Accepting pre-orders

Use product waitlists to manage pre-orders from your store.

Last updated August 15, 2023

There's no built-in way to accept pre-orders for products that are out of stock. The best way to capture interest for sold-out products is to enable product waitlists, which sends an email to customers when items come back in stock.

If you choose to sell products before you have them in stock, either to anticipate your inventory needs or to raise money for production, follow the steps in this guide to let customers know that products won't ship right away.

Tip

If you’re new to Squarespace Commerce, visit Getting started with Squarespace Commerce for more information about setting up your store.

Add a product to your store

The steps to add a product that you'll be offering as a pre-order are the same as adding any product to your store. The main difference between regular products and pre-order products is in the product description and the add to cart button.

Set the stock level

When you add a product to sell as a pre-order, set the stock level higher than zero so products don’t appear to be out of stock. If you’re basing your stock level off customer interest, set the stock level to a high number so you can capture as much interest as possible.

Add pre-order details to the product description

In the product description field, let customers know when the item will ship. You can also link to your store’s terms and policies for more information about order cancellations, shipping, and returns.

Change the Add to cart button

By default, products details pages have an Add to cart button. You can edit the text to say Pre-Order instead. This is the best option if you’re ready to start accepting pre-order sales.

  1. In the product editor, scroll to Checkout, then click Custom Button. 
  2. Switch the toggle on beside Enable custom label
  3. Enter Pre-Order.
  4. Click Apply.

Repeat these steps for every product that will be sold as a pre-order.

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Enable product waitlists

Some shoppers might want to wait until the product is in stock to order it. Enable product waitlists to notify interested shoppers when products are in stock.

Fulfill orders

When the product is in stock, fulfill the orders from the Orders panel.

Next steps

Now that you’ve created a pre-order, you might want to:

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