📀 This guide is for users of the new customer experience.
Preorders let customers place orders for upcoming delivery events; they're perfect for seasonal boxes, limited releases, or special occasions.
The Setup Process
Step 1: Create a Preorder Event
This step defines the specific week your preorder products will be delivered.
In your Ooooby dashboard, go to Orders → Preorder Events.
Click Create Preorder Event.
Enter an Event Name (e.g., Christmas 2025 or Easter Hamper).
Choose the delivery week for the preorder.
Tick Active to make the event live.
Click Save.
Screenshot showing the Preorder Events page with the “Create Preorder Event” form filled out.
💡 Tip: You can create multiple preorder events. Each event must have its own delivery week.
🌀 You might need to refresh your public shop page once or twice for the new preorder option to appear.
Once active, customers will see preorder delivery dates when placing a one-off order.
⚠️ Note: Customers can’t change their regular delivery day for preorders.
If their normal delivery is on a Thursday, the preorder delivery will also be on a Thursday.
Step 2: Add a Category for Preorder Products
To make your special preorder products easy for customers to find:
Go to Products.
Create a Category and Sub-Category (e.g. Category Christmas, sub-category: festive fresh produce).
Add your preorder products to the appropriate sub-category.
Step 3: Configure Your Preorder Products
When creating or editing the products exclusive to your preorder event:
Preventing Subscriptions: Untick 'Subscribable' at the bottom of the page. This is important for seasonal or one-off items (you don't want customers subscribing to a Christmas hamper!).
Required Stock Control: All exclusive preorder products are required to be put under stock control to ensure they are only available for the specific preorder event.
Managing Stock
To ensure preorder stock is available only for the specific event week:
Go to Stock Control.
Set stock levels for the preorder week only. If you have unlimited availability, set it to 10000. Stock levels only show to the customer if they are at 20 or below.
Set all other future weeks to 0. (This is the default setting).
💡 This ensures preorder stock is available only for the preorder week you’ve set up.
⏸️ Advanced Strategy: Preorder-Only Period (The "Hub Pause")
For shops looking to offer special, limited-time catalogues, such as a tiered selection of Christmas boxes or holiday hampers, you have the option to temporarily disable your regular ordering schedule and switch to a preorder-only model.
This is achieved by applying a Hub Pause to your shop's operations for the specific period you need.
Ideal Scenario: Offering special variations (e.g., small, medium, and large Christmas Boxes) that are different from your usual catalogue.
The Benefit: A Hub Pause temporarily stops all recurring and regular one-off orders, allowing you to focus your customers' attention entirely on your special preorder items.
📝 Customers will still be able to add existing core products and existing subscribable products to their preorder.
Communicate with Customers
To notify customers about preorder timings or delivery changes:
Go to Customers → Advanced Search.
Use filters to find all customers with an active preorder.
Send them a message about delivery days or special collection arrangements.
💡 Tip: The Advanced Search tool is ideal for finding everyone who’s placed a preorder for a specific event.
Payments
Pre-orders are not charged at checkout. The system cannot currently keep pre-order payments separate from regular charges, and any changes made to a pre-order after sign-up cannot be billed automatically. For now, card details are collected at sign-up, and clear communication is used to ensure customers understand when charges will occur.
Final Check
After setting everything up:
Refresh your public shop page.
Test a one-off order to ensure preorder dates appear correctly.
Your customers should now be able to select the preorder week when placing an order.
Coming Soon
A guide on closing preorders will be available shortly.