Need Explanation/Help - Timesact Preorder Release Hold Warning Message (newly occur in last week)

[MetalCurations]

In the last week , at some point,  the functionality of this app has changed in the way it works with Shopify. 

I have some preorder products that are now ready for me to ship out. 

I go to a paid order to fulfill it and click release hold. 

I get warning pop up message that states "

"This hold was placed by an app, and releasing it may breach your agreement"

I have never had this message before today, and have fulfilled many orders in the past with this exact process. So I am confused

Has anyone else run into this issue?  Is this related to Winter upgrade?  Who would I be breaching agreement with?  The developer of the app , or shopify?

[MetalCurations]

I reached out on TimeSact support chat, and they are looking into it, but did not have a solution 

[Jo_EarlyBird · Accepted solution]

Hey Metal, 

We run another Aussie-founded preorder app called Early Bird. This is a safeguard from Shopify to ensure merchants don't accidentally release the hold and disrupt the preorder process managed by your third-party app or service.

By releasing hold early, you're "overriding" the app's automated preorder process. So now you can't blame the app if anything goes wrong.

I think a similar message used to pop-up when you fulfill preorders via a third-party app and release hold early. Don't think it ever mentioned an "agreement" though, which seems to be confusing many merchants.

I see you've already contacted Timesact's support team for clarification; would be good to double check with Shopify Support team too.

Josiah

[Sandy--STOQ]

@MetalCurations 👋🏼 The exact change that affected this was announced close to Winter Editions - previously, all fulfillments were treated as one type and now Shopify is working on differentiating between app-managed and store-managed fulfillments. It looks like Timesact is operating as a fulfillment service and that's why you're seeing the new message; a bit odd given that they are not actually fulfilling the product. But like already mentioned, chatting with their team is the best next step.

(PS - Shopify is also known to not provide full context in labels and settings. For example, "Only sell this product as a subscription" actually affects all types of purchase options like preorders and try-before-you-buy too.)