Articles on: Timesact V2

Pre-Order

A purchase feature that replaces the Add to Cart button with a Pre-Order button, so shoppers can buy a product before it's available and have it shipped once it's ready.




Overview & core functionality


Pre-Order is one of Timesact's purchase features in v2. It replaces the Add to Cart or Sold Out button on your storefront with a Pre-Order button, and attaches a selling plan that defines when the customer is charged and when their order ships.


How it fits into v2


  • In v2, features and their configuration live inside a customer experience template, which you manage under the Experiences tab. A customer experience template is where you activate and set up the features for a campaign.
  • Features are independent building blocks. You can run Pre-Order on its own, or combine several features into one more complex customer experience template (for example Pre-Order together with Back in Stock). Not every combination is allowed; some features are mutually exclusive, for example Pre-Order and Coming Soon cannot both apply to the same product.
  • A single variant can have more than one customer experience template attached. They layer and combine, so the features from each customer experience template apply together on that variant.
  • Pre-Order, Backorder, and Made to Order are three purchase features that behave the same way. The only difference is the default button and badge label, so you can present products differently (for example "Pre-Order" on one set and "Made to order" on another). Every label is editable, so the default text is only a starting point.
  • The pre-order selling plan lives inside the customer experience template. The shipping date, billing policy, and any pre-order discount are all configured under Feature settings (covered below), instead of as a separate selling plan.
  • Pre-order availability is evaluated per variant, so the button a shopper sees depends on the selected variant's stock and configuration.
  • A customer experience template is reusable. As an example, you build one customer experience template once here, then assign many products to it later from the Adding Products.




Settings and setup


Step 1 — Start from a customer experience template or create your own


Timesact comes with ready-made customer experience templates, so you do not have to set everything up from zero. From the Experiences tab you can:


  • Use one of the provided customer experience templates as it is.
  • Open a provided customer experience template and edit it to fit your campaign.
  • Create your own: click Create customer experience, give it a name and an optional description.



Either way, you land on the customer experience template's configuration page.


Step 2 — Add the Pre-Order feature


  1. On the Features tab, click Add feature.
  2. Under Purchase, select Pre-Order. It will show as Active.
  3. You can add more features to the same customer experience template (for example Preorder or Back in Stock) and switch between them when configuring the storefront look. Keep in mind that some features are mutually exclusive, such as Pre-Order and Coming Soon.




Step 3 — Configure the storefront


Product page


  • At the top of the page you can switch between the features you've added, so each one's look is configured separately.
  • For Pre-Order you can configure:
    • Button — the appearance of the pre-order button
    • Message — the message shown for pre-order products
    • Badge — the pre-order badge appearance (disabled by default)
    • Timer — an optional countdown timer for pre-order products (disabled by default)



  • Pre-Order itself has no Notify Me pop-up form, that belongs to Back in Stock and Notify Me. If you want pre-order shoppers to also sign up to be notified, add Preorder or Back in Stock to the same customer experience template, and the two features work together on the product.


Collection page


  • Configures the storefront on collection pages, with the same building blocks: Button, Message, and Badge.



Cart page


Configures how pre-order items are presented in the cart. There are three sections:


  • Cart Label — the pre-order label shown on pre-order line items in the cart (default "Pre-order item delivers as soon as available."), editable in the Pre-Order Label field.
  • Cart Alert Pop-up — an optional confirmation pop-up shown for cart interactions (disabled by default). When enabled, the customer sees a notice they acknowledge before ordering. Configurable parts:
    • Enable toggle
    • Alert Content — Alert Title, Alert Message, Button Text, Dismiss Label
    • Button Styling — Button Background Color, Button Text Color
    • Trigger Settings — Show on button click, Show on cart page
  • Mixed Cart Alert Pop-up — an optional pop-up for carts that contain both pre-order and regular items (disabled by default), used to warn the shopper that the whole order ships once the pre-order item is ready. Same configurable parts as the Cart Alert Pop-up.




Step 4 — Admin settings


Feature settings


The Pre-Order tab in Feature settings is where the pre-order selling plan is built. Sections, top to bottom:


  • Stock Management — configure when pre-orders are available based on stock status:
    • Pre-order only when Out of Stock — 'Pre-Order' replaces 'Sold Out' when variant stock in Shopify reaches 0. When stock goes above 0 again, 'Pre-Order' is replaced by 'Add to Cart'.
    • Pre-order regardless of levels — 'Add to Cart/Sold Out' is immediately replaced by 'Pre-Order'. You can offer unlimited pre-orders or set a quantity limit; when the limit is reached, 'Pre-Order' reverts to 'Add to Cart/Sold Out'.
    • Pre-order only when Shopify inventory is available — 'Pre-Order' replaces 'Add to Cart' when variant stock is above 0. When stock reaches 0, 'Pre-Order' is replaced by 'Sold out' (the customer can no longer order) until inventory goes above 0.
  • Shipping — set the shipping date used by the selling plan and shown to customers:
    • As soon as possible — ship as soon as possible
    • Exact Date — set a specific shipping date
    • Period — set a shipping period
    • Interval — set a shipping interval
  • Billing — set the billing policy:
    • Full Amount — charge the full amount at checkout
    • Partial Payment — charge a partial amount at checkout
  • Pricing — set an optional pre-order discount:
    • No Discount — no discount applied
    • Amount — apply a fixed amount discount
    • Percentage — apply a percentage discount
  • Inventory Policy — choose when inventory is reserved:
    • On Sale — reserve inventory when the order is placed
    • On Fulfillment — reserve inventory when the order is fulfilled
  • Continue Selling — a single Auto-enable toggle. Automatically switches the variant's inventory policy to "Continue selling when out of stock" when pre-order activates, and reverts it when pre-order deactivates.


Markets & locations


  • Market scope — Global (all markets), Specific countries by ISO code, or specific Shopify markets
  • Inventory location scope — All locations, or Specific locations. Useful if you have multiple warehouses and want stock calculated from selected locations only.



Translations


  • Lets you translate the feature's storefront text. Covered in more detail in Translations.




Notifications


Set how the Pre-Order emails are sent on the Notifications tab. There are two channels:


Built-in notifications


  • Uses Timesact's built-in system. Emails are sent automatically, with no extra setup required.
  • The email itself (fonts, content, and merge variables) can be edited in the app's email settings. That configuration is covered separately in Notifications.


Klaviyo


  • Send notifications through Klaviyo for segmentation, personalized messaging, and reporting. Covered in Notifications.

Updated on: 07/01/2026

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