Split Shipping for Pre-Orders and In stock items

The simplest method is probably giving them these as shipping options. Then use flow to tag or comment orders as needed. Personally I would not allow combining them like this. If they want to ship them separately, they have to place 2 separate orders. Less chance to mess things up. I don't think it's possible to have 2 orders created through one checkout process, but that would be ideal. Customer doesn't need to do anything extra and you have 2 separate orders for cleaner management. I run preorders and don't allow mixing items.

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Np. The best user experience would be getting the option at checkout and having the cart reconfigure into 2 orders if they choose split shipping. They can pay for one order first, which removes the items from their overall cart. Then immediately pay for the remaining items or come back at another time. I've never seen this done on any store but it should be technically possible. It wouldn't be possible on shopify unless you are a plus user, and even then it still might not be possible.

Yeah splitting it at the cart-level could be better than doing it at checkout. I think my technical co-founders have looked at it before but the cart memory was a big challenge (i.e. adding the removed items back to the cart after the first checkout session). I don't think I've seen any app out there that does this yet besides having a cart warning for mixed items (what you said probably possible via custom theme code though...). The order split apps do it post-checkout and from what I've seen they're just splitting into sub-orders under one order ID. So overall I agree not allowing mixed items/carts is the best option (preventative > cure, right?)

Glad I could help! I'll let the team know to keep an eye out for your emails if you need any further help getting set up (or just DM me)

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Hey u/dewcameroon, thanks for the mention! I'm one of the founders of Early Bird. Split shipping is actually a Shopify platform functionality, not an app feature. Unless Shopify has recently updated this, I don't think there's a native combine option for customers at checkout to offer both options at the same time. Depending on what you're selling, merchants would typically let customers know they need to place 2 separate orders if they want to ship separately (like u/Amon9001 has said). Otherwise, if their order contains a pre-order item, they will get both together when the pre-order item arrives. Currently there's no way in Shopify to create two separate orders via one checkout process. If the pre-order item and the in-stock item are grouped under one fulfillment, you could split it into sub-orders under the same order ID manually in Orders Admin (or set it up in Early Bird in a way that it's done automatically at checkout). E.g. If you haven't selected a shipping date for your pre-orders, the pre-order item will be assigned as "unfulfilled" like any in-stock items. Shopify sees the whole order as one fulfillment, which will result in customers just seeing one shipping charge at checkout. If you've selected a shipping date for your pre-orders, Shopify will treat it as two fulfillments - one ready now, one ready later and splits the shipping options at checkout. (But they're still under one order ID) So the customer will see two shipping charges and charged shipping twice. PS. This would be different if you're shipping the items from different locations. The most important part is to set clear expectations with customers throughout the pre/during/post purchase process (since most of them just click buttons without reading). Hope this wasn't too confusing (early morning here in Australia, haven't had my coffee yet but jumped on to reply once I saw you've tried our app.) Happy to work out the right setup with you, just shoot me a DM!

I haven't used your app or shopify plus but I think it might be possible somehow as per my other comment. It would be done in cart. If mixed items are detected, the customer is forced to make a choice/acknowledgement. If they choose split shipping, a box or interface is shown with their items in 2 groups. They can choose to check out either group first. This will clear all other items from their cart and send them to checkout. The tricky part is building some kind of memory because when they finish the first order, the other (removed) items need to be added back into cart. The order complete page needs a button to send them to checkout with the other items to make it a smooth process. Two orders are needed to keep the backend clean and free of errors. One issue is if the customer goes to checkout and returns - the removed items will need to be added back in somehow. What do you think? It is a pretty niche feature and may not even be technically feasible (on shopify).

I created a Shipping Label product which is not a physical product with inventory. On every preorder page I explain how it works and that all items will be shipped together when last preorder is available. If they want it shipped sooner then they can click the link to purchase a shipping label and add that to their order, or they order it later. Most people hate paying shipping so very rare that anyone buys the shipping label, but it’s an option you can use without needing apps that likely cost money

I run a preorder app (STOQ), sharing some context based on my knowledge - it is not straightforward to give them options like this, and Split Shipping doesn't solve it either. Bit frustrating but I'm sure they'll solve this with time. Split shipping itself is quite new, and I know they reworked it a couple of times throughout releasing it widely. (I wrote an angry email to Shopifolk working on it a year ago haha) A couple of things I've seen our brands go for instead - Don't allow mixed carts - force customers to purchase in-stock products and preorder products separately. We have a robust, battle-tested system for this on STOQ. If they try to add a preorder to a cart with in-stock or the other way around, they see an error message. It's available on all paid plans, starting at $10/mo. No transaction fees, no funny business with pricing. Separating preorder fulfillments into a separate order - assuming you're okay with mixed carts, set up preorder shipping so that it always charges a separate fee for it. Then after the order is placed, split the order into 2 if it's mixed - the original order has all in-stock products, and every preorder item is moved into a new order. We launched this on STOQ recently, and it's been a huge hit among our brands. Technically Shopify has this solved by way of having multiple fulfillments for orders, but I've seen that many brands prefer to have a separate order for preorders & they'd prefer customers to not go through the pain of placing multiple orders. I see you're using a solution from our friends on here. Gonna assume you're sticking to them but if there's any way I can help, let me know. We're always evolving the product and I want to make it the best app out there.

Hey, have you checked out Addora? Funny timing, because we actually rolled out support for almost exactly this yesterday. It lets customers have mixed carts with in-stock items, preorders, and supplier-delay items. Addora then gives them a customer-facing UI where they can see what’s ready, what’s still waiting, and choose what they want to combine into one shipment. Preorders can stay held until they’re ready, and once they are, they can be released into the customer’s “ready to ship” flow. So instead of trying to solve the whole thing with shipping profiles, the customer gets a clearer “ship now or keep bundling” experience. Feel free to reach out if you want help setting it up. Since this is very new, I’d be happy to help you get it working for your store.

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