Shipping dates

The shipping date is not just a label. It sets the delivery commitment Shopify records on the pre-order, it is shown to the customer, it decides how the order looks and behaves in your admin, and for deferred or split payments it can drive when the balance is charged. This article covers all of it, 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. You set it under Functionality 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 Shopify's fulfillment timing on the order 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 Shopify stores on the order. Use it when you have a firm launch or restock date.
• A set time from checkout — a timeframe rather than a single day, for when you know the rough window but not the exact day.
• A time range from checkout — a timeframe expressed relative to the order, so each order communicates a lead time from the day of purchase.

What it does behind the scenes

The date you set becomes Shopify's fulfillment trigger for the order, its own native signal for when the order is meant to be fulfilled. That trigger is either "as soon as possible" or a specific date, so it travels with the order and is understood by Shopify, not just shown on the page.

One nuance worth knowing: only Exact date gives Shopify a real scheduled date. As soon as possible, A set time from checkout, and A time range from checkout leave the trigger open, so in your admin those orders behave like a normal order to fulfill (Shopify shows its standard "fulfill by" deadline) rather than a scheduled future date. A set time from checkout and A time range from checkout still set the estimate the customer sees, they just do not schedule the order in Shopify. If you want the order itself to show a future scheduled date, use Exact date.

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 split payment (see Billing and Split payments).
• The pre-order is identified by the pre-order details 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.
• A "fulfill by" deadline on the order that does not match your shipping date is Shopify's, not ours. It comes from the delivery expectation on the shipping rate the shopper chose, so a carrier calculated rate such as FedEx Home Delivery or UPS Ground carries that carrier's estimate while a flat rate with no estimated delivery time usually shows none. Timesact never sets a fulfil by date, and nothing ships until you fulfill it. To change what those orders show, go to Shopify admin, Settings, Shipping and delivery, open the profile the product is in, open the rate for the location that fulfils it, and adjust or clear its estimated delivery time.

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 split 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 tell customers.
• 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 When to reduce stock, covered in Inventory and Fulfillment.
• Editing orders. You cannot add a new pre-order product to an order while editing it in Shopify, this is a Shopify limitation.
• 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 Functionality settings, it changes across the storefront, and you send the built-in Shipping delay email so the new date reaches everyone who already ordered — see Notifications - Built in.

Changing the date after pre-orders have come in

When you update the shipping date in Functionality settings → Shipping, the new date shows on the storefront and applies to pre-orders placed from that point on. Orders that customers have already placed keep the date they were created with — changing the functionality setting does not rewrite the date already recorded on an existing pre-order. So moving a date from July to September updates what new shoppers see; it does not change the date on orders already sitting in your Orders list.

To tell customers who have already pre-ordered about the new date, use the built-in Shipping delay email:

1. In the Timesact app, open Notifications from the main app sidebar (not the Notifications inside a customer experience template).
2. Under Pre-order, open the Shipping delay email. Edit the wording however you like — the {{shipping\\\\_date}} variable inserts the new shipping date for you, and {{order\\\\_name}} and {{product\\\\_title}} personalize each message.
3. Click Send Test to email yourself a copy first, then set the email Live so it goes out.

If instead you only need to move the payment due date on a split-payment order, not the ship date, that is a separate, per-order step in Shopify admin, see Modify Charge Date.

Ending a pre-order, and the orders you have already taken

Removing the product from its customer experience template, turning the functionality off, or taking the product out of the app changes what the next shopper sees and leaves your existing orders alone. The shipping date and the payment terms are written onto the order when the shopper checks out, so those orders keep the same date, the same terms and their pre-order tag, which means the campaign stays findable in your Orders list afterwards.

One thing moves on its own, and it is worth expecting: until the shipping date arrives the order is a commitment for a future date, and once that date arrives or passes the order simply sits in your Orders list as an ordinary order waiting to be fulfilled. Nothing has been undone and nothing ships by itself. If a date needs to move on orders already placed, reach out with the orders and the date you want and we will go through it with you.

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.

Related

• How the item is charged before it ships, and when the balance is collected: Billing and Split payments
• When your available quantity is reduced and how fulfillment is deferred: Inventory and Fulfillment
• Overview of all the building blocks: How Pre-orders Work

Updated on: 08/12/2026