How to Configure Pre-Order

Summary

The Surge theme allows you to configure pre-orders at the product variant level, giving you the flexibility to mark only specific variants as available for pre-order while keeping other variants available for immediate purchase.

To enable this functionality, you'll need to create two variant metafields in Shopify:

• Preorder — determines whether a variant is a pre-order item.
• Preorder ship date — specifies the expected shipping date for the pre-order.

Important: The metafield names and handles must match the names specified below for the Surge theme to recognize them correctly.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Open Shopify's Metafield Settings

From your Shopify admin:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Select Custom data (or Metafields and metaobjects, depending on your Shopify admin interface).
3. Select Variants.
4. Click Add definition.

Step 2: Create the Preorder Metafield

Create the first metafield using the following settings:

• Name: preorder
• Type: True or false

The name must be entered as preorder with no spaces. This creates the handle:

custom.preorder

Click Save.

Step 3: Create the Preorder Ship Date Metafield

Next, create a second variant metafield for the expected shipping date.

Click Add definition again and enter:

• Name: preorder ship date
• Type: Date

Make sure the name is entered as preorder ship date, which creates the handle:

custom.preorder_ship_date

Click Save.

Important: The metafield names must match exactly. Use preorder for the first field and preorder ship date for the second field.

Step 4: Open Your Product

1. Go to Products in your Shopify admin.
2. Select the product you want to configure for pre-order.
3. Find the Variants section.
4. Select the specific variant you want to make available for pre-order.

Step 5: Set the Pre-Order Information

Scroll down to the Metafields section of the variant.

For the selected variant:

1. Set Preorder to True.
2. Select the expected shipping date under Preorder ship date.
3. Click Save.

Step 6: Check the Product

Open the product on your storefront and select the variant you configured.

The selected variant should now display the pre-order status and shipping date, while other variants that haven't been marked as pre-order will remain available for normal purchase.

For example, if only the Neoprene variant is marked as a pre-order, selecting that variant will display the pre-order message, while another available variant will continue to show the regular Add to Cart option.

Pro Tip

We recommend configuring pre-orders at the variant level rather than the product level.

This is especially useful when only certain variants are awaiting stock. For example, you can mark Blue / Medium as a pre-order while keeping Black / Medium available for immediate purchase.

If you configure the metafield at the product level instead, the pre-order status may apply to the entire product and its variants.

Need Help?

If you have any questions or run into any issues while configuring pre-orders, our support team is happy to help.

Please contact us at [email protected] and we'll be happy to assist.