Selling Plans: How to Set One Up for Preorders and Backorders

A Selling Plan is a required setup in Shopify that enables you to sell products on preorder or backorder. It’s more than just a formality — it lets you customize how you handle partial payments, inventory management, shipping schedules, and discounts.

If you’ve never created one before, don’t worry — the app will guide you through it when you start adding preorder items under the Products tab.

Alternatively, you can create a new selling plan manually by heading to Settings > Selling Plans.

You’ll be prompted to give your plan a unique name. Once you’ve entered it, click the Create Selling Plan button at the bottom right.

Selling Plan Settings

After creating your plan, you'll see a range of settings to customize how preorders behave on your store. Here's a breakdown of each one:

📝 Selling Plan Name

This name appears in the cart, checkout, and order confirmation email. It’s required by Shopify.

📝 Selling Plan Description (Optional)

This shows up on the product page. While it’s optional, it’s great for giving customers more context — for example, mention discounts or shipping expectations.

🚚 Shipping Date

This lets you set when the item will be shipped. You’ve got a few flexible options:

▫ No Set Date

No shipping date is defined. Shopify will mark the order as Unfulfilled.

▫ Fixed Date

Choose a specific shipping date. Orders will be marked as Scheduled in Shopify.

▫ Period

Set a dynamic shipping window (e.g., "Ships 14 days from order"). Perfect for made-to-order items.

• Period Value: Enter a number (e.g., 5).
• Period Type: Choose the unit (e.g., days, weeks, months).

▫ Interval

Set a range with a start and end date for shipping.

💳 Billing Policy

Decide how you want to charge customers for their preorder.

▫ Full Payment

Charge 100% upfront.

▫ Partial Payment

Charge a portion upfront (from 0% to 99%). The remaining amount is collected later.

▫ Fixed Upfront

Charge a specific dollar amount at checkout, regardless of product price.

▫ Percentage Upfront

Charge a specific percentage (e.g., 25%) upfront.

▫ Final Payment Date

Choose the exact date to charge the remaining balance.

▫ Final Payment Time After Checkout

Set a time delay (e.g., "Charge balance 2 weeks after checkout").

📝 Selling Plan Option (Optional)

Only appears when partial payments are enabled. This message is shown on your product page — great for explaining payment breakdowns (e.g., “50% deposit, 50% later”).

🏷️ Discount

Set preorder-specific discounts. These apply at checkout, so it helps to mention them in the Selling Plan Description to manage expectations.

📦 Inventory Policy

Controls when inventory is subtracted from your stock:

• On Sale – Inventory is reduced immediately when the order is placed.
• On Fulfillment – Inventory is reduced only when the order is fulfilled.

🔁 Duplicating a Selling Plan

Need a similar plan? No need to start from scratch — just duplicate an existing one and update only what’s different.

🧾 Default Selling Plan Settings (If You Skip Customizing)

If you don’t manually configure a selling plan, the app will automatically apply these defaults:

1. Selling Plan Name: "Preorder item delivers as soon as available."
2. Selling Plan Description: (empty)
3. Shipping Date: No set
4. Billing Policy: Full payment upfront
5. Selling Plan Option: (empty, not shown)
6. Discount: None
7. Inventory Policy: On sale

Once you’re done configuring, hit Save Selling Plan at the bottom right. Your plan will now appear under Settings > Selling Plans.

Updated on: 11/07/2025