Articles on: Timesact V2

Shipping dates

The shipping date is not just a label. It sets the delivery commitment on the Shopify selling plan, it is shown to the customer, it determines how the order looks and behaves in your admin, and for deferred or partial payments it can drive when the balance is charged. This article covers all of that, from how you set it to what happens to the order. It is one of the reusable pre-order building blocks, for the overview see How Pre-Orders Work. Set it under Feature settings, Shipping.


The options


There are four ways to express when a pre-order ships.


  • As soon as possible — no fixed date. The storefront tells shoppers the item ships as soon as it becomes available, and on the selling plan the fulfillment timing is left open. Use it when you genuinely do not have a date.
  • Exact Date — a single fixed date, for example "Ships August 7." It is shown to the customer and set as the intended fulfillment date on the selling plan. Use it when you have a firm launch or restock date.
  • Period — a timeframe rather than a single day, for when you know the rough window but not the exact day.
  • Interval — a timeframe expressed relative to the order, so each order communicates a lead time from the purchase.


What it does behind the scenes


The date you set becomes the delivery policy on the Shopify selling plan that powers the pre-order. Shopify calls this the fulfillment trigger, and it is either "as soon as possible" or a specific date. This is Shopify's native signal for when the order is meant to be fulfilled, not just display text, so it travels with the order and is understood by Shopify, not only shown on the page.


How the order appears in your admin


When a shopper places a pre-order, the order is created immediately, and this is what you see:


  • Fulfillment status: Unfulfilled. The item is not shipped, it is a pre-order waiting for stock. Nothing ships automatically.
  • Payment status: Paid if you charged the full amount at checkout, or Unpaid / Partially paid if you used a deferred or partial payment (see Billing and Partial Payments).
  • The pre-order is identified by the selling plan attached to the line item, and by any pre-order label or line-item note you have configured.
  • The order sits in your Orders list like any other unfulfilled order. The shipping date is the intended fulfillment date, not an automatic lock.


Fulfilling a pre-order, and the impact


This is where the shipping date has real consequences, so it is worth being precise:


  • The shipping date is a commitment and an expectation. It does not physically prevent fulfillment on its own, Shopify will let you fulfill the order at any time. So if you fulfill early by accident, it will ship early.
  • To avoid shipping before you are ready, use Shopify's Hold fulfillment (on the order, the three-dot menu, Hold fulfillment), and release the hold when your stock arrives. This is the safe way to keep pre-orders from going out prematurely.
  • When your stock arrives, you fulfill the order like any normal order.
  • If the product is ready earlier than the date, you can ship early, and for deferred or partial payments you can collect the remaining balance early by modifying the payment due date or sending a payment request.
  • Mixed orders (a pre-order item together with an in-stock item) are treated as deferred as a whole. You can split the order into multiple fulfillments and ship the in-stock part first, then the pre-order part when it lands.


Consequences to be aware of


  • Customer expectations. The date is shown to the customer on the product page, at checkout, and on their order and confirmation. Missing it, or charging or shipping unexpectedly, leads to complaints and, for payments, chargebacks. If the date slips, update it and communicate the change.
  • Payment timing. For partial or deferred payments, when the balance is charged can be tied to the ship date. Charging a balance without clearly telling the customer is the most common cause of chargebacks on pre-orders, so communicate before collecting.
  • Inventory. Whether the pre-order reduces your stock now or only when you fulfill depends on your Inventory Policy, covered in .
  • Editing orders. You cannot add a new pre-order product to an order while editing it in Shopify, this is a Shopify limitation Inventory and Fulfillment.
  • If the date passes and you still cannot ship, update the shipping date and notify customers. The order stays Unfulfilled until you fulfill it, so nothing goes out on its own, but the expectation you set is now overdue, which is why keeping the date honest matters.


Scenario


Your Holiday Collection is due August 7. Set Exact Date to August 7. Every pre-order shopper sees that date on the product page and it is set as the fulfillment date on their order. The orders come in as Unfulfilled (and Unpaid or Partially paid if you deferred payment). You keep them on hold, and when stock lands you release the holds and fulfill, collecting any remaining balance at that point. If the date moves to August 14, you update it in Feature settings, it changes across the storefront, and you email customers so the new expectation is clear.


Known limitations


  • The shipping date is a commitment, not a hard fulfillment block by itself, use Hold fulfillment to enforce timing.
  • Pre-orders are not available through Shopify POS, on draft orders, or with certain local payment methods, these are Shopify platform constraints.



Updated on: 07/01/2026

Was this article helpful?

Share your feedback

Cancel

Thank you!