In this guide 6 sections
Treat pre orders as a fixed allocation. Cap sales at confirmed stock minus a buffer, count them in a separate pool, limit each household, choose when the card is charged and ship in order of payment. Release day then runs from a list.
Confirm the allocation in writing before the page goes live
Get the allocation by SKU in writing from your distributor, because a console bundle with a second controller is a different SKU from the base console. A graphite phone is not the silver one. Rumoured quantities are how shops oversell.
Then split the confirmed stock. Reserve a share for store collection and a few units for dead-on-arrival swaps, and treat whatever is left as the only number you may sell online.
Release date and delivery date are different things. Some brands ship stock to you only days before launch, which limits how early you can promise arrival on release day and how many waves you can fill.
- Allocation per SKU, colour and storage size
- Units held back for dead-on-arrival swaps
- Units set aside for store collection
- Last date the brand may cut the allocation
- Release date, embargo hour and courier cut-off
Take pre orders without selling the same unit twice
Give pre orders their own counter, separate from on-hand stock, and reduce it at the moment of payment so the product page flips to sold out at zero. The count must never go negative.
Two buyers can press the pay button on the last unit in the same instant, and the stock figure on a busy page is often a few seconds stale. Test it with two browser tabs.
Offer a waitlist for the overflow. Collect an email address, say plainly that it promises nothing, and release units down the list if the brand ships more or an order is cancelled.
Set per customer limits that resellers cannot dodge
One per account is easy to beat. Match on the delivery address after tidying it, the phone number, the email with dots and plus tags removed, and the card fingerprint your payment provider returns.
Count a bundle and a base console as one product family for the limit, or a single buyer quietly takes both and sells them on. State the limit on the product page. A visible rule softens a cancellation.
Hold flagged orders for a manual look before you capture payment, then cancel with a plain message and refund on the same day. A waiting room page slows scripts too.
- Delivery address after tidying flat numbers, spellings and postcode
- Phone number and email with plus tags removed
- Card fingerprint from the payment provider
- Product family, so bundle and base unit share one limit
- Held for review: over the limit, or many accounts at one address
Decide when the card is charged
A card authorisation reserves funds on the buyer’s card, but it lapses after a window set by the card network and the issuing bank. An early pre order can outlive it. Ask your payment provider how long yours last.
You have three choices: charge in full at order, authorise now and capture at dispatch, or take a deposit and collect the balance later. Each one shifts the risk. Early charging means refunds if the brand slips the date, while late capture risks declined cards on the very morning you are trying to ship.
Put the choice in the confirmation email, next to the expected date and the cancellation rule that applies if the brand slips. Rules on charging before shipment differ by country. Read yours first.
Dispatch in order of purchase, in waves
Sort pre orders by payment time and fill the oldest first, because a later buyer who receives first starts a forum thread you will read for weeks. Buyers compare notes within hours.
Print pick lists the evening before, stage boxes by courier, book the collection slot and agree the cut-off hour with the driver in advance. Count the carton against the delivery note. Check the seals before anything is released.
The first wave covers orders that can still arrive on release day, and later waves follow as the packing bench clears, each with its own tracking email. Tick every line the Friday before. After the sale opens, write the first-hour order count on the sheet, so next launch starts from your own numbers instead of a guess.
- Pick lists printed and sorted by payment time
- Boxes staged by courier
- Carton count checked against the delivery note
- Courier collection time confirmed
- Tracking emails queued for each wave
- One named person owns each wave
Launch week checklist
Three columns split the work into before the page goes live, on the day and after release, with a tick box, owner initials and a time beside every row. Rows include allocation letter filed, sold-out switch tested, limits tested with two accounts, authorisation expiry confirmed, pick lists printed, courier booked, and waitlist and refund emails drafted. One page, printed, pinned by the packing bench.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Should we take pre orders when the allocation is unconfirmed?
Only as a waitlist, never as a paid order. A paid order promises a unit you may not receive, while a waitlist gathers interest and lets you release units the day the brand confirms numbers.
What happens if the brand cuts our allocation?
Cancel the newest orders first, refund them the same day with a short note, and point to the oldest-first rule you published before launch. Written rules are easy to defend.
Do store collection orders draw on the same pool?
Yes. Collection and delivery share one allocation, or the same unit gets promised to a shopper in the queue and a buyer at home. Tally each channel only for reporting.
Where do dead-on-arrival swaps come from?
From the held buffer. Swap the dead unit at once, log its serial, and claim a replacement from the brand against the same allocation, so the buffer refills.