Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteThe dependable way to accept scheduled pre-orders is WooCommerce’s official Pre-Orders extension. It adds a product-level pre-order mode, an optional future availability date, customer messaging, and two payment choices: charge at checkout or charge when the product is released. WooCommerce’s built-in backorders are a different tool for selling currently unavailable stock; they do not provide the same release scheduling and payment workflow.
Choose the payment timing first, because automatic release-time charging depends on your gateway. The extension also isolates every pre-order in its own order, so a customer cannot combine it with ordinary products.
How do I enable pre-orders for a product in WooCommerce?
Install and configure the official WooCommerce Pre-Orders extension, then enable pre-orders in the product editor. The documented minimum environment is:
| Component | Minimum version |
|---|---|
| WooCommerce | 9.9 or higher |
| WordPress | 6.7 or higher |
| PHP | 7.4 or higher |
WooCommerce’s documentation describes the extension as a way to sell pre-orders for products and services in a WooCommerce store. Install it from your WooCommerce account’s Add to Store flow, then complete these steps.
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1. Configure the general pre-order settings
- In WordPress, open WooCommerce > Settings > Pre-Orders.
- Set the customer-facing button text and the wording that explains availability dates.
- Set the messages shown in product listings and the text that explains whether customers are charged upfront or upon release.
- On a staging or test site, use the extension’s option to disable automatic pre-order processing while you test. This prevents a test release from completing live orders.
2. Enable pre-orders on a product
- Edit a simple or variable product.
- Open the product’s Pre-Orders panel and enable pre-orders.
- Enter an optional future availability date and time.
- Enter an optional pre-order fee if your pricing model requires one.
- Choose when to charge: Upfront or Upon release.
- Update the product and check the customer-facing product page, cart and checkout.
For a variable product, the pre-order setting applies to all variations. The official extension cannot enable pre-orders for only selected variations. If you need variation-by-variation control, WooCommerce’s core backorder functionality is the documented alternative to investigate.
3. Decide how out-of-stock products should behave
The extension includes an option for compatible out-of-stock product types. For variable products, that behavior requires every variation to be out of stock; a single in-stock variation prevents the all-out-of-stock condition.
Choose when customers pay
Payment timing changes both the checkout experience and the gateway requirements.
| Choice | What the customer experiences | Gateway requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront | The customer pays during the normal checkout flow. | Use a gateway that accepts the order normally. |
| Upon release | No charge is taken at checkout. At release, the extension either charges a saved payment method or asks the customer to pay through an email link. | Automatic charging requires a compatible tokenized or saved-payment flow. Without one, use the payment-required email route. |
The gateway integration documentation requires tokenization for later automatic charging. Confirm the gateway’s current support before promising customers that their card will be charged automatically.
WooPayments limitation
WooPayments supports pre-orders when When to Charge is set to Upfront. Its compatibility documentation says charging upon release is not yet supported. Therefore, do not advertise automatic later charging with WooPayments; choose upfront payment or a gateway whose current integration explicitly supports release-time charging.
Gateways documented for automatic pre-order payments
The official Pre-Orders guide lists Authorize.net, Bambora, Braintree for WooCommerce, Chase Paymentech, CyberSource, Elavon Converge, First Data options, Global Payments HPP, GoCardless, Intuit options, Moneris, Opayo, Paya, PayFast, Stripe and Square. Gateway support can change, so verify the current compatibility documentation for your exact gateway, country and extension version.
Important cart and order rules
- Each order may contain only one pre-order product and no other products.
- If a customer adds a pre-order product to a non-empty cart, the extension empties the existing cart before adding the pre-order.
- A customer placing pre-orders for multiple products must submit separate orders.
Make this behavior visible in your store’s product and cart messaging. Otherwise, shoppers may think their other items disappeared or that several pre-orders can be checked out together.
Manage release dates and orders
Use the Pre-Orders administration screens to filter orders and perform bulk actions such as completion, cancellation and release-date changes.
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Changing a release date
You can change a product’s release date and optionally notify customers. Moving a date to the current time or a date in the past does not automatically complete the orders; complete or process them from the pre-order administration tools after confirming the release.
Failed release payments
For automatic release-time charging, monitor failed transactions and follow up with the customer. For pay-later orders, the customer receives a payment-required email link and must complete payment before fulfillment according to your store policy.
Cancellations and refunds
Cancelling an upfront-paid pre-order does not automatically reverse the payment. Issue the refund manually through the normal WooCommerce refund process, then cancel or otherwise close the pre-order as appropriate.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Subscriptions and recurring products
The documented Pre-Orders and Subscriptions combination requires Pre-Orders 2.2.0 or later and WooCommerce Subscriptions 6.7.0 or later. It does not support synchronized renewals or trial periods for products configured as pre-orders. Verify these constraints before using a pre-order subscription, especially when the first charge and renewal schedule must align with a launch date.
Testing checklist before you announce the launch
Run the complete journey on staging, with automatic processing disabled where appropriate:
- Open the product page and verify the pre-order button, date and payment message.
- Add the item to an empty cart, then try adding another product to confirm the cart-isolation message.
- Place a test order for each payment mode you intend to offer.
- Check the order confirmation and customer emails, including the release-date notice.
- Test the release workflow, including an automatic-charge success and a failed payment where your gateway supports them.
- Test cancellation and confirm that an upfront payment requires a separate manual refund.
- Confirm that changing a release date sends the intended customer notification and does not falsely imply that orders were completed.
When built-in backorders or another extension is a better fit
WooCommerce backorders
Use core backorders when you simply want to keep selling an out-of-stock item, particularly when you need control over individual variations. Backorders are not a substitute for the official extension’s scheduled release, payment-timing choices and pre-order administration workflow.
FMA Pre Order and Backorder
WooCommerce also documents FMA Pre Order and Backorder as an alternative. Its documented features include release dates, upfront or pay-later strategies, role restrictions, cart isolation and analytics. The available documentation does not establish a complete current comparison of price, gateway compatibility or every feature, so evaluate it against your requirements rather than treating it as a universal replacement.
Customizing the experience
Official hooks and filters can modify product messages, availability-date formatting, supported product types and gateway filtering. WooCommerce recommends using a Woo Agency Partner or Codeable developer for custom work and notes that customizations fall outside its normal support policy. Keep custom code in a maintained plugin or child-theme integration rather than editing the extension directly.
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