Can I bulk import products for Shopify pre-orders using tags or CSV files?

You cannot bulk import products directly into pre-order campaigns. However, you can enter product tags in the "Tags" column of your spreadsheet during your Shopify import process to organize products. Then use those tags to filter and select products for pre-orders in Early Bird.

For stores with large catalogs (100+ products), we recommend considering back-orders as an alternative, which can be enabled across your entire catalog with one click.

Which Approach Is Right for You?

Before diving into the setup process, let's determine which method best fits your store's needs:

Choose the pre-order + tags method if:

✅ You're running pre-orders for 5-50 products

✅ You need partial deposits or deferred payments

✅ You're comfortable selecting pre-order products individually

✅ You want specific launch dates for upcoming products

✅ You need advanced pre-order features

Trade-off: You'll have to manually select each product you want to run pre-orders for (all variants under each product are automatically selected)

Choose the back-order method if:

✅ You have a large product catalogue to manage (e.g. 1000+ products)

✅ You need a quick setup across your entire catalog

✅ You don't need partial payment features

✅ You want to offer all payment methods (Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc.) to your customers

✅ You want to have full Shopify discount compatibility (e.g. Buy X Get Y)

Trade-off: No partial payments or deferred payment options

Method 1: Using tags for pre-order selection

This method is ideal for stores with a large but still manageable number of pre-order products who need advanced pre-order features.

Step 1: Prepare Your Product Import File

When preparing your XLSX or CSV file for Shopify, utilise the Tags column to organize products you want to run as pre-orders.

Example tags you might use:

• Pre-order  
• Q1-2025-preorder  
• Coming-soon  
• January-restock  
• Preorder-March-2025  

We recommend you use descriptive tags like these to help manage multiple pre-order campaigns.

Step 2: Import Products to Shopify

1. Go to Products in your Shopify admin.
2. Click Import.
3. Upload your XLSX/CSV file with the tags column populated.
4. Review the import preview.
5. Make sure your products are in Active or Unlisted status (not Draft).

Step 3: Create a pre-order campaign in Early Bird

1. Open the Early Bird app in your Shopify admin.
2. Visit the Pre-orders section and click Create Campaign.
3. Under Products > Select Products, click Browse > Add Filter.
4. Select Tags from the filter options.
5. Choose the tag(s) you assigned to your pre-order products.

You can also filter by:

• Collections
• Product types
• Categories

• Vendors

  

Step 4: Select products (manually)

Shopify has enforced limits on pre-orders, so our campaigns can only support 250 products at a time.

✅ What you can do:

• Click on each product individually to add it to your campaign
• All variants of a selected product are automatically included
• Deselect specific variants if needed
• Use filters to narrow down which products appear in the selector

Example: If you have 25 products tagged "Pre-order," you'll need to click on each of those 25 products individually. However, if each product has 5 variants, all 5 variants will be automatically included when you select the parent product.

Step 5: Configure and Publish Your Campaign

Once you've selected all your products:

1. Set your payment terms (full payment, partial deposit, payment schedule).
2. Select your estimated shipping/fulfillment date to display on your storefront.
3. Customize your pre-order messaging and badges if needed.
4. Review your campaign settings.

5. Publish your campaign.

   

Method 2: Use back-orders for large catalogs (Recommended for 100+ products)

If you have a large product catalog and the manual selection process seems too time-consuming, back-orders offer a much faster setup.

Back-orders allow customers to purchase products that are temporarily out of stock, but don't necessarily have a set restock date yet.

How to set up back-orders for large catalogs

1. Import products to Shopify (we recommend you still apply the relevant tags to them).
2. Open the Early Bird app in your Shopify admin.
3. Visit the Back-orders section and click Configure.

4. You can enable back-orders across your entire catalog with one click, or for selected products only.

   

Our app will:

• Tick "Continue selling when out of stock" for your selected products
• Untick "Continue selling when out of stock" for your excluded products
• Show back-order badges on your storefront
• Display a customisable one-line messaging to customers that it's a back-order

• Allow all payment methods (no Shopify Payments restriction)

  

Need help?

If you have questions about importing products for pre-orders or choosing between pre-orders or backorders for your large product catalog, feel free to email us at support@shopside.com.au.