Preorder
Preorder lets you sell WooCommerce products before they are in stock. Mark any product as a pre-order from the product editor and it stays purchasable even when out of stock — so shoppers reserve upcoming releases or restocks instead of bouncing.
Why stores pick Preorder
Section titled “Why stores pick Preorder”Preorder is one focused pre-order toggle with a release date and a custom button label — not a heavy suite. Pre-order products stay purchasable while out of stock, and cart and order lines are clearly flagged so fulfilment always knows which lines are reservations. The free edition is the full GPL product.
Highlights
Section titled “Highlights”- Per-product pre-order flag in Product data → General — mark any simple product as a pre-order.
- Optional release date per product, shown to shoppers as the estimated availability date.
- Custom add-to-cart label (for example “Pre-order now”), globally or per product.
- Stays purchasable while out of stock — pre-order products do not disappear when stock runs out.
- Cart and checkout show a clear pre-order line with the release date.
- Order line items flagged as pre-orders (order item meta) for fulfilment.
- Settings screen under WooCommerce → Pre-orders — global on/off, default button text, show/hide release date.
- Secure and translation ready — output escaped, input sanitised, nonce-protected forms, POT included, clean uninstall.
How pre-orders work
Section titled “How pre-orders work”Tick Pre-order on a product and it becomes purchasable even when its stock status is out of stock. The add-to-cart button label changes, an optional release-date notice appears, and the cart and order lines are flagged as pre-orders. Pause every pre-order at once with the global toggle under WooCommerce → Pre-orders — flagged products behave like normal products until you turn it back on.
Editions
Section titled “Editions”- Free on WordPress.org — pre-order flag, release date, custom button text, out-of-stock purchasability, cart and order flagging, settings screen.
- Pro (shipped: pre-order incentive discount) for rewarding early buyers; deposits, per-variation pre-orders and release emails are planned.
Next steps
Section titled “Next steps”- Getting started — install, mark a product as a pre-order, set defaults.