Overview
Sell products before they exist in WooCommerce. Take pre-orders, hold each order until launch day, then release it automatically.
Requirements
- WordPress 6.4 or later
- PHP 7.4 or later
- WooCommerce 8.2 or later
- Required plugins: woocommerce
Installation
Anticipo - Pre-Orders for WooCommerce Free is free on WordPress.org.
In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Add New Plugin.
Search for Anticipo - Pre-Orders for WooCommerce Free.
Click Install Now, then Activate.
Quick start
- Open Pre-orders
Go to
wp-admin/admin.php?page=anticipo-preordersin your WordPress admin. - Open Edit product
Go to
wp-admin/post.php?post=40&action=editin your WordPress admin. - Open Edit product: Pre-order product panel
Go to
wp-admin/post.php?post=40&action=editin your WordPress admin. - Open Edit product: Most Used
Go to
wp-admin/post.php?post=40&action=edit#product_cat-popin your WordPress admin.
#Pre-orders
Location: wp-admin/admin.php?page=anticipo-preorders
On this screen:
- Pre-orders
#Edit product
Location: wp-admin/post.php?post=40&action=edit
On this screen:
- Edit product
- Product description
- Publish
- Product image
- Product gallery
- Product categories
- Product tags
- Product brands
#Edit product: Pre-order product panel
Location: wp-admin/post.php?post=40&action=edit
On this screen:
- Edit product
- Product description
- Publish
- Product image
- Product gallery
- Product categories
- Product tags
- Product brands
#Edit product: Most Used
Location: wp-admin/post.php?post=40&action=edit#product_cat-pop
On this screen:
- Edit product
- Product description
- Publish
- Product image
- Product gallery
- Product categories
- Product tags
- Product brands
#Edit product: Most Used
Location: wp-admin/post.php?post=40&action=edit#product_brand-pop
On this screen:
- Edit product
- Product description
- Publish
- Product image
- Product gallery
- Product categories
- Product tags
- Product brands
#Edit order
Location: wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=50
On this screen:
- Edit order
- Order actions
- Order attribution
- Origin
- Customer history
- Total orders
- Total revenue
- Average order value
#WooCommerce > Settings > Email > Pre-order confirmed
Location: wp-admin/admin.php?page=wc-settings&tab=email§ion=anticipo_po_email_customer_preorder_confirmed
On this screen:
- Pre-order confirmed
- Email preview
- Your pre-order is confirmed, order 12345
#WooCommerce > Settings > Email > Pre-order date changed
Location: wp-admin/admin.php?page=wc-settings&tab=email§ion=anticipo_po_email_customer_date_changed
On this screen:
- Pre-order date changed
- Email preview
- New release date for your pre-order, order 12345
#WooCommerce > Settings > Email > Pre-order released
Location: wp-admin/admin.php?page=wc-settings&tab=email§ion=anticipo_po_email_customer_preorder_available
On this screen:
- Pre-order released
- Email preview
- Release day: your pre-order is being prepared
#Pre-orders: Settings
Location: wp-admin/admin.php?page=anticipo-preorders&tab=settings
On this screen:
- Pre-orders
- General
- Display
- Release workflow
- Advanced
#Pre-orders: Status
Location: wp-admin/admin.php?page=anticipo-preorders&tab=status
On this screen:
- Pre-orders
- Health checks
- Background queue
- Activity log
#Pre-orders: Documentation
Location: wp-admin/admin.php?page=anticipo-preorders&tab=docs
On this screen:
- Pre-orders
- Set up your first pre-order in five minutes
- What the customer sees
- Every setting explained
- General
- Display
- Release workflow
- Advanced
#Pre-orders: Settings: Pre-orders
Location: wp-admin/admin.php?page=anticipo-preorders&tab=preorders
On this screen:
- Pre-orders
Settings reference
WooCommerce > Settings > Email > Pre-order confirmed
WooCommerce > Settings > Email > Pre-order date changed
WooCommerce > Settings > Email > Pre-order released
Pre-orders: Settings
#Enable pre-orders
Turn every pre-order feature off without losing any data or settings. Existing pre-orders stay in the database and resume when you switch this back on.
#Mixed carts
A pre-order holds the whole order until release day. Block this if you do not want in-stock items waiting alongside it.
#Add to cart button text
Shown instead of the usual Add to cart label on pre-order products.
#Availability message
Shown under the price on the product page. Supports {date} and {time}.
#Message when the date is unknown
Used on products where you ticked "date not announced yet".
#Show a pre-order badge on product images
#Badge text
#Show the availability message in shop listings
Leave this off on very large catalogues if you want the absolute minimum work done per listing.
#Show a countdown to release
A live countdown on the product page. Hidden automatically when no date is announced.
#Status for orders awaiting release
Defaults to the Pre-ordered status this plugin adds, which keeps pre-orders out of your normal pick list.
#Status once released
Usually Processing, so released pre-orders join your normal fulfilment queue.
#Release automatically on the availability date
Switch this off to review each launch yourself and press Release manually from the Pre-orders screen.
#Orders per background batch
Lower this on shared hosting. Higher values finish a launch faster but use more memory per background run.
#Reduce stock on release rather than at checkout
On by default. The units do not exist yet, so reducing stock at checkout would make your inventory figures wrong for weeks.
#My Account endpoint slug
The URL segment for the customer pre-orders page. Save your permalinks after changing this.
#Activity log detail
The log is what you read when a customer queries what happened to their order.
#Delete log entries older than (days)
#Delete all pre-order data when the plugin is deleted
Off by default. Deactivating never removes data; only deleting the plugin with this box ticked does.
Shortcodes
[anticipo_preorder_products]
Shortcode registered by the plugin.
[anticipo_preorder_products]On your site
These pages show what visitors see on your site.
Frequently asked questions
Does this work with variable products?
Yes. Variations inherit the release date and rules from the parent product.
Why is my stock not going down when someone pre-orders?
By design. Stock is reduced on release day, because the units do not exist yet and reducing stock now would make your inventory figures wrong for weeks. If you are pre-selling from stock you already hold, turn off "Reduce stock on release" under Release workflow.
The release date passed and nothing happened.
Open WooCommerce, Pre-orders, Status. It tells you whether Action Scheduler is running and lists anything overdue. You can also release by hand from the Pre-orders screen. On a very low traffic site, pointing a real server cron at wp-cron.php makes scheduled jobs punctual.
The Pre-orders tab in My Account returns a 404.
Open Settings, Permalinks and press Save without changing anything. That regenerates the rewrite rules.
Will this slow my shop down?
No. Pre-orders live in their own indexed table, settings are read from objects WooCommerce has already loaded, and the plugin's CSS and JavaScript are not loaded on pages that have no pre-orders.
Can I show all my upcoming pre-orders on one page?
Yes. Add [anticipo_preorder_products] to any page. It shows every product currently taking pre-orders as a normal shop grid, soonest release first, with products that have no announced date listed last. It accepts limit, columns, orderby (release_date or title), category (product category slugs) and empty (the message shown when nothing is on pre-order).
Can the badge say something other than "Pre-order"?
Yes. Set the store wide wording under Settings, Display, or give a single product its own wording in the Badge text field on its Pre-order tab.
Does it work with High Performance Order Storage?
Yes, and with the legacy post based storage. Compatibility is declared for both, plus the Cart and Checkout blocks.
Free vs Pro
Anticipo Free vs Pro
The free plugin covers pre-order products with release dates, badges, countdowns, automatic release on launch day and five pre-order emails. Pro adds deposits and charge on release, pre-order limits and pricing, per variation launches, reminders, a release calendar, reports and CSV export.
17 of 31 features in Free14 more with Pro
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Product setup | ||
| Pre-orders on simple and variable products | Included | Included |
| Release date and time in store timezone | Included | Included |
| Take pre-orders before the date is announced | Included | Included |
| Cut-off date to stop taking pre-orders | Included | Included |
| Own button text, message and badge per product | Included | Included |
| Storefront | ||
| Pre-order badge, availability message and live countdown | Included | Included |
| Allow, warn or block mixed carts | Included | Included |
| Coming soon page with a shortcode | Included | Included |
| Pre-orders tab in My Account | Included | Included |
| Release and orders | ||
| Hold paid orders in a Pre-ordered status | Included | Included |
| Automatic release on the release date | Included | Included |
| Release or cancel pre-orders by hand, in bulk | Included | Included |
| Reduce stock on release instead of at checkout | Included | Included |
| Status tab with health checks and activity log | Included | Included |
| Compatibility | ||
| Works with Cart and Checkout blocks and HPOS | Included | Included |
| Multilingual stores with WPML or Polylang | Included | Included |
| Emails | ||
| Five editable pre-order emails, including a store alert | Included | Included |
| Reminder, balance due and failed payment emails | Not included | Included |
| Email every customer waiting on a product | Not included | Included |
| Release summary email to the store | Not included | Included |
| Payments and pricing | ||
| Take a deposit now or charge in full on release day | Not included | Included |
| Pre-order discount or premium price | Not included | Included |
| Customers cancel their own pre-orders | Not included | Included |
| Launch control | ||
| Limits on total pre-orders and per customer | Not included | Included |
| Separate release dates for each variation | Not included | Included |
| Opening date before pre-orders can be placed | Not included | Included |
| Take pre-orders automatically while on backorder | Not included | Included |
| Release waiting pre-orders when stock arrives | Not included | Included |
| Shift a release date by a number of days | Not included | Included |
| Reports and integrations | ||
| Release calendar, demand reports and CSV export | Not included | Included |
| REST API for ERP and headless integrations | Not included | Included |
Upgrade
Upgrade to Anticipo Pro
- Take a deposit now or charge in full on release day
- Limits on total pre-orders and per customer
- Pre-order discount or premium price
- Separate release dates for each variation
- Release calendar, demand reports and CSV export
- Reminder, balance due and failed payment emails