How to Place the Entire Order on Hold When It Contains a Preorder

When customers order both preorder and in-stock products together, you may want to hold the entire order until the preorder items are ready to ship. STOQ's "Hold all fulfillments" setting places the entire order on hold status after checkout, preventing any items from being fulfilled until you manually release them. This ensures customers receive all their items together rather than in multiple shipments.


Why Hold Entire Orders?


There are several reasons you might want to hold all fulfillments when an order contains preorder products.


Ship Everything Together


Customers often prefer receiving their entire order in one package. Holding all fulfillments lets you wait until preorder items are available, then ship everything together. This can improve customer satisfaction and reduce shipping costs.


Simplify Warehouse Operations


Processing orders in a single fulfillment is often easier than managing split shipments. Your warehouse team can pick, pack, and ship all items at once when the preorder products arrive.


Reduce Shipping Costs


Shipping one package instead of multiple packages can significantly reduce your shipping expenses, especially for international orders or heavy items.


Enabling Hold All Fulfillments


Follow these steps to configure STOQ to hold all fulfillments for orders containing preorders.


Step 1: Access Your Preorder Offer


  1. From your Shopify admin, open the STOQ app.
  2. Click Preorders in the left navigation menu.
  3. Click Offers to view your preorder offers.
  4. Click Edit on the offer you want to configure.



Step 2: Navigate to Fulfillment Settings


  1. In the offer editor, scroll to the Shipping section.
  2. This section contains all fulfillment-related settings for your preorder offer.



Step 3: Set Delivery Type to Unknown


The "Hold all fulfillments" option is available when the delivery type is set to "Unknown" (to be confirmed):


  1. In the Shipping section, find the Delivery type or Fulfillment timeline setting.
  2. Select the option for Unknown or To be confirmed delivery.
  3. This indicates that you don't have a specific shipping date yet.



Note: The "Hold all fulfillments" option only appears when delivery type is set to "Unknown." If you have a specific delivery date or timeline, this option won't be available.


Step 4: Enable Hold All Fulfillments


  1. After selecting "Unknown" delivery type, look for the Hold all fulfillments checkbox.
  2. Check the box to enable this feature.
  3. The help text confirms: "After checkout, fulfillments for all products (including in-stock) will be held until you manually release them."



Step 5: Save Your Changes


  1. Click Save to apply your changes.
  2. All future orders containing products from this preorder offer will have their fulfillments held.


How It Works


Understanding what happens after enabling this setting helps you manage your orders effectively.


After Checkout


When a customer places an order containing a preorder product from this offer:


  1. The order is created in Shopify as usual.
  2. All line items in the order are placed in On hold fulfillment status.
  3. This includes both preorder items AND any in-stock items in the same order.
  4. The order appears in your Shopify admin with fulfillment status "On hold."


Releasing Fulfillments


When you're ready to ship the order:


  1. Go to the order in your Shopify admin.
  2. Click Release fulfillment or change the fulfillment status.
  3. Proceed with your normal fulfillment process.
  4. All items can now be picked, packed, and shipped together.



Alternative: Using Shopify Flow


For more advanced automation, you can use Shopify Flow to automatically place all fulfillments on hold when an order contains a preorder product.


Benefits of Shopify Flow


  • Works across multiple preorder offers automatically.
  • Can be customized with additional conditions.
  • Integrates with other Shopify Flow automations.


Setting Up the Flow


STOQ provides a Shopify Flow template for this purpose:


  1. Visit the STOQ help article on automatically placing fulfillments on hold.
  2. Follow the instructions to install and configure the Flow template.
  3. The Flow will automatically hold all fulfillments when any preorder product is in an order.


Tip: Use the Shopify Flow method if you have multiple preorder offers and want consistent behavior across all of them without configuring each offer individually.



STOQ also offers a "Split fulfillments" option that does the opposite—it separates preorder and in-stock items into different fulfillments so you can ship in-stock items immediately.


When to Use Each Option


Hold all fulfillments:

  • You want to ship everything together.
  • Customers prefer single shipments.
  • You want to reduce shipping costs.


Split fulfillments:

  • You want to ship in-stock items immediately.
  • Customers expect fast delivery for available items.
  • Preorder items have long lead times.


Note: These options are mutually exclusive. Enabling one automatically disables the other.


Troubleshooting


If you encounter issues with the hold fulfillments feature, use this guide to identify and resolve common problems.


Symptom

Likely Cause

Fix

"Hold all fulfillments" option not visible

Delivery type not set to "Unknown"

Change delivery type to "Unknown" or "To be confirmed"

Option shows upgrade prompt

Feature requires paid plan

Upgrade your STOQ plan to access this feature

Orders not being held

Setting not saved or offer not enabled

Save your changes and ensure the offer is enabled

Only preorder items on hold, not in-stock

Split fulfillments enabled instead

Disable split fulfillments and enable hold all fulfillments

Cannot release fulfillment

Shopify admin issue

Check Shopify's fulfillment settings and order status

Setting keeps turning off

Delivery type changed

Hold fulfillments is disabled when delivery type changes from "Unknown"


FAQs


Q: Can I hold fulfillments for some orders but not others?


A: The setting applies to all orders containing products from the configured offer. For selective control, you can use Shopify Flow with custom conditions, or create separate preorder offers with different fulfillment settings for different product groups.


Q: What happens if a customer orders only in-stock products?


A: If an order doesn't contain any products from a preorder offer with "Hold all fulfillments" enabled, the order processes normally. The hold only applies when the order includes at least one product from the configured preorder offer.


Q: Can I automatically release fulfillments when inventory arrives?


A: STOQ doesn't automatically release held fulfillments. You need to manually release them in Shopify admin when you're ready to ship. You could potentially create a Shopify Flow to automate this based on inventory changes, but this requires custom configuration.


Q: Does this work with Shopify's fulfillment services?


A: Yes, the hold status is applied at the Shopify order level, so it works with any fulfillment service or 3PL that integrates with Shopify. The fulfillment service will see the order as "On hold" until you release it.


Q: Can I use both hold and split fulfillments?


A: No, these options are mutually exclusive. Enabling "Hold all fulfillments" automatically disables "Split fulfillments" and vice versa. Choose the option that best fits your fulfillment strategy.


Q: Will customers be notified that their order is on hold?


A: Shopify doesn't automatically notify customers about fulfillment hold status. Consider customizing your order confirmation email or sending a separate communication to set expectations about when the order will ship.



Updated on: 19/02/2026

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