Keep selling while the next batch is on its way
Waitly turns the Buy button into a Pre-order button for the products you choose. Shoppers pay in full at checkout, and Shopify holds the order until you ship.
Trail runner, low
$140.00
Size: 9
Pay in full today. Ships around Nov 14.
Hand-finished in small runs. We’ll email tracking as soon as yours leaves the workshop.
Pre-order
Powered by Waitly
Paid in full, through Shopify’s own checkout
Waitly creates one Shopify selling plan for each preorder policy. The plan charges the full price at checkout and marks the order to be fulfilled later, so refunds, taxes and shipping all work the way they already do.
What it doesn’t do
Deposits, partial payments and preorder discounts aren’t part of Waitly today. Every preorder is paid in full, at the normal price.
Order tags for your team
Every order that contains a preorder is tagged waitly-preorder, so it’s easy to filter in Shopify and in your fulfilment tools.
Add your own tag per policy too, like winter-drop. Waitly adds tags but never removes one. Growth
Track what’s owed
The Preorders page lists every preorder with its status, read straight from Shopify’s fulfilments, refunds and cancellations: waiting, partly shipped, shipped or cancelled.
Policies decide what takes preorders
A policy is a named set of rules. Make one for each kind of preorder you run, like “Winter jackets” or “Made to order”. Only you see the name; shoppers see “Pre-order”.
Offer preorder on
Any product or variant that matches one of these.
- Collection: Outerwear
- Tag: made-to-order
- Product: Trail runner, low
Except
Leave out anything that matches one of these, even if it matches above.
- Variant: Harbor overshirt / XS
- Tag: final-sale
- Match by
- Product, variant, collection or tag. Products you add to a matching collection or tag later are covered automatically, usually within a minute.
- Products this policy covers
- A live count and list of exactly which products and variants the rules reach, so there are no surprises.
- Overlapping policies
- If another policy already covers some of the same products, Waitly warns you before you save. The older policy keeps them.
- Theme check
- Waitly checks that the Pre-order block is actually on your product page, and tells you if it isn’t.
When preorder runs
Each policy has a switch to offer preorder, and a choice of when it applies.
Only while a variant is sold out
Preorder switches on for a variant when its stock reaches zero, and off again the moment stock arrives. Your normal Add to cart comes back by itself.
Whenever this policy is on
For products you only ever sell ahead, like made-to-order pieces. Preorder runs until you switch the policy off.
Between these datesGrowth
Open and close preorders at a set date and time, in your shop’s time zone. Good for a drop with a fixed window.
Maximum units per product
Cap how many units a policy can sell, counting all variants of a product together. When the cap is reached, preorder stops for that product. A cancelled or refunded unit is given back, so the cap always reflects what you actually owe.
What shoppers see Growth
On the free plan the block shows the Pre-order badge and “Pay in full today. This item ships later.” Growth adds a ship estimate and your own message of up to 200 characters.
| Ship estimate | The product page says |
|---|---|
| None | Pay in full today. This item ships later. |
| A date | Pay in full today. Ships around Nov 14. |
| A range of dates | Pay in full today. Ships Nov 14 – Nov 28. |
| A time after the order | Pay in full today. Ships 3 weeks after you order. |
The estimate is copied onto each preorder when it’s placed, so you can see what each shopper was promised.
Oat fleece, heavyweight
$96.00
Pay in full today. Ships 3 weeks after you order.
Each one is cut and sewn after you order.
Pre-order
Brass reading lamp
$120.00
Pay in full today. This item ships later.
Pre-order
Powered by Waitly
Turn your next sold-out week into a week of orders.
Preorders are on every plan, from 20 a cycle on Free to unlimited on Pro.