Why a product still sells after its preorder is turned off or ends
An out-of-stock product keeps selling when Shopify's Continue selling when out of stock setting is still on for its variants. EZ Preorder & Back In Stock turns that setting on for variants with the Always and Sold out rules, but turning a preorder off, removing it, or hitting a plan limit does not turn the setting off again. Your theme's normal Add to cart button then comes back on the sold-out variant, and shoppers can buy it as an ordinary order. To stop it, turn off Continue selling when out of stock for those variants in your Shopify admin.
Available on: All plans.
Where to find it: Shopify admin → Products → the product's variant → Inventory, or Products → Inventory for many variants at once.
Why products keep selling after a preorder
Shopify lets shoppers buy a variant with 0 or less in stock only when Continue selling when out of stock is on. EZ Preorder relies on this for preorders: the Always and Sold out rules need it on, so the preorder button can add sold-out variants to the cart.
When a preorder stops, EZ Preorder stops showing its preorder button. If Continue selling when out of stock is still on, your theme sees the variant as available and shows its own Add to cart button. Orders placed this way are ordinary orders: they have no preorder line item property and EZ Preorder does not count them as preorders. Your stock for the variant goes further below 0 with each sale.
When EZ Preorder changes Continue selling when out of stock
This table shows what each EZ Preorder action does to Shopify's Continue selling when out of stock setting.
| What happens in EZ Preorder | Continue selling when out of stock |
|---|---|
| You add a product or variant to the preorder list | Turned off for the added variants. New variants start with the Specific inventory level rule. |
| You save a variant on its Edit page with Always or Sold out | Turned on for that variant, or for all the product's listed variants when Apply settings for all variants is ticked. |
| You save a variant with Specific inventory level | Turned off, and the stock is set to the quantity you enter. |
| You apply Bulk Settings | Changed for every variant on your preorder list, whatever settings you picked: turned off if you chose Specific inventory level under Pre-order rules, turned on if you chose Always or Sold out, and normally turned on when you did not include Pre-order rules at all (for example when you only changed Preorder status). |
| A scheduled end date passes and Mark as sold out when the pre-order ends is ticked | Turned off for every listed variant of the product. Remaining stock is set to 0 for Specific inventory level variants that track inventory. |
| A scheduled end date passes and Mark as sold out when the pre-order ends is unticked | Not changed. |
| You click Disable on a product | Not changed. |
| Your plan's preorder limit turns all preorders off | Not changed. |
| You remove a product or variant from the preorder list (Delete, unticking it in Select products, Bulk Remove, or removing it from preorder in Shopify admin) | Not changed. |
| You uninstall EZ Preorder | Not changed. Your preorder list is deleted, and the setting stays as it was on each variant. |
How to stop a product from overselling
Turn off Continue selling when out of stock in your Shopify admin for every variant that should stop selling at 0.
For one product:
- In your Shopify admin, go to Products and open the product.
- Open the variant (if the product has variants).
- In the Inventory section, untick Continue selling when out of stock.
- Click Save. Repeat for each variant.
For many variants at once:
- In your Shopify admin, go to Products → Inventory.
- Tick the variants you want to change.
- Click Edit variants to open the bulk editor.
- Click Columns and add Continue selling when out of stock.
- Untick the box in each row. Shift-click or drag to change several rows at once.
- Click Save, then Save changes in the confirmation window.
Continue selling when out of stock only takes effect when inventory tracking is on for the variant (Inventory tracked, called Track quantity in older versions of Shopify admin). Variants that do not track inventory are always available to buy, and they do not appear on the Inventory page. Turn on inventory tracking for them, or make the product unavailable, to stop sales.
How to end a preorder without overselling
EZ Preorder gives you two ways to end a preorder so that the variant reads as sold out afterwards:
- Schedule the end (Growth plan and above). On the product's Edit page, set an end date under Enable/Disable by custom dates and leave Mark as sold out when the pre-order ends ticked. When the end date passes, EZ Preorder turns the preorder off and turns Continue selling when out of stock off for you. See How to schedule preorder start and end dates.
- End it by hand (all plans). Click Disable on the product's Edit page, or remove the product from the preorder list, then turn off Continue selling when out of stock for its variants in Shopify as described in this article.
If you will restock the product and want to keep selling it normally, add the new stock in Shopify and turn off Continue selling when out of stock. Your theme then shows Add to cart while the variant is in stock and sold out when it reaches 0.
What to do about orders placed after the preorder ended
Orders for a variant that had already run out are ordinary Shopify orders, so they do not carry EZ Preorder's preorder line item property. To find the affected variants, look in Products → Inventory for variants with stock below 0. Then decide for each order whether to fulfill it when stock arrives, contact the customer, or cancel and refund it in Shopify.
Troubleshooting
Add to cart appeared on sold-out products after my plan limit was reached. Reaching the limit turns your preorders off but leaves Continue selling when out of stock on. Turn it off in Shopify for those variants, or upgrade and turn the preorders back on. See Plan limits.
Bulk Settings turned Continue selling when out of stock on for my Specific inventory level products. Applying Bulk Settings without choosing Specific inventory level under Pre-order rules, for example to enable or disable all preorders, normally turns the setting on for every variant on your list. Specific inventory level variants then keep selling with your theme's Add to cart button after their preorder stock reaches 0. Turn the setting off in Shopify for those variants, or open each product's Edit page and save it with Specific inventory level. See Bulk edit preorder settings.
A preorder I disabled came back on. Clicking Save on a product's Edit page turns its preorder on, unless you set a start date in the future. After saving, click Disable again if you want it off.
The product still sells even though Continue selling when out of stock is off. The variant probably does not track inventory. Turn on inventory tracking in the variant's Inventory section.
The scheduled end passed but the product still sells. Mark as sold out when the pre-order ends may have been unticked, or the variant may not track inventory. Check both, then turn off Continue selling when out of stock by hand.
Frequently asked questions
Does disabling a preorder in EZ Preorder stop the product from selling?
Not on its own. Disabling hides the preorder button, but if Continue selling when out of stock is on, your theme's Add to cart button lets shoppers keep buying the sold-out variant. Turn that setting off in Shopify.
Does removing a product from the preorder list turn off Continue selling when out of stock?
No. Removing a product or variant from the list leaves the Shopify setting as it was. Turn it off in Shopify for each variant.
Does uninstalling EZ Preorder reset my products' inventory settings?
No. EZ Preorder deletes your preorder list when you uninstall, but Continue selling when out of stock stays as it was on every variant. Check your former preorder products in Shopify after uninstalling.
Which EZ Preorder option turns Continue selling when out of stock off automatically?
Four do: adding a product to the preorder list, saving a variant with the Specific inventory level rule, applying Bulk Settings with Specific inventory level chosen under Pre-order rules, and a scheduled end date passing with Mark as sold out when the pre-order ends ticked.
Are orders placed after the preorder ended marked as preorders?
No. They are ordinary orders without EZ Preorder's preorder line item property. Find the variants with stock below 0 in Products → Inventory to see which orders are affected.
Related articles
- Preorder rules: how each rule changes Continue selling when out of stock.
- How to schedule preorder start and end dates: end a preorder automatically and mark it sold out.
- How to remove a product from preorder: what to check after removing a product.
- Bulk edit preorder settings: how Bulk Settings applies rules and status.
- Plan limits: what happens when your plan's preorder limit is reached.
- I cannot add a preorder product to the cart: the opposite problem, when Continue selling is off during a preorder.