How to handle pre-orders before stock arrives
Clearly label pre-orders, agree a realistic customer delivery period and distinguish it from dispatch. Tell customers when the plan slips, respect applicable cancellation rights and keep accessible cash for refunds before committing receipts to production. Coordinate factory progress with Cambridge China Bridge.
Build the promise around customer delivery
This guide focuses on a start-up brand taking online pre-orders from UK consumers. Before opening checkout, establish what evidence supports your stock arrival forecast. Work backwards from customer delivery through warehouse receiving, inspection and parcel fulfilment. Use our shipping lead-time guide for the upstream schedule.
Online sellers must deliver within 30 days unless otherwise agreed with the customer. For a longer pre-order, agree the delivery period before purchase. Show expected dispatch separately from expected customer delivery. Clearly label stock as awaiting arrival, and avoid describing a factory completion date or vessel arrival as your dispatch date.
Make checkout and confirmation usable
Before purchase, provide delivery arrangements, costs, arrival timing and cancellation information. Explain whether you take full payment or a deposit, including deposit conditions. Put the pre-order status and delivery period beside the purchase controls so customers can see them while deciding.
Online sellers must confirm the contract as soon as possible and provide a copy the customer can save. Send an order email recording the product, amount collected, agreed delivery period and cancellation route. Keep the wording shown at purchase with the order record; editing the live product page should not erase your record of the original promise.
Communicate a delay before customers chase
When a milestone slips, verify the cause and affected orders before issuing another date. Use the factory delay recovery guide to investigate production and shipping options. Pause new pre-orders if you cannot support the delivery wording currently displayed.
Contact affected customers directly. State the original promise, what has changed, the evidence behind the revised forecast and when you will update them again. Offer a clear route to request cancellation. Ask customers who wish to wait to confirm the revised delivery period, and keep that response. Avoid treating silence as confirmation.
Handle cancellation without a pre-order penalty
For ordinary goods covered by distance-selling cancellation rights, customers can cancel before delivery and up to 14 days after delivery without giving a reason. Do not make them wait for stock to arrive before accepting cancellation. A blanket statement that pre-orders are non-refundable must not restrict their rights.
Record cancellation requests and remove cancelled orders from fulfilment. For undelivered orders, make prompt refunds your operating policy rather than waiting for a supplier repayment. If goods have already arrived with the customer, the return rules apply: refund within 14 days of receiving them back and include the standard outbound delivery cost. Check product-specific exceptions before writing your policy.
Keep refunds affordable throughout the order
Build a refund exposure ledger from payments actually collected on unfulfilled orders, including delivery payments. Model what happens if the affected batch is delayed and customers cancel together. Compare that exposure with accessible cash after supplier balances, freight and operating commitments. Our working-capital guide helps with the wider purchase budget.
As a cash-management practice, keep a separately tracked refund reserve and replenish it as exposure changes. Do not count unsold stock, a hoped-for supplier refund or future pre-orders as available refund cash. If you cannot fund both the shipment and plausible cancellations, reduce the pre-order intake or use a waiting list while securing funding.
Frequently asked questions
Can I take pre-orders with delivery beyond 30 days?
Yes, if you agree otherwise with the customer. Agree a realistic delivery period before purchase and show dispatch separately. Do not rely on the factory's completion date.
Can a customer cancel before a pre-order arrives?
For ordinary goods covered by distance-selling cancellation rights, yes. Customers can cancel before delivery and up to 14 days afterwards without giving a reason.
What should I say when a pre-order is delayed?
Give the original promise, verified cause, revised forecast and next update point. Explain how to request cancellation and record any agreement to wait.
How much cash should I reserve for pre-order refunds?
Start with receipts on unfulfilled orders and model cancellations across a delayed batch. Keep accessible cash against that exposure after committed costs, rather than choosing an arbitrary percentage.