From €19 / month
App Builder Early access
Describe a process in plain words and get a working app.
Coming soon on the Shopify App Store
← All apps
Preorders
Sell sold-out items with a deposit and a date
An app we built on Opvelo for a jewellery store that keeps selling pieces while they're out of stock, now open to any store that does the same. Customers pay a deposit and get a delivery date, and you get one list of what to order and who is waiting.
From€19 / month · Coming soon on the Shopify App Store
The problem
Preorders live in a spreadsheet and someone's memory
Taking preorders by hand means a spreadsheet of who paid a deposit, a date promised by email and a separate note of what still has to be ordered from the supplier. The invoice, the cash on delivery amount and the customer update all depend on someone remembering, and a missed step means a wrong charge or a broken promise.
- Deposits tracked by hand, so the courier sometimes collects the full price again
- Nobody sees which promised delivery dates are about to slip
- The supplier order is pieced together from paid orders one by one
How it solves it
How Preorders works
- 01
Offer preorder on sold-out items
Any sold-out variant you allow to oversell is open to preorder, read live from your Shopify stock. The product page shows a preorder notice and an estimated delivery date, and the cart marks the item as a preorder.
- 02
Collect the deposit
When the order arrives, Opvelo issues a deposit invoice for the percentage you set, 50% by default. Preorder items are held from fulfilment, and a cash on delivery order later collects only the balance.
- 03
Order from suppliers
Paid preorder lines add up into one list of SKUs and quantities still to order. You mark lines as ordered as you place them, and you're alerted when a delivery date is close, overdue, or a deposit is still unpaid.
- 04
Ship when stock lands
When stock arrives in Shopify, the waiting lines are marked arrived and customers whose deposit is settled get a 'getting ready to ship' email. The final invoice deducts the deposit already paid.
Example: Preorders
A Preorder App Built for One Jewellery Store
We built Preorders on Opvelo for Indira, a jewellery store that keeps selling pieces while they're out of stock. It takes a deposit, promises a date, lists what to order and ships when the stock lands, on the same orders, stock and invoices as everything else.
- Deposits collected and tracked on every preorder
- A delivery date promised for each order
- What to order, by SKU and quantity, ticked off as it's ordered
- Every sold-out variant open to preorder, read live from your store
Works well with
Every app runs on the same orders, stock and customers, so each one picks up the others' work as soon as you add it.
Free
Skills Early access
Processes your AI runs through Opvelo, from the marketplace.
Coming soon on the Shopify App Store
See Preorders on your own store
Book a demo and we'll walk you through it with your own products and orders.