Preorders in Shopify admin - STOQ Help Center

When a customer places a preorder, Shopify admin shows that order like any other, but several fields are set or managed by STOQ behind the scenes. Understanding which values STOQ writes (and when) helps you read the order accurately, spot anything unexpected, and avoid conflicting edits.

This article covers what you see in Shopify admin and how STOQ produces each field. It does not cover actions you take from STOQ itself: see Find and read preorder orders for the STOQ-side view.

Before you begin

Term	What it means here
Selling plan	The Shopify object STOQ creates to power a preorder offer. Only present when "Shopify purchase option" is on in the offer's settings.
Fulfillment order	Shopify's internal grouping of line items by location and date. STOQ's holds and scheduling act on fulfillment orders, not the top-level order.
Payment terms	The Shopify object that records a scheduled remaining balance. Only present for partial-payment (deposit) preorders.

Fulfillment status

The Fulfillment status field in Shopify admin reflects the state of the order's fulfillment orders. STOQ does not set the top-level fulfillment status directly: Shopify derives it from the underlying fulfillment orders after STOQ acts on them.

What status you see, and why

Shopify fulfillment status	When you see it
Unfulfilled	Default for a new preorder when "Shopify purchase option" is on and no hold has been applied, or when a hold has been released. Also the status when the purchase option is off, regardless of the offer's fulfillment status setting.
Scheduled	The offer's fulfillment status is set to Scheduled, with a specific date or a number of days after checkout, and "Shopify purchase option" is on. Shopify shows Scheduled until the fulfillment date arrives, at which point it moves to Unfulfilled automatically.
On hold	STOQ placed a fulfillment hold on the order after checkout, because the offer's fulfillment status is set to On hold, or because the offer uses Hold all fulfillments. Shopify shows On hold until you (or a Shopify Flow) release the hold.

STOQ sets a hold reason note on each hold it applies. The default is "Order contains preorder item," but you can customize it per offer in the offer editor (Preorders in the left menu → Offers tab → open your offer → Customize → Shipping in the sidebar), under Hold reason note.

Fulfillment status for mixed carts (preorder + in-stock)

When a cart contains both a preorder item and a regular in-stock item:

On hold (standard): Only the preorder fulfillment order is held. The in-stock item's fulfillment order remains Open (fulfillable immediately). Shopify shows the order-level status as On hold.
Hold all fulfillments: STOQ applies a hold to every fulfillment order in the order, including in-stock items. Shopify shows the order as On hold.
Separate orders (split): STOQ creates a new order for the preorder items and keeps only in-stock items in the original order. The original order shows as normal (Unfulfilled). The new split order carries the preorder fulfillment status. See Separate orders for mixed preorders.

STOQ can add its own hold on top of a hold another app already placed (Shopify lets holds stack from different apps), so on a mixed cart you may briefly see STOQ's hold applied after Shopify's.

Releasing a hold

You can release a hold from STOQ (Reports → Preorders → Orders → Release "On hold" fulfillments, or, for a single offer, open it from Preorders in the left menu → Offers tab → your offer, and use its Orders tab), from Shopify admin (Open order → fulfillment section → Release hold), or via Shopify Flow. Once released, the fulfillment order moves to Unfulfilled and the order becomes fulfillable normally.

Payment terms (partial-payment preorders)

When an offer is configured for partial payment (a deposit at checkout with the balance collected later), STOQ tells Shopify to record payment terms on the order.

What you see in Shopify admin

In the Payment section of the order, Shopify shows:

Partially paid: the deposit was collected at checkout.
A payment schedule line with the outstanding amount and due date (if a due date was set).
The financial status stays Partially paid until the balance is collected, at which point Shopify updates it to Paid.

How STOQ sets and updates payment terms

When STOQ reschedules a payment, it updates the order's payment terms in Shopify with the new due date. This updates the payment schedule visible in Shopify admin. STOQ tracks the due date internally and keeps it in sync with Shopify automatically whenever the order changes.

Full-payment preorders

When the offer uses full payment at checkout, there are no payment terms. The order shows as Paid immediately and no scheduled balance appears in Shopify admin.

Order tags

STOQ adds tags to preorder orders after checkout. The tags are configured per offer in the offer editor (Preorders in the left menu → Offers tab → open your offer → Customize → Limits & terms in the sidebar), under Order tags.

Default tag

The default tag applied to every preorder order is STOQ-preorder. You can change or add to this from the offer's Limits settings.

Additional tags for split orders

When Separate orders for mixed carts is enabled on an offer, the split preorder order receives additional tags:

Tag	What it marks	Configurable?
`STOQ-preorder`	Applied to all preorder orders (default)	Yes, see Limits settings
`STOQ-split-order`	Marks the new order as a STOQ-created split order	Yes, per offer
`stoq-split-from-#XXXX`	Traces back to the original order name	No, always set by STOQ

The original order, which keeps the in-stock items, can also receive a hold tag and a split marker tag during the brief window while STOQ processes the split. These are removed from the original order once the preorder line items are refunded off it.

When tags are applied

Tags are applied asynchronously after the order is created, so there may be a short delay between order creation and the tags appearing in Shopify admin.

If tagging fails, for example due to a temporary Shopify error, STOQ retries automatically. Once tagging succeeds, STOQ fires the Shopify Flow trigger for "Customer placed a preorder" to keep automations in sync.

The selling plan on line items

When "Shopify purchase option" is enabled on an offer, each preorder line item in Shopify admin shows the selling plan name alongside the product.

What you see

In the order's line items section in Shopify admin, a preorder line item shows:

The product name and variant.
The selling plan name (for example "Preorder" or the custom name you set for the offer).

This is the Shopify selling plan STOQ created for the offer. Clicking the selling plan name in Shopify admin opens the selling plan group.

Line item properties

Depending on your offer settings, STOQ can add line item properties (custom attributes visible on the line item in Shopify admin and order exports):

Property	When it appears	Configured in
Shipping text (e.g. "Ships in 30 days")	When Show shipping text on line item is enabled	Offer editor → expand More settings → Advanced → Line item properties
Payment info (e.g. deposit amount)	When Show payment info on line item is enabled	Offer editor → expand More settings → Advanced → Line item properties
Custom attribute	When a custom line item property text is set	Offer editor → expand More settings → Advanced → Line item properties

These properties appear in the Notes and attributes section of the line item in Shopify admin, and are included in order exports.

When the purchase option is off

When "Shopify purchase option" is turned off (for example when using Managed Markets or the separate-orders split flow with attribute tracking), there is no selling plan on the line item. STOQ tracks the preorder using its own internal properties instead. In Shopify admin, the line item looks like a regular in-stock purchase with no selling plan shown.

The order note

For split orders, STOQ sets an order note on the new (split) order in the form:

Split from order #XXXX - Preorder items for selling plan '[name]' (regular items kept in original order for immediate fulfillment)

This appears in the Notes field in Shopify admin and is useful for tracing split orders back to their originals without STOQ open.

Check your setup

After a test preorder checkout (see Test your preorder offer):

Open the order in Shopify admin → Orders.
Check the Fulfillment status matches what you configured on the offer (Unfulfilled / Scheduled / On hold).
If the offer uses partial payment, confirm the Payment section shows Partially paid and a payment schedule.
In the line items section, confirm the selling plan name appears on the preorder line item (if "Shopify purchase option" is on).
Check that the STOQ-preorder tag (or your custom tag) appears in the Tags field. Allow a few seconds for it to be applied.

Troubleshooting

The order shows Unfulfilled but the offer is set to On hold

Check the following:

The offer's fulfillment status is saved as On hold (not Unfulfilled or Scheduled).
Shopify purchase option is enabled, since On hold requires it.
If the order was placed before you changed the setting, it keeps the status it had at creation; the new setting only applies to future orders.
If none of these apply, check the Activity section in STOQ's order detail page for hold-failure events.

No payment schedule appears in Shopify admin

Payment terms only appear for a partial-payment (deposit) offer. If the offer uses full payment at checkout, no schedule is created and the order shows as Paid; check the offer's Payment settings to confirm the billing type.

The STOQ-preorder tag isn't appearing on the order

Allow a few seconds, tags are applied asynchronously after the order is created. If it still doesn't appear:

Confirm the Order tags field in the offer's Limits settings still contains STOQ-preorder.
Check Reports -> Preorders -> Orders -> [order] -> Activity for tag-related errors.

Limitations

STOQ can only auto-collect the remaining balance if the customer's payment method was vaulted at checkout. Some manual payment methods don't support vaulting, so automatic collection isn't available for them.

FAQ

Does editing the order's payment terms directly in Shopify admin sync back to STOQ?

Yes:

Shopify notifies STOQ automatically when payment terms change, and STOQ updates its records of the due date and amount accordingly.
STOQ guards against stale updates: if STOQ already has more recent information for the order, it ignores the incoming update to prevent older data from overwriting newer data.
For best results, reschedule payment through STOQ or use STOQ's API rather than editing directly in Shopify admin.

The split order in Shopify admin shows a 'Prepaid' transaction: is that expected?

Yes:

When STOQ creates a split order, the customer has already paid on the original order.
STOQ records the split order as immediately paid using a "Prepaid" transaction entry (the label is configurable per offer and defaults to Prepaid).
This is an accounting entry only, no additional charge is made to the customer.
You can customize the label in the offer's Shipping section.

Can I remove or change the STOQ-added tags in Shopify admin?

You can edit tags directly in Shopify admin, but there are a few things to know:

Changes will not be reflected back in STOQ.
STOQ does not re-read tags from Shopify: it tracks which tags it applied internally.
If you need to update the tags that STOQ applies to future orders, change the Order tags field in the offer's Limits settings.

Does a 'Partially paid' order in Shopify admin mean STOQ will automatically collect the balance?

Not automatically, unless it's configured to be:

Auto-collect payment on fulfillment or a scheduled billing date must be set up on the offer.
If the billing type is set to collect at a specific date or N days after checkout, STOQ's scheduled job will attempt collection on that date.
If billing is set to manual, you collect it yourself from STOQ (More actions → Collect payment) or via bulk action.

See Collect remaining preorder payments.

Find and read preorder orders

View payment status, fulfillment status, and activity in STOQ.

Choose a fulfillment setup

Decide between Unfulfilled, Scheduled, and On hold for your offer.

Set up payment for preorders

Configure full payment, deposit, or both options.

Separate orders for mixed preorders

Split preorder and in-stock items into different Shopify orders.

Collect remaining preorder payments

Collect outstanding balances manually or automatically.