I want to let my customers know they can order Out of stock items.

[mamac]

I have a retail business. My products are handmade and some take days and sometimes weeks to make. But I don't want to turn customers away when it says "out of stock." The "pre-order" button is confusing and made for restaurants I believe. Because it makes no sense for my business. Is there anyway Square could make something that could let my customers know that I can make these products for them. Or does someone have a suggestion for a work-around for me?

[ryanwanner]

Hello @mamac !

Yes, preorder functionality is a little limited in scope. It is really good if you have a product that will be available on a specific date and you can sell a lot of at that time, but for products that just take longer to make but can be ordered at will it doesn't work.

If each item has a different prep time, I recommend updating the fulfillment time on each item. I'd say err on the longer side of production time--you can always deliver early. When you're looking at your item on your point of sale (More -> Items -> [item]), scroll down to the Online section at the bottom, then tap on Site Settings. on this screen, tap the Prep Time dropdown and change the time to whatever time works best for that item. Repeat this for each item you have. When a customer orders from the website, their pickup/delivery timing will default to the longest prep time item. I also recommend putting a note on each item's description explaining how long it will take to make their order and updating the Order Received email with the timing details.

If all your items take roughly the same amount of time to create, it would be faster to update the site default settings. You can do that at Dashboard -> Account & Settings -> Fulfillment -> Pickup & Delivery. In there, look for the line "How much time do you need to prepare an order for pickup or delivery?" and type in your production time.

As for shipping, it's best to keep with the item level prep times. That will give your customers a good idea on timing.

Hope this helps!