Can I use Early Bird to sell Bundles as pre-orders on Shopify?

Shopify currently does not support pre-orders for product bundles due to its platform limitations. However, Early Bird offers a workaround that allows you to sell bundles as back-orders, which might suit your needs.

Understanding the challenge

Shopify’s Selling Plans is one of their core platform functions which allows merchants to offer advanced purchase options such as pre-orders, subscriptions, try-before-you-buy, and product rentals. Unfortunately, Shopify Bundles and Selling Plans currently don't work together, which means ANY pre-order apps, including Early Bird, cannot directly support bundles.

Here’s what Shopify’s Help Center states about bundles:

  • "Bundles aren’t compatible with purchase options, including subscriptions, pre-orders, and try-before-you-buy."
  • "Bundles can’t be used with Shopify POS to sell products in person."

At the time of writing this article, we've already shared merchant feedback with Shopify HQ to address this limitation. But for now, there is no direct way to set up pre-orders for bundles.

How to use Early Bird’s Back-Orders feature for Bundles Preorders on Shopify

Early Bird has a "Back-Order" feature that is designed to workaround the limitations of Shopify's Selling Plans. Back-orders enables you to sell (bundles) even when you're out of stock, similar to pre-orders, but without the restrictions of Shopify's Selling Plans.

Pros of Using Back-Orders for Bundles

  1. Universal Availability: Back-order bundles can be sold on all sales channels, including Shop App, Meta (Facebook), Instagram, Google, and Shopify POS. (Note: Preorders are not supported by Shopify POS.)
  2. No Additional Integrations Required: Back-orders use Shopify's default inventory system, which eliminates the need for additional integrations.
  3. Consistent Experience: Customers will see the same product availability and messaging across all sales channels. (Unlike preorders that's currently limited to online store and custom storefronts.)

Limitations of using Back-Orders for Bundles Preorders on Shopify

Back-orders don’t include the advanced functionalities of what our pre-order app can offer, such as:

  • Automated preorder management
  • Partial payment options
  • Prominent display of pre-order info as line items
  • Pre-order email updates
  • Separate discounts from Shopify's promo codes

But with Shopify's Selling Plans limitation, back-orders is a straightforward workaround for selling bundles in advance of stock arrival (as "preorders").

How to enable Back-Orders for Shopify Bundles Preorders

Our technical co-founder Jay has created a step-by-step 5-minute YouTube video tutorial on setting up back-orders:

The 5-minute video covers:

  • Installing Early Bird
  • Activating the app embed
  • Configuring back-order settings
  • Customizing display settings
  • Checking the storefront

If you prefer to read through the steps, you can refer to our Getting Started with Early Bird Help Article.

What about Back-Orders for Shopify Mix & Match Bundles?

If you want to accept back-orders for Mix & Match bundles, please note you won't be able to indicate that certain products or variants are out of stock.

All products and variants in your Mix & Match bundles will appear as available (in-stock) when back-orders are activated - even if they’re actually out of stock. This is because Shopify requires the "Continue selling when out of stock" setting in each of your product and variant to be turned on.

This is a Shopify function, not something controlled by Early Bird.

Capturing back-orders for Mix & Match bundles:

To capture back-orders for Mix & Match Bundles, simply enable "Continue selling when out of stock" for all the products and variants in your bundle. This will allow customers to add items to their cart even if a variant’s inventory is at 0 or below.

Be sure to clearly communicate the expected fulfillment date in your product description, order confirmation email, and purchase agreement label to prevent customer complaints and order cancellations.

Need help?

If you have further questions, feel free to connect with us on LinkedIn or email us at hello@shopside.com.au to see how we can help with setting up pre-orders/back-orders for your bundles!

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