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

Shopify Apps
1

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?

2

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

3

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

4

@MetalCurations :waving_hand:t3: 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.)