Add products to an offer
Use this guide to add products to a preorder offer, whether you're picking individual products, importing a spreadsheet, adding a whole collection, or applying the offer to your entire catalog. By the end, the Preorder button will appear on out-of-stock products that are in an enabled offer.
Before you begin
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| An offer to add to | Create one first: see How to set up preorders |
| Continue selling | Out-of-stock products need Continue selling when out of stock on; STOQ can enable it during the add |
Choose your setup
In the offer, the product type decides which products it covers:
| Source | Use it when |
|---|---|
| Specific products | You want to hand-pick individual products or variants |
| Collection | You want the offer to cover everything in a Shopify collection |
| All products | You want the offer to apply store-wide (you can exclude products by tag or selection) |
Add from collection is not the same as the Collection product type. Add from collection is a one-time import: it copies today's products in a collection into the offer and won't pick up products added later. Setting the product type to Collection keeps the offer in sync: STOQ checks the collection every 15 minutes and adds new products automatically.
What customers will see
Once a product is in an enabled offer, has Continue selling when out of stock on, and its inventory is at or below zero, the storefront shows a Preorder button in place of Sold out. Removing a product from an offer, or turning continue selling back off, returns it to normal Shopify behavior; orders already placed keep their original terms either way.
Set it up
On a phone, this menu is collapsed. In the Shopify mobile app, tap the STOQ logo at the top of the screen to open it, then choose the section named below. There is no hamburger icon. See Finding the STOQ menu.
There are several ways to add products to an offer. Use whichever fits your situation.
Add products from the offer
On an offer's Overview tab, there's an Add products button at the top of the page. It scrolls down to the offer's Products section and opens an Add products window with all four ways to add products:
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Add products | Pick products and variants from your store |
| Add from collection | Add every product in a collection |
| Add from admin | Bulk select products in the Shopify admin |
| Import with CSV | Upload a CSV of SKUs or variant IDs from the STOQ template (see below) |
The same options are still in the Products section itself: the Add products button, and the other three under More options.
The Add products window works this way when the offer's product type is Specific products. If the product type is Collection or All products, STOQ adds out-of-stock products automatically. In that case the Add products button opens the offer's product type settings with a Products are added automatically banner. To choose products yourself, switch the product type to Specific products.
Open the offer
- In the left menu bar of the STOQ app, click Preorders.
- Click the Offers tab.
- Click the offer you'd like to add products to. Its Overview tab opens.
Open the Add products window
Click the Add products button at the top of the offer page. STOQ scrolls to the Products section and opens the Add products window.
Under the title, the window says whether this offer shows the Preorder button even when products are in stock, or only when they're out of stock. To change that, click Change in that sentence. The window closes and the offer's product type settings open.
Choose how to add products
Click one of the four options:
- Add products: opens the product picker. Choose products or variants, as many as you need.
- Add from collection: choose a collection and add its products.
- Add from admin: the window shows the steps for adding products from the Shopify admin (Open products in admin, Select products, Add to preorder offer). Click Back to return to the four options.
- Import with CSV: opens the CSV import (see Import products with CSV).
Let STOQ check Continue selling
STOQ runs a pre-flight check before adding the products. If any variants need attention, a modal appears:
- Continue selling issues: variants that do not yet have Continue selling when out of stock turned on. The modal shows up to two variants by name (and a count of any additional ones). You then choose:
- Automatically enable 'Continue selling' for these products: STOQ turns it on in bulk and adds the products in a two-step background process.
- I'll enable it myself later: STOQ adds the products without changing the setting; you must enable it manually from the Products table before the Preorder button will appear for out-of-stock variants.
Shopify bundle products are never flagged. A bundle's availability comes from the products inside it, so STOQ adds it without a Continue selling check.
If there are no issues, STOQ skips the modal and adds the products directly.
Wait for products to be added
Large additions run in the background ("Adding products to your offer, this may take a while"). The product list refreshes when it's done.
See the offer's products in the editor
The offer editor has a Products section, so you can check which products are in the offer while you design your preorder widget. It shows the offer's product type and the products in the offer with their variants. For a Collection offer, it also names the collection.
Open the offer editor
- In the left menu bar of the STOQ app, click Preorders.
- Click the Offers tab.
- Click your offer.
- Click Customize.
Open the Products section
In the editor's settings list on the left, click Products. To see the product types this offer isn't using, click the arrow next to the current product type.
Manage products
To add or remove products, click Manage products below the product list. To switch the product type, click Change product type. A window explains that the editor will close and take you to the Products section of the offer page:
- With no unsaved changes, click Continue.
- With unsaved changes, click Save and exit to save them and continue.
- Click Cancel to stay in the editor.
Import products with CSV
For large catalogs, import a spreadsheet to add or remove products in bulk.
Open Import with CSV
From More options, choose Import with CSV.
Fill in the template
Download or copy the STOQ Preorder Import Template and follow its instructions to add or remove products for this offer.
Upload the CSV
Export your sheet to CSV and upload it. Review the column mapping from your file to the template fields, then start the import.
Track the import
The import runs in the background. Watch its progress under Recent imports (use Refresh to update), and optionally have a status report emailed to you.
Add from the Shopify admin
If you are browsing your products in the Shopify admin and want to set a product up as a preorder, STOQ can open directly from the product page; you do not need to navigate to the STOQ app first.
When you use the STOQ preorder action on a product (or a selection of products) inside the Shopify admin, STOQ opens the Preorders page and shows the Add products to preorder offer modal automatically. The modal tells you how many products you selected and asks you to choose one of two options:
| Option | What happens |
|---|---|
| Add to existing offer | Choose an offer from the dropdown (each option shows the offer's internal name, customer-facing name, and how many variants it already contains). STOQ adds the product to that offer and opens the offer's Products tab. |
| Create new offer | STOQ creates a new offer with default settings and adds the product to it, then opens the new offer so you can configure it. |
Click Continue to confirm. If you close the modal without choosing, no changes are made. After that, the flow is the same as adding products from inside STOQ: the pre-flight check runs, STOQ can enable Continue selling for you, and large additions are processed in the background.
Add from the Products tab
Open the Products tab
- In the left menu bar of the STOQ app, click Preorders.
- Click the Products tab (a table of all your product variants).
Select variants and add them
Tick the variants, then use Add to offer and choose the offer. You can also use the per-row Offer linked dropdown to link a variant to an offer.
Turn on Continue selling if needed
Use Toggle 'Continue selling' on the selected variants so out-of-stock products can still be bought.
View, filter, and export the products table
Once products are in the offer, the Products table gives you several ways to view and export them.
View modes: the Group by filter in the table search bar lets you switch between two layouts:
| Mode | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Variant (default) | One row per variant, useful for managing limits and shipping text at the variant level |
| Product | Rows grouped by product with expandable variant rows, useful for reviewing a large catalog at the product level |
Your selection is remembered across sessions.
Column visibility: the table always shows Product, Status, Units sold, and Actions. You can show or hide optional columns using the filter popover:
| Optional column | What it contains |
|---|---|
| SKU | The variant's SKU |
| Vendor | The product vendor |
| Limit | The per-variant preorder cap (shown by default when the offer uses STOQ inventory tracking) |
| Shipping | Per-variant shipping date or note (shown by default when the offer uses per-product shipping info) |
| Added on | The date the variant was added to the offer |
Column preferences are saved locally in your browser.
Export to CSV: click the ••• (more options) button at the top right of the table and choose Export to CSV to download all products currently in the offer as a spreadsheet. This is separate from the CSV import; it exports what is already in the offer.
Per-variant settings
Once products are in the offer, each variant can have:
- Limit: the maximum number of preorder units to sell for that variant (leave blank for unlimited). When a variant sells through its limit, STOQ automatically turns off Continue selling when out of stock for it, so it stops taking preorders.
- Shipping: a shipping date, timeline, or note for that variant (when the offer uses per-product shipping info).
Use the row's Edit action to set these, then save.
Remove products
There are two places to remove a product from an offer:
- From the Products tab: in the left menu click Preorders, then the Products tab. Select a product that's already in an offer and a Remove from offer action appears; use it to take the product out of its offer.
- From the offer: in the left menu click Preorders, open the Offers tab, open your offer, and go to its Products section. Select a product, and a Remove variants action appears at the top right of the section.
Either way, STOQ asks what to do with Continue selling when out of stock on the removed variants: turn it off, leave it on, or don't change it. If you remove variants from the Products section and choose to turn it off, STOQ warns you when another enabled out-of-stock offer still includes some of them. Continue selling is shared by every offer, so turning it off also stops preorders there. See Products shared between offers.
Check your setup
A product is ready to take preorders when it's in the offer, its inventory is at or below zero, and Continue selling is on. Open the product on your storefront and confirm the Preorder button appears (the offer must also be Enabled).
Troubleshooting
The Preorder button isn't showing after you add a product
Check the following:
- Continue selling when out of stock is on.
- The product is in an offer that's Enabled.
- The STOQ app embed is enabled in your theme.
- Inventory is at or below zero.
For the full checklist (including market and multiple-offer conflicts), see Troubleshooting the Preorder button.
A bundle product didn't show up after adding a collection
Add all products in the collection window skips Shopify bundle products. Select the bundle product in that window and click Add products, or add it on its own from the offer's Add products button. STOQ counts bundle sales on the bundle product. See Sell a Shopify bundle as a preorder.
A large addition is taking a while
That's normal. Large additions process in the background, and the product list refreshes once the job finishes.
You need to move a variant to a different offer
A variant is linked to one offer at a time. Use the Offer linked dropdown on the Products tab to move it.
A variant stops taking preorders on its own
It likely sold through its per-variant Limit, which turns off Continue selling when out of stock automatically. Raise or clear the limit to resume.
Limitations
A product variant can only belong to one offer at a time. Adding it to a different offer moves it there; use the Offer linked dropdown on the Products tab to do this deliberately.
FAQ
Why does Continue selling when out of stock have to be on?
It's the Shopify setting that lets an out-of-stock product still be purchased. Without it, the product shows as sold out and the Preorder button can't appear. STOQ can turn it on for you as you add products.
Can a product be in more than one offer?
A variant is linked to one offer at a time. Use the Offer linked dropdown on the Products tab to move a variant to a different offer.
How do I preorder a whole collection?
Use Add from collection (a one-time import) or set the offer's product type to Collection (stays in sync automatically) to pull in everything in that Shopify collection.
Can I cap how many preorders I take?
Yes. Set a per-variant Limit for the maximum number of preorder units. When a variant sells through its limit, STOQ automatically turns off Continue selling for it.
Does removing a product from an offer affect orders that were already placed?
No. Removing a product only affects future purchases; orders already placed keep their original terms. STOQ asks whether to turn off, leave on, or not change Continue selling when out of stock for the removed variant going forward.
Why doesn't Add products show the add options for my offer?
Your offer's product type is Collection or All products, so STOQ adds out-of-stock products automatically. The Add products button shows a Products are added automatically banner instead. To pick products yourself, switch the product type to Specific products.
Can I add products from inside the offer editor?
Not directly. The editor's Products section shows what's in the offer. Click Manage products there and STOQ closes the editor and takes you to the offer's Products section, where you add or remove products.
Will I lose my editor changes if I click Manage products?
No. If you have unsaved changes, STOQ asks first. Click Save and exit to save them before it takes you to the products, or Cancel to stay in the editor.
