Pre-orders and supplier items

Pre-orders let customers pay for selected products before they are ready. Choose products, configure expected availability and connect the native purchase flow in Setup. Saving product selection, publishing purchase options and activating the feature are different checkpoints.

The three item types

• In stock. The item is on hand and can ship immediately. This is the default for any product Addora has not been told to hold. Nothing extra to configure.
• Pre-order. The item is sold before it is available, for example a product launching next month. Addora holds it until a release date arrives or you mark it ready.
• Supplier order. The item is ordered in from a supplier after the customer buys it, for example a made-to-order or drop-shipped product. Addora holds it until your supplier confirms stock, or until you release it by hand.

The basic flow

1. Tell Addora which products to hold by tagging them in Shopify or by connecting a product field another app already writes.
2. Choose how each item type becomes ready: on a date, when stock arrives, or when you manually mark it ready.
3. Current order handling offers Ship ready items first or Require separate carts; the native buyer path labels the mixed-cart choice Allow mixed carts. Older whole-order behavior remains until changed and saved. A reliable split is required for partial shipment; otherwise Addora conservatively keeps the affected order waiting.
4. As each held item becomes ready, Addora marks it available. You can do that from the Operations page, or Addora can do it automatically depending on your settings.
5. The customer sees the item move from waiting to ready on their Order Summary page, then chooses it for a shipment.

Turning it on

Follow the selected setup path through apply, connection verification and activation. Use Get live and test the storefront purchase option after publication. A legacy setup wizard or a badge alone does not establish that the native purchase flow is live.

Ready means available for shipment selection, not dispatched. Order-drawer actions affect that order only. Product Mark ready can update all affected purchases; quantity arrivals allocate only the received variant units to the oldest eligible purchases. Remaining units stay held, and product-wide and pinned order-date rules remain distinct.