How to distinguish between ready-to-ship and pre-order items on my site?

Shopify Apps
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Topic summary

A merchant seeks to display shipping status badges or text (e.g., \

Summarized with AI on November 10. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

Hello,

I would like to add a badge or just a line that informs the customer that the item is ready to be shipped or “Ships in 1-3 business days”.

Here’s the catch - some of the variations of the products will be available for shipping immediately since they’re in my storage (lets say a pink item), and another variation will be a pre-order (blue item).

What app can I use to make those distinctions clear for the customers and make sorting products that are available and pre-order easy?

Thanks

2 Likes
2

I haven’t seen an app that does exactly this but you might take a look at https://apps.shopify.com/dynamic-variant-description?search_id=070d71c7-9b83-4bd4-bf79-c87730848db2&surface_detail=variant+status&surface_inter_position=1&surface_intra_position=10&surface_type=search

3

Hi,

Thank you - I will look into the app!

4

Hi there,

To set the right customer expectations, a clear distinction between a regular and pre-order item is necessary. The shipment time for an in-stock item could be 7-10 days, however, the delivery time for a pre-order item could be much longer.

One of my clients uses HotWax Commerce Pre-Order Management App, which helps Shopify merchants in displaying accurate pre-order product information on their eCommerce PDP by performing the following actions:

  • Switch the “Add to Cart” button to the “Pre-Order” button for the eligible pre-order products.
  • Switch the “Pre-Order” button to the “Out of Stock” button when orders are received on the entire pre-order inventory.
  • Display the Estimated Delivery Date (promise date) for each pre-order product variant.
  • Update the new promise date if the pre-order shipment is preponed or postponed.

With this app, Shopify retailers can ensure that their customers always have the most up-to-date information and have a clear understanding of when they are ordering a pre-order product and their delivery timelines.

5

Did this work for you? I am looking for the same thing!

6

Hey,

The native approach: Go to Products → select your product → in Variants, toggle Continue selling when out of stock ON for the blue item (pre-order), leave OFF for pink (ready-to-ship).

For distinct labeling, create a product metafield at Settings → Custom data → Products → Add definition (e.g., “shipping_status” with values like “Ready to ship” or “Pre-order”). Add the value per variant and reference it in your description to inform customers. Shopify’s inventory docs.

Trade-off: Shopify doesn’t natively show variant-level badges or automate sorting without custom theme code.

If you need automated badges and easier variant-level control, an app like K1 PreOrder handles this (I’m the founder) with variant-level configuration, custom messages, and automated badge rendering. K1 PreOrder listing if relevant.

Happy to help with metafield setup if needed.

Best regards,
Yauheni