By default, a product goes on pre-order when it is out of stock at every location in your store. If some of your stock sits in places you don't want to count, such as retail stores, you can choose which locations count instead. This article shows how to set it up, and what it does and doesn't change.
Before you start
You're on the Notify Me Plus plan. On other plans the PreOrder card shows a lock beside its title, stays on All locations, and its options can't be changed.
PreOrder is active, and the products are in an active pre-order offer.
The variants have Continue selling when out of stock on and track inventory in Shopify. A variant that doesn't track inventory never goes on pre-order this way.
Open the PreOrder location setting
In the Notify Me! app, open Settings and click Locations.
Find the PreOrder card: "Which stock decides when a product goes on pre-order." It sits below the Back in stock card, which has its own location setting (How to manage tracked inventory locations in Notify Me).
All locations is the default: "Pre-order starts when a product is out of stock at every location." This is how pre-order has always worked, so nothing changes if you leave it.
Choose specific locations
Under Locations to count, select Choose specific locations.
Tick the locations whose stock should count. A fulfillment-service location shows a Fulfillment Service badge, and a location that doesn't fulfill online orders shows No online orders.
Click Save.
"Pre-order starts when the chosen locations run out, even if others still have stock." Notify Me! re-checks your products after you save, and every hour after that. On a large catalog the check can take a while.
If no location is ticked
If you select Choose specific locations but leave every location unticked, the card shows No locations chosen: "Until you choose at least one, pre-order keeps counting stock at all locations." Pre-order then works as it does with All locations. The same happens if every location you chose is deleted or deactivated in Shopify.
How the counting works
Notify Me! adds up each variant's available quantity at the locations you chose. When that sum is 0 or less, the variant counts as out of stock and can go on pre-order, as long as Continue selling when out of stock is on and inventory is tracked.
Stock at the other locations is left out of the count. So a product whose total stock is above zero can still go on pre-order when the chosen locations are at or below zero.
A chosen location where a variant has never been stocked counts as 0 for that variant.
The variant still needs to be in an active pre-order offer to show the pre-order button.
Shopify still decides where an order ships from
Notify Me! only changes which stock counts for pre-order. It doesn't change where Shopify sells or ships from: Shopify's own order routing still picks the location that fulfills each order.
So stock at a location you didn't choose can still be sold online by Shopify. If that location fulfills online orders, Shopify can ship an order, pre-orders included, from its stock. If you don't want a location's stock sold online, turn off online order fulfillment for that location in your Shopify admin, under Settings > Locations.
See your choice from PreOrder
On the PreOrder settings page (open PreOrder and click Settings), the Inventory rules card sums up your choice. With specific locations it reads "Pre-order starts when the locations you chose run out, even if others still have stock." and names them under Locations. Otherwise it reads "Pre-order starts when a product is out of stock at every location." and All locations. Click Edit to go back to the setting.
On each pre-order offer's page, the Markets card ends with "Pre-order stock is counted at the locations set in Settings > Locations", which links to the setting.
Tips
Switching back to All locations keeps your ticks, so they come back if you choose specific locations again.
If your plan no longer includes this setting, pre-order goes back to counting all locations. Your chosen locations are kept and apply again when you return to Notify Me Plus.
A chosen location you delete in Shopify drops out of the list. A deactivated one is hidden and stops counting; after you reactivate it, check it's still ticked, and tick it again if you saved while it was inactive.
Back in stock has its own location setting on the same page. Changing one doesn't change the other.
Troubleshooting
A product went on pre-order although it still has stock — check where that stock sits. Only the chosen locations count, so stock at other locations doesn't keep a product off pre-order.
The PreOrder card is locked — choosing locations for pre-order is part of the Notify Me Plus plan.
An in-store POS sale wasn't recorded as a pre-order — Orders from other sales channels still looks at the variant's total Shopify stock: an order counts as a pre-order only when it takes that total below zero (How to Treat Orders from Other Sales Channels as Pre-orders).