Introduction:
Managing pre-order buying limitations is crucial to prevent overselling and ensure fair distribution of limited stock items. This guide explains how to set and manage pre-order buying limits in the Notify Me app for Shopify. You can now configure limits per variant to control the number of customers who can place pre-orders. This feature is available on higher subscription plans, so ensure your plan supports it before configuring limits.
1. What Are Pre-Order Buying Limits?
Pre-order buying limits let you restrict how many customers can pre-order a product (or a specific variant). Once the limit is reached, Notify Me automatically marks the product or variant as sold out, stopping further pre-orders. Additionally, you can set limits either for specific variants (e.g., size, color) or for the entire product, enabling flexible inventory control.
2. How to Enable Pre-Order Buying Limits
To activate this feature:
In your Shopify admin, go to Apps → Notify Me.
Select PreOrder from the left-hand menu.
Open or create the pre-order offer for the product you want to limit.
Scroll to the Buying Limitation section.
Click on Add limit.
6. In Buying Limitation modal, you can see the products added to the offer. Enter the allowed number of customers for each variant in the table.
8. Click Save.
Important Notes on How Limits Work
The pre-order limit only applies to purchases made through the Notify Me pre-order button.
Orders placed via the standard Shopify "Add to Cart" button are not counted.
If you change the limit for an exsisting preorder product, the limit will be reset. For example if you have set a limit of 5 for a variant and you have sold 3, if you change the limit to 10, you can now sell 10 items and the previous sold items won't be calculated towards this new limit.- Pre-order limits operate independently of actual inventory levels. They continue to apply even if stock levels reach zero, helping you manage pre-orders without impacting other inventory workflows.
4. Updating and Managing Limits
To change the limit, simply edit the numbers in the Buying Limitation section and click Save.
Keep an eye on pre-order volume and adjust limits based on stock availability or demand trends.
Plan-Specific Features and Access
Advanced configuration options such as setting limits per variant or for entire products may require higher-tier subscription plans. Ensure your subscription plan supports these features before attempting to set them.
Summary
Setting pre-order limits helps ensure fair access to limited products and prevents overselling. With the maximum sales limit feature and Notify Me’s automation, your products will automatically switch to “sold out” when the limit is hit — helping you stay in control.
Need help configuring limits or troubleshooting tag behavior? Reach out to our support team anytime.