *Preorder Release Date*, the shipment is held on purpose until that date. You can force-release it from **Orders → Preorders** with *Send*. 2. **Is the shipment ready?** Open the order; the shipment must be in the *Ready* state. 3. **Is the stock location set up to fulfill?** The shipment's stock location must be routed to a fulfillment service in **Settings → Stock Locations**. 4. **Approved and out of the hold window?** Orders are held for a short window after checkout (default \~60 minutes). Check the order's completion time. If none of the above explains it, contact engineering with the order number. **I released a preorder early but it didn't ship** Sending only removes the preorder hold. The shipment still has to be *Ready*, on a stock location routed to a fulfillment service, and outside the hold window. If those are all true and it still hasn't gone, see the checklist above. **The in-stock items in a mixed order aren't shipping** Without split shipments, an order containing a preorder item is held as a whole until the preorder releases. Turn on split shipments (see *Mixed orders & split shipments*) to ship the in-stock items right away and hold only the preorder items. **I cleared a product's release date but old orders still show as preorders** Held shipments become eligible to ship on the next fulfillment run after the date is cleared or moved to today/past. There may be a short delay until that run. ## FAQ **Does the customer see anything different at checkout?** No. The preorder hold happens after the order is placed. Customers check out normally. **Does enabling preorders change anything for products that aren't preorders?** No. Products without a release date ship exactly as they do today. The preorder hold and split-shipment behavior only apply to products you've given a future release date. **Can I bulk-release every held preorder at once?** Yes — use the *Send Selected* bulk action on the Preorders page. There's no separate "release all" button; this is deliberate, so you have to confirm what you're releasing. **A customer ordered an in-stock item and a preorder item — why hasn't the in-stock item shipped?** Without split shipments, an order containing a preorder item is held as a whole until the preorder releases. Turn on split shipments to ship the in-stock items right away and hold only the preorder items.