Articles on: Timesact V2

Stock management

Stock Management decides when the Pre-Order button shows, worked out per variant from the variant's Shopify stock. It is one of the reusable pre-order building blocks, for the overview see How Pre-Orders Work. You set it under Feature settings.


How it works


Timesact works out a status for each variant from its Shopify stock and the mode you choose, and the storefront shows the matching button. There are three modes.


Mode 1 — Pre-order only when out of stock


Pre-Order replaces Sold Out once the variant's Shopify stock reaches 0, and reverts to Add to Cart when stock goes above 0.


  • Scenario: a variant has 8 units. Shoppers see Add to Cart and buy normally. The 8th sells, stock hits 0, the button becomes Pre-Order. You restock 20 units and it flips back to Add to Cart.
  • Use it as a safety net, so you never show Sold Out and never lose the sale when you run out.


Mode 2 — Pre-order regardless of levels


Pre-Order shows immediately, in stock or not. Add to Cart or Sold Out is replaced right away.


  • Scenario: a launch product with 0 stock on hand. From the moment you assign it, every shopper sees Pre-Order and can reserve it.
  • You can cap how many pre-orders to accept. Once the cap is reached, the button reverts to Add to Cart or Sold Out. See Pre-order Limit.
  • Use it for launches and campaigns where you always want the item presented as a pre-order for a window of time.


Mode 3 — Pre-order only when inventory is available


Pre-Order shows only while the variant has stock above 0, and becomes Sold Out when stock reaches 0.


  • Scenario: you have 50 units and want to pre-sell them as pre-orders rather than normal sales. While stock is above 0, shoppers see Pre-Order. When the 50th sells, it becomes Sold Out and no more can be ordered.
  • Use it to sell a limited allocation on pre-order terms, then stop cleanly when it is gone.


Active vs Pending


Each variant shows a status in the admin that reflects the mode and its current stock:


  • Active: the variant's stock condition is met right now, so the Pre-Order button is live.
  • Pending: the customer experience template is set up correctly but the stock condition is not met yet, so the storefront still shows the normal button. Pending is not an error, it is the feature waiting for the right stock level.


Because status is per variant, a product can have some variants Active and others Pending at the same time. The button a shopper sees depends on the variant they select.


How the quantity a shopper adds affects pre-order


Pre-order is decided per variant from that variant's Shopify stock and the mode you picked, not from how many units a shopper puts in their cart. A single line is either a normal purchase or a pre-order for everyone, it is not split into an "in-stock part" and a "pre-order part."


So if a variant has 5 in stock and a shopper adds 15, the line follows the variant's current state. While the variant still reads as in stock, the whole quantity is a normal purchase and the extra units are not separately marked as pre-order. Once the variant's stock reaches 0, it switches to Pre-Order (in the out-of-stock mode) and shoppers pre-order from then on.


To sell a fixed number of units on pre-order terms, set the variant's stock in Shopify admin → Products → the variant → Inventory to the amount you will allow, then in the Timesact app, under Feature settings → Stock Management, choose "Pre-order only when inventory is available." The variant is offered as a pre-order while that stock lasts and becomes Sold Out when it runs out. To cap how many pre-orders you accept regardless of stock, use the pre-order limit instead (see Pre-Order Limit, counted per variant).


With inventory locations


If you scope the customer experience template to specific inventory locations, only those locations' stock is counted when deciding Active vs Pending.


Scenario: you scope to your US warehouse only. The variant flips to Active when the US warehouse hits 0, even if another warehouse still has units.



Updated on: 07/13/2026

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