Take pre-orders only for stock with a confirmed shipment. Show the expected week beside the price, cap orders at the quantity coming, charge in a way you can reverse, and write the late-shipment email before you need it.

Selling stock that is still in transit

The item everyone wants this December is on a shipment due in the second week of the month. The store can wait and sell it when the boxes arrive, or take orders now, while people are shopping.

Pre-orders catch buyers who would otherwise go elsewhere. They also turn a supplier's delay into the store's broken promise, a few days before Christmas, to someone buying a gift.

Which of the two happens is mostly decided before the first order is taken.

Where pre-orders go wrong

The fourth catches stores by surprise. A customer who orders an in-stock gift alongside the pre-order item finds that everything waits, and the in-stock gift misses Christmas too.

Label it everywhere

On the product page, the button should say pre-order rather than add to cart, and the expected shipping week should sit beside the price in plain words: expected to ship the week of December 11.

Repeat it in the cart, at checkout and in the confirmation email. A buyer who missed it on the product page should meet it twice more before paying.

Coming soon is not a date, and neither is a phrase buried in the third paragraph of the description. The same wording belongs in any email or social post that links to the item.

Dates you can keep

Start from the supplier's confirmed shipping date, then add the days it takes to receive, check and pack the stock, plus a margin for December.

Give a week rather than a day, and say expected. If the supplier has not confirmed a date in writing, do not take pre-orders yet.

Work out the latest order date that still gets the item delivered before Christmas. After that, stop offering the item as a Christmas gift, or say plainly that it will arrive later.

Cap the quantity

Set the pre-order stock to the number confirmed on the shipment, less a few for damage and miscounts. When those are gone, the button should stop.

Selling past the confirmed quantity disappoints some buyers by design, and they are the ones who ordered last, closest to the holiday.

A notice for the next shipment is better than an order you already know you cannot fill.

Charging fairly

There are three common ways to take the money: in full when the order is placed, as a deposit, or by holding the card and charging when the item ships.

Charging at shipping is the most comfortable for buyers, but a hold on a card lapses after a limited number of days, so ask your payment provider how long it lasts before relying on it.

Charging in full is fair when the refund route is clear and quick. Whichever you choose, say it at checkout, in one sentence, before the buyer pays.

Consumer protection rules in many provinces also give online buyers rights when goods arrive well after the promised date, one more reason to promise only what you can keep.

A worked example

A climbing gear store near a popular climbing area sells ropes, shoes, helmets and chalk in its shop and through a small online store.

Last year it took pre-orders for a new edition of the guidebook to the local crags, due from the printer in early December. The button said add to cart, and the description mentioned early December once.

The printer's date slipped by ten days. Every order had been charged in full, and carts that also held chalk bags and gift cards sat on a shelf, waiting for the book.

Buyers found out when they emailed to ask. Several had bought the book as a Christmas present.

This year's pre-orders, for a jacket due in mid-December, work differently. The button names the expected week, orders are capped at the quantity the distributor confirmed, and mixed carts ship their in-stock items straight away at the store's cost.

The email for a slipped date is already written: the new week, a choice of waiting, switching or a full refund, and a printable card showing the gift, for under the tree.

Mixed carts

Decide before taking orders whether a cart with both kinds of item ships as one parcel or two. Two parcels cost more, but the in-stock items arrive on time.

Many store platforms can split such orders, or let the buyer choose at checkout. Either way, say in the cart what will happen and who pays for the second shipment.

When the shipment is late

Tell buyers the same day the supplier tells you. Silence is what turns a delay into a complaint, while buyers who hear early can make other plans.

Offer real choices: wait for the new date, switch to something in stock, or take a full refund. For gifts, a printable card or a gift certificate gives the buyer something to hand over on the day.

Then update the product page at once, so new buyers see the new date before they order.

The counter-case

A store whose supplier rarely confirms dates, or whose stock arrives in unpredictable quantities, should skip pre-orders. A waiting list that emails people when the stock lands promises less and disappoints less.

Made-to-order items are a different case, with lead times the store controls. And a store with a handful of pre-orders can replace most of the system with a personal email to each buyer.

Where pre-orders do make sense, the rule is the same at any size: a confirmed date, a capped quantity, a clear charge and a plan for lateness.

Before the first pre-order

  1. Confirm the shipment date and quantity in writing.
  2. Change the button to say pre-order.
  3. Show the expected week beside the price.
  4. Cap orders at the confirmed quantity.
  5. Choose how to charge and say so.
  6. Decide how mixed carts will ship.
  7. Write the late-shipment email now.

Step seven is the one nobody does in a calm week, and the gap shows on December 20. An email written in advance is clearer, kinder and sent sooner than one drafted in a hurry.

Keeping a seasonal page at the same address from one year to the next is covered in a Black Friday page people find next year.

Frequently asked questions

Should a small store take holiday pre-orders?

Only for stock with a confirmed shipping date and quantity. Without that confirmation, a waiting list that emails people when the stock arrives promises less and disappoints less.

How should a pre-order be labelled?

With a button that says pre-order and the expected shipping week beside the price, repeated in the cart, at checkout and in the confirmation email.

When should I charge for a pre-order?

In full at ordering, as a deposit, or when the item ships. Card holds lapse after a limited time, so check with your payment provider, and state the choice at checkout.

What about carts with in-stock items too?

Decide beforehand whether they ship as one parcel or two, and say so in the cart. Splitting costs more but gets the in-stock gifts there on time.

What if the shipment arrives late?

Email every buyer the day you hear, with the new date and a choice of waiting, switching or a refund. For gifts, a printable card helps on the day.

How many pre-orders should I accept?

No more than the confirmed quantity on the shipment, less a few for damage and miscounts. When those are gone, the pre-order button should stop.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Taking orders for stock still in transit?

Send us the product page. We will check the labels, the checkout wording and the email for a late shipment.

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