Sell a preorder in batches

Batches let you sell a single preorder offer in sequential waves, each with its own quantity limit and ship date. Instead of building a separate offer per tranche and swapping them by hand, you define the whole schedule up front on one offer, and STOQ moves customers through it. A fast-selling variant can be on a later batch while a slow one is still on the first.

Before you begin

Turning batches on changes two things about the offer, so it doesn't combine with:

• Market-specific offers. You can't turn batches on while the offer targets specific markets.
• Per-product ship dates. Batches use one shared shipping schedule, so turning them on switches the offer to a single shipping setting for all its products. Each batch then carries its own ship date instead.

Batches also replace the offer's single quantity limit: each batch sets its own limit, so the standard Preorder limits setting doesn't apply while batches are on.

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.

Name your batches

Batches are called Batch 1, Batch 2 by default. In the batch Settings, change Label each batch to anything you like, using {{ n }} where the number goes, for example Wave {{ n }} or Drop {{ n }}. The new name shows everywhere: the storefront, the admin, POS, and order tags.

How batches advance

In the batch Settings, under How batches advance, choose:

• Automatically: a variant moves to the next batch on its own the moment it hits the current batch's quantity limit. Each variant runs its own schedule, so a fast-selling size can be on Batch 3 while a slow one is still on Batch 1.
• Manually: quantity limits become optional and batches stay open until you close them. You open the next one yourself from the offer's Products section, one variant at a time or several selected together.

Choose how batches look

You can show batches on the product page in four styles:

When the section is collapsed, its summary line shows your choices, for example "Stacked layout · Percent sold · Ship dates visible".

Existing offers keep the Roadmap style with counts and ship dates shown until you change them.

What customers see

Every style tracks each batch's status:

• Finished batches show your "finished" word (Sold out by default).
• The current batch shows its progress as counts or a percentage. If it has no quantity limit, it shows your "current" word (Live by default).
• Upcoming batches show your "upcoming" word (Coming soon by default).

You can change the three words in the batch Settings, under What each batch type is called. Roadmap, Stacked, and Segmented show the whole schedule, so a customer can see the full plan before ordering and knows which batch and ship date they're buying into. Compact shows only the current batch.

On the order

The batch a customer bought into is recorded on the order line and shown to your team. You can also tag orders by batch: go to Limits → Order tags and use {{ batch }}, {{ batch_position }}, or {{ batch_ship_text }}. Selling in person works too: the POS confirmation screen shows staff which batch the item goes into, with its ship date.

When the last batch fills

• On offers where STOQ manages the quantity, a variant stops selling once its final batch reaches its limit.
• On offers that sell against your Shopify inventory, your real stock decides when a variant sells out, not the batch limits. Stock the total across every batch, or the later ones are never reachable.

Track progress

The offer's Products section shows each variant's current batch and how far through it is, with a breakdown per batch. If you chose manual advance, that's also where you open the next batch: use Start next batch on a variant, or select several variants and advance them together.

FAQ

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