HKD stores/Hong Kong-based merchants who wish to use this feature have to purchase the
"Advanced Pre-Order" module or subscribe to "All-in-one OMO" plan or above.
Merchants who don't have the aforementioned module/plan but need to supply with negative inventory, please refer to: Accept Orders When Out of Stock.
With the rapid growth of online store sales, product shortages come along. By enabling this feature, you can set a "preorder limit" for products, allowing customers to place orders even when the product inventory is ≤ 0 without having the product oversold. Subsequently, you can manage products with negative inventory to decide the quantity to be restocked. Customers can also assess the estimated delivery time for preorders and make their purchasing decisions accordingly.
⚠️ Before you start, please be reminded:
- The system will first sell in-stock items (i.e., Online Stock) by default. Preorders are only allowed when there is no stock available.
- Enable this feature and select "The preorder product is available for an unlimited supply," which aligns with the Accept Orders When Out of Stock feature. Therefore, once activated, the system will hide the Accept Orders When Out of Stock feature from the Admin.
- This feature currently does not support Retail POS plans (excluding the O2O plan and ONE Omni Channel).
This article will cover the following:
1. Enable the Preorder Feature
The setup can be divided into two parts: Without product variation, With product variation, and Bulk Upload Products. Please refer to the corresponding steps below to proceed with your configuration.
i. Without product variation
Step 1
In the SHOPLINE Admin, go to [Products & Categories] > [Products] > [⊕ Add / Edit]. If the product does not have any variations set, please proceed to the "Quantity & Pricing" tab.
Step 2
Switch on the "Preorder Feature" toggle.
*Note: "Preorder Feature" and "Unlimited Quantity (Do not track Inventory)" cannot be switched on simultaneously.
- Preorder Feature: Enable preorders when the product is "out of stock," and you can set a Preorder Limit to prevent the product from being oversold.
- Unlimited Quantity (Do not track Inventory): The product is available in unlimited supply and there is no 'out of stock' scenario.
Step 3
Enter "Preorder Product Note." This note will be displayed on the product page when the inventory is insufficient.
*Note: The supported languages for Preorder Product Note are the same as that of the SHOPLINE Admin > [Settings] > [Basic Settings] > Supported Shop Languages.
ii. With product variation
Step 1
In the SHOPLINE Admin, go to [Products & Categories] > [Products] > [⊕ Add / Edit]. If the variations of the product have been set, please proceed to the "Variations" tab.
Step 2
Switch on the "Preorder Feature" toggle.
*Note: "Preorder Feature" and "Unlimited Quantity (Do not track Inventory)" cannot be switched on simultaneously.
- Preorder Feature: Enable preorders when the product is "out of stock," and you can set a Preorder Limit to prevent the product from being oversold.
- Unlimited Quantity (Do not track Inventory): The product is available in unlimited supply and there is no "out of stock" scenario.
Step 3
Enter "Preorder Product Note." This note will be displayed on the product page when the inventory is insufficient.
*Note: The supported languages for Preorder Product Note are the same as that of the SHOPLINE Admin > [Settings] > [Basic Settings] > Supported Shop Languages.
iii. Bulk upload products
Step 1
Go to the SHOPLINE Admin panel and navigate to [Products & Categories] > [Products] > [Import] > [Bulk Import/Update].
Click on Export Product Bulk Import File. For more details, please have a look at Bulk Upload Products (New).
Step 2
Find the "Preorder Item (Preorder Feature)" field, enter "Y" to enable this feature, and set the "Preorder Note" for it. When the product inventory is insufficient, this note will be displayed on the product page.
*Note: The supported languages for Preorder Product Note are the same as that of the SHOPLINE Admin > [Settings] > [Basic Settings] > Supported Shop Languages.
2. Set the Preorder Limit
To prevent the preorder quantities from exceeding the product's available supply, you can set a preorder limit to manage negative inventory.
- The total available for sale in the online store = Available stock + Preorder limit (Maximum negative inventory)
- The preorder limit only represents the maximum negative inventory and does not equal the actual preorder quantity (e.g. Preorder limit "5" = Maximum negative inventory "-5").
- If your online store and retail store have a shared warehouse and you use the POS app to receive stock, please make sure to modify the quantity of "Preorder Limit" in SHOPLINE Admin to prevent discrepancies between the preorder quantity on your online store and your actual inventory and purchase quantity.
- For a more detailed illustration of the preorder limit, please see the examples in 3. Note. And to learn more about inventory, please refer to Inventory Management (New).
i. Without product variation
Following the Preorder Feature setup, for those who haven't set up their product variations, you can go to [Quantity & Pricing] > [Preorder Limit (Out-of-stock Quantity Limit)] and select "The preorder product is available for an unlimited supply" or "The preorder product is NOT available for an unlimited supply".
A. The preorder product is available for an unlimited supply
Select the option "The preorder product is available for an unlimited supply" and there will be no preorder limit for this product. Orders can be placed without limit as long as the product is listed in the online store. Upon confirmation, click Update.
For example, 10 (Online Stock) plus "The preorder product is available for an unlimited supply" represents an unlimited total available for sale in the online store.
B. The preorder product is NOT available for an unlimited supply
Select the option "The preorder product is NOT available for an unlimited supply" and there will be a preorder limit for this product. Please enter the quantity available for preorder in the provided box and click Update after confirming.
For example (see below), 0 (online stock) plus 5 (the preorder product is NOT available for an unlimited supply) is 5 (the total available for sale in the online store); the online store's maximum negative inventory is -5.
ii. With product variation
Following the Preorder Feature setup, for those who have set up their product variations, you can go to [Variation] > Preorder Limit (Out-of-stock Quantity Limit) and select "The preorder product is available for an unlimited supply" or "The preorder product is NOT available for an unlimited supply".
A. The preorder product is available for an unlimited supply
Select the option The preorder product is available for an unlimited supply and there will be no preorder limit for this product. Orders can be made without limit as long as the product is listed in the online store. Upon confirmation, click Update.
Please see the table and the illustration below for greater clarity, where the product comes in three different variants: large, medium, and small.
| Variant/Variation | Online stock | Preorder limit | The total available for sale in the online store | Maximum negative inventory |
| Large | 3 | Unlimited | Unlimited | No upper limit |
| Medium | 3 | Unlimited | Unlimited | No upper limit |
| Small | 3 | Unlimited | Unlimited | No upper limit |
B. The preorder product is NOT available for an unlimited supply
Check the box The preorder product is NOT available for an unlimited supply and there will be a preorder limit for the product. Please enter the available preorder quantity for each variant in the blank of [Variant (List)] > [Preorder Limit] and click Update upon confirmation.
Please see the table and the illustration below for greater clarity, where the product comes in three different variants: large, medium, and small.
| Variant/Variation | Online stock | Preorder limit | The total available for sale in the online store | Maximum negative inventory |
| Large | 3 | 2 | 3 + 2 = 5 | -2 |
| Medium | 0 | 3 | 0 + 3 = 3 | -3 |
| Small | 3 | 2 | 3 + 2 = 5 |
-2 |
iii. Bulk upload products
Following the Preorder Feature setup, find the "Unlimited Preorder Supply" and "Preorder Limit" fields.
-
Unlimited Preorder Supply:
- Enter "Y" to set no preorder limit for this product, and you can accept unlimited orders when publishing it in the online store.
- Enter "N" and then proceed to set the preorder limit, which is the quantity available for preorder.
- Preorder Limit: Enter the quantity available for preorder, for example, 5, which means that the maximum negative inventory for this product is -5.
*Note: If you enter "N" for the "Unlimited Preorder Supply" field but do not set the Preorder Limit, the Preorder Limit will be set as 0 by default.
3. Notes
-
The preorder limit only represents the maximum value of negative inventory and does not equal the actual preorder quantity or the total available for sale in the online store. Changing the inventory may lead to an increase or decrease in the actual preorder quantity and the total available for sale in the online store. Please refer to the following examples for clarification.
-
Example A (Operating sequence from top to bottom)
Sequence of events Product quantity Preorder limit The total available for sale in the online store Online store's initial inventory 0 5 5 Customer A buys 4 items 0 - 4 = -4 5 1 5 items are restocked in the online store -4 + 5 = 1 5 6 Edit customer order for Customer A and 1 item is returned 1 + 1 = 2 5 7 Customer B buys 7 items 2 - 7 = -5 5 0
-
Example B (Operating sequence from top to bottom)
Sequence of events Product quantity Preorder limit The total available for sale in the online store Online store's initial inventory 10 5 15 Customer A buys 4 items 10 - 4 = 6 5 11 Remove 10 items from the online store's inventory 6 - 10 = -4 5 1 Edit customer order for Customer A and 1 item is returned -4 + 1 = -3 5 2 Customer B buys 2 items -3 - 2 = -5 5 0
-
- This feature currently does NOT support:
- Retail POS plans (excluding the O2O plan and ONE Omni Channel)
- Orders created manually in SHOPLINE Admin
- Product Set/ Add-ons/ Free Gifts
-
Buy Online, Pick Up In-store
- The order confirmation email received by customers will display a preorder notification, but it will not show the quantity of the preorder product.
-
Once this feature is enabled, the system will automatically make the following adjustments:
Current Product Status Before enabled After enabled Adjustments "Accept orders when out of stock" OFF
"Preorder Feature" OFF
- Can NOT deduct negative inventory.
- For available products, the storefront will display "ADD TO CART.
Same as left N/A "Accept orders when out of stock" ON
"Preorder Feature" OFF
- Can deduct negative inventory.
- For available products, the storefront will display "ADD TO CART".
With positive inventory, the storefront will display "ADD TO CART";
With negative inventory, the storefront will display "PREORDER NOW".
- Preorder Feature is enabled.
- Unlimited supply is enabled by default.
"Accept orders when out of stock" OFF
"Preorder Feature" ON
- Can NOT deduct negative inventory.
- For available products, the storefront will display "PREORDER NOW".
With positive inventory, the storefront will display "ADD TO CART";
With negative inventory, the storefront will display "PREORDER NOW".
- Preorder Feature is enabled.
- Preorder limit is 0 (Can not accept when out of stock; please set the preorder limit).
"Accept orders when out of stock" ON
"Preorder Feature" ON
- Can deduct negative inventory.
- For available products, the storefront will display "PREORDER NOW".
With positive inventory, the storefront will display "ADD TO CART";
With negative inventory, the storefront will display "PREORDER NOW".
- Unlimited quantity is disabled.
- Preorder Feature is enabled.
- Unlimited supply is enabled by default.
- For products that have previously enabled the Preorder Feature, regardless of being set for unlimited or limited supply, disabling the Preorder Feature will result in re-enabling the old "Preorder Product Settings" and disabling "Accept orders when out of stock". At this point, customers can only purchase products with positive inventory, but these will be identified as preorder items.
- The system does NOT support the existing orders placed before this feature is enabled, and the existing orders will not display any preorder notifications or related changes that ensue.
Read more
- [Coming Soon] Feature Display on the Storefront｜Preorder Limit
- [Coming Soon] In-stock/ Preorder Products Shipped Separately｜Preorder Limit
- Inventory Management (New)
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