Do upsell or add-on apps work with Shopify pre-orders and Selling Plans?

If you're running pre-orders on Shopify and using an upsell or add-on app, you might have run into these issues:

  1. Customers can't add upsells or add-ons to their cart when purchasing a pre-order product
  2. The upsell/add-on gets added as a regular purchase instead of a pre-order (even though the main product is a pre-order)
  3. Quick Add, Quick View, or Choose Options buttons treat pre-orders as in-stock purchases

This happens because of how Shopify's Selling Plans work - the core platform function that enables advanced purchase options like pre-orders, subscriptions, and partial payments.

In this help article, we explain the technical limitations and share a few practical workarounds so you can continue to maintain your average order value when running pre-orders.

The technical limitation:

Shopify only provides pre-order (Selling Plan) details on the product page.

This means:

  • Pre-order apps can display pre-order information on product pages
  • Quick Add to Cart buttons on collection pages don't recognize selling plans
  • Quick View pop-ups don't recognize selling plans
  • Featured product sections may not recognize selling plans
  • Post-purchase upsells and add-ons don't support selling plans
  • Most Shopify upsell and add-on apps are unable to support selling plans

When customers add a pre-order product through Quick Add, Quick View, or an incompatible upsell app, Shopify treats it as a regular in-stock purchase, not a pre-order.

This means:

  • No partial payment options
  • No deferred payment dates
  • No pre-order labels or messaging
  • Potentially causing confusion for your customers

Workarounds

1. Add the add-on product as a variant

How it works: Instead of listing the add-on as a separate product, create it as a variant of the main product.

Example: Selling a preorder bike? Add variants like "Bike Only" and "Bike + Helmet."

Steps:

  1. Go to the product in your Shopify admin.
  2. Add a new variant for the add-on.
  3. Adjust the pricing and inventory as needed.
  4. Select the variants to run in your pre-order campaign.

✅ Pros:

  • Works with pre-orders
  • Selling plan applies to all variants

❌ Cons:

  • Limited flexibility for multiple add-ons
  • Not suitable for complex upsell strategies
  • Can make the variant dropdown lengthy if you have many add-ons

2. Use a "You May Also Like" section

How it works: Display the add-on product as a recommendation on the product page and direct customers to visit the product page and manually add it to their cart.

Steps:

  1. Use your theme’s built-in "You May Also Like" or "Frequently Bought Together" section (or an app).
  2. Link the add-on product to the main product and display it in the recommendations section.
  3. Direct customers to visit the add-on product's actual product page.
  4. When they manually add it to their cart there, Shopify will recognise it as a pre-order.

✅ Pros: Works with any product, no need to modify the main product setup.

❌ Cons: Relies on customers to visit the product page, then manually add the add-on product to cart, which may lower conversion rates.


3. Bundle pre-order products with add-ons as one SKU

How it works: Create a SKU that includes both the preorder product and add-ons in one listing.

✅ Pros:

  • Simplifies buying by offering everything in one product.
  • Works with pre-orders since Shopify will treat it as a single product, applying Selling Plans properly
  • Increases your Average Order Value (AOV)
  • Customers already expect longer shipping times, even if it's just one product that's out of stock

❌ Cons:

  • Customers can’t customize which add-on product they want
  • Need to manually track inventory for individual items

  • Less flexible than dynamic upsells


  1. Disable Quick Add/Quick View for Pre-Order Products

How it works: Hide or redirect Quick Add to Cart and Quick View buttons for products in your pre-order campaigns, leading customers to visit the actual product page and add the add-on products there.

What Early Bird does automatically:

  • Swaps Quick View buttons to "View Product" buttons on collection pages for pre-order products
  • This ensures customers land on the product page where selling plans work properly

Additional steps you can take:

  1. Hide Quick Add to Cart buttons in your theme settings for collection pages
  2. Or use custom code to redirect these buttons to the product page
  3. Ensure customers always see pre-order details before adding to cart

✅ Pros:

  • Ensures a proper pre-order customer experience
  • Customers will see all pre-order terms in cart and at checkout, before purchasing
  • Prevents customer confusion about the stock availability and shipping times

❌ Cons:

  • Adds purchase friction for customers
  • Removes convenience of quick purchase
  • Requires some theme customization

What about post-purchase upsells?

Post-purchase upsells (offers that appear after checkout) generally won't work with pre-orders because:

  • The initial order has already been placed with selling plans
  • Adding additional items post-purchase won't carry the same selling plan
  • This can create fulfillment confusion

If you want to upsell after purchase, you can consider:

  • Sending email campaigns to encourage customers to place a separate pre-order
  • Offering add-ons for their next order of in-stock items instead

Need help?

If your upsell and add-on app doesn't support Shopify Selling Plans, one of these workarounds should help you continue offering add-ons for your preorder products.

Got further questions? Feel free to email us at support@shopside.com.au to see how we can help.

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