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Before enabling anything, check the software requirements, confirm how your payment gateway handles a later charge, and understand the one-pre-order-per-order cart rule. Those decisions determine what customers will experience.
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 extension requires WooCommerce 9.9 or newer, WordPress 6.7 or newer, and PHP 7.4 or newer.
- In your WooCommerce account, use Add to Store to install and activate WooCommerce Pre-Orders.
- Open WooCommerce > Settings > Pre-Orders and set the customer-facing labels and notices.
- Edit a simple or variable product. In its Pre-Orders panel, enable pre-orders.
- Optionally enter a future availability date and time, set a pre-order fee, and choose when payment is collected.
- Publish or update the product, then test the complete customer journey on a staging site.
The product-level setting applies to every variation of a variable product; it cannot enable pre-orders for only selected variations.
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What the official extension adds
WooCommerce describes the extension this way: “With WooCommerce Pre-Orders, you can sell pre-orders for products and services in your WooCommerce store.” In practice, it adds scheduled availability, payment-timing controls, release processing, customer messaging, and administrative tools that core backorders do not provide as a single workflow.
General customer messages
Under WooCommerce > Settings > Pre-Orders, configure the button text, availability-date wording, product-list messaging, and text explaining whether customers are charged upfront or upon release. Use language that states the expected release date and payment timing plainly.
Product settings
For each eligible product, the Pre-Orders panel can include an optional release date and time, an optional fee, and the payment schedule. A date is useful when you know the planned launch; leave it flexible only when your customer notice explains that timing may change.
Choose when to charge customers
Decide the payment flow before selecting a gateway. “Upfront” follows the normal checkout process. “Upon release” does not charge at checkout; a compatible gateway may charge a saved payment method later, or the extension can request payment by email.
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| Payment choice | Customer experience | What you need to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront | Payment is taken during checkout and the order remains a pre-order until release. | Your gateway must process the normal checkout transaction and your refund procedure must be clear. |
| Upon release with automatic charge | The gateway later charges the payment method saved at checkout when the product is released. | The gateway must support the extension’s tokenized or saved-payment flow. Support can change, so verify the current integration status. |
| Upon release with pay-later email | The customer receives a payment-required link when the item is ready. | Plan the email timing, payment deadline, and follow-up process for unpaid orders. |
The official integration documentation lists automatic-payment support for gateways including 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. Treat that list as a starting point and confirm compatibility for your current gateway and extension versions.
WooPayments limitation
WooPayments supports paying for a pre-order when When to Charge is set to Upfront. Its documented compatibility does not currently support charging customers upon release. Do not advertise automatic later charging with WooPayments unless its current documentation explicitly adds that capability.
Cart and order rules customers will notice
- Each order can contain only one pre-order product and no other products.
- Adding a pre-order product to a non-empty cart removes the existing cart contents.
- Customers who want several pre-order products must place separate orders.
Explain this on the product page or in your store’s ordering guidance. Otherwise, shoppers may believe they lost items accidentally or that several launches will ship together.
Release dates, completion, and refunds
Changing a release date
Pre-Orders administration lets you change a release date and optionally notify affected customers. Moving a date to the present or to a past time does not automatically complete the orders; complete them through the pre-order management screen after confirming that inventory and fulfillment are ready.
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Completing and cancelling orders
The admin screens support filtering and bulk completion, cancellation, and release-date changes. Set an internal checklist for inventory confirmation, customer notification, payment status, and fulfillment hand-off before bulk completion.
Refunds for upfront payments
Cancelling an upfront-paid pre-order does not automatically reverse the charge. Process the refund manually through the normal WooCommerce refund controls, then notify the customer according to your cancellation policy.
Variable products and out-of-stock products
Pre-order status applies to all variations of a variable product. If you need to pre-order only one variation, use WooCommerce core backorders for that variation instead of the extension’s product-wide pre-order setting.
The extension also offers an option for compatible out-of-stock product types. For variable products, every variation must be out of stock for that behavior to apply.
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Subscriptions: check the restrictions first
The documented subscription combination requires Pre-Orders 2.2.0 or later and WooCommerce Subscriptions 6.7.0 or later. Products configured as pre-orders do not support synchronized renewals or trial periods in that documented setup. Verify these constraints before promising a recurring pre-order plan.
A practical testing checklist
Use a staging site and a test gateway account where possible. The extension includes a setting to disable automatic pre-order processing on staging or testing sites.
- Open the product page as a customer and confirm the button, date, fee, and payment wording.
- Add the product to an empty cart, then try adding another product and observe the cart-isolation message.
- Place an order with the selected payment timing and inspect the confirmation and order emails.
- Test the release-date notice, date change, completion, and a failed payment path.
- For upfront payment, cancel a test order and verify that a refund requires a separate manual action.
- For release-time payment, verify either the gateway’s tokenized automatic charge or the pay-later email link.
Pre-orders versus core backorders and other extensions
| Option | Best fit | Important trade-offs |
|---|---|---|
| Official WooCommerce Pre-Orders | Scheduled launches with release dates, payment-timing choices, notices, and bulk order management. | One pre-order product per order; variable-product setting applies to all variations; gateway compatibility is required for automatic release charging. |
| Core WooCommerce backorders | Continuing to accept orders for an out-of-stock item, including variation-level control. | Not a complete scheduled-release and payment-notification workflow. |
| FMA Pre Order and Backorder | An alternative extension to investigate when you need release dates, upfront or pay-later strategies, role restrictions, cart isolation, or analytics. | Confirm current compatibility, features, and commercial terms before choosing it; the available documentation does not establish a complete head-to-head price comparison. |
When custom development is justified
Official hooks and filters can change product messages, availability-date formatting, supported product types, and gateway filtering. Use custom code only when the standard settings cannot express your workflow. WooCommerce recommends working with a Woo Agency Partner or a Codeable developer for this type of work and treats customizations as outside its normal support policy.
Operating the launch after setup
- Publish one clear release date or a clearly labelled estimate.
- Record which products use upfront payment and which use release-time payment.
- Monitor pre-order orders from the dedicated admin screens and filter by release date or status.
- Notify customers promptly when a date changes, a payment is due, or an order is cancelled.
- Before release, confirm inventory, gateway status, tax and shipping rules, and the refund owner.
- Complete orders in batches only after the release checks pass.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a customer combine a pre-order with in-stock items?
No. The official extension isolates each pre-order product in its own order, and adding one to a populated cart removes the other items.
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Can WooPayments charge a pre-order automatically on the release date?
Not according to its documented current compatibility. WooPayments supports upfront pre-order payment, not charging upon release.
Will cancelling an upfront pre-order refund the customer automatically?
No. The merchant must issue the refund manually through WooCommerce.
The Bottom Line
Use the official Pre-Orders extension when you need a genuine scheduled launch: configure the product, choose upfront or release-time payment only after checking gateway support, warn customers about isolated carts, and test release, payment, and refund paths before announcing the pre-order.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
