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Gardners Backorders & Pre-orders

For UK customers

Gardners is currently available to UK customers. US customers use Ingram. Provider availability is based on your Emersoft Books account or store region, not an order's delivery address.

When Gardners cannot supply a book immediately, it keeps the order line open and supplies it later. This page explains how long Gardners waits, how pre-orders are handled, and what you see in Shopify.

Backorders and pre-orders are held together

Gardners keeps backorders and pre-orders on the same list:

  • A backorder is a published book that Gardners does not currently have in stock.
  • A pre-order is a book that has not been published yet (Gardners status NYP, Not Yet Published).

Gardners supplies the book as soon as it can, then ships it to your customer.

How long Gardners holds an order

Book How long Gardners keeps the order open
Published book that is out of stock 60 days from the order date
Not Yet Published (NYP) book 60 days from the publication date. The count does not start until the publication date has passed

If Gardners cannot obtain the book within this period, it cancels the backorder. Gardners may also cancel earlier if the publisher reports that the title can no longer be supplied.

Selling pre-orders early

Because the 60-day count starts only after publication, a pre-order stays open however far ahead of the publication date your customer orders it. This is different from Ingram, where the hold period starts on the order date.

Pre-order titles in Shopify

When you import a book, Emersoft Books marks it as a pre-order when its publication date is in the future or Gardners reports it as not yet available for release. The product's emersoft.is_preorder metafield is set to true. See Gardners Product Tags & Metafields.

Until Gardners has stock, the book's quantity at the Emersoft Books Fulfillment - Gardners location is zero. If the product shows as "Sold Out" on your storefront, enable Continue selling when out of stock:

  • For one product: open it in Shopify Admin > Products, scroll to the Inventory section, and tick Continue selling when out of stock.
  • For future imports: in Apps > Emersoft Books > Settings > Import, under Inventory, enable Apply provider inventory to products and set Inventory policy to Continue selling when out of stock.

Continue selling applies to every out-of-stock book

With this option enabled, customers can also order published books that Gardners has run out of. Those orders are held as backorders for up to 60 days.

Orders with several books

If only some books in an order are available, the Max wait setting controls how long Gardners holds the available books before shipping them. After that, the remaining books ship as Gardners receives them.

The default Max wait is 30 days. Set it to 0 if every book should ship as soon as it is ready. See Configure fulfillment.

What you see in Shopify

After Gardners acknowledges an order, Emersoft Books adds an order note for each book:

Order note What it means
Gardners accepted The book can be supplied now
Gardners partially supplied Some copies can be supplied now; the rest are backordered
Gardners backordered Gardners has recorded the order and will supply the book later
Gardners cannot supply Gardners has cancelled the book

Emersoft Books checks Gardners' backorder list every hour. When Gardners cancels a backordered book, a new order note appears:

Gardners order update:
- Gardners cannot supply 'Book Title' (ISBN) — line cancelled

If nothing else is left to ship, Emersoft Books closes the order's Gardners fulfillment in Shopify, noting that no further fulfillment will follow.

Refund cancelled books yourself

Emersoft Books does not cancel the Shopify order or refund your customer when Gardners cancels a book. Refund the cancelled book in Shopify Admin > Orders and let your customer know.

Keeping customers informed

  • Mention on pre-order product pages that the book ships after publication.
  • If an order contains books with different availability, tell customers that it may arrive in more than one parcel.
  • Check order notes on older open orders, especially for out-of-stock books.

To cancel a backorder yourself, see Gardners Returns & Cancellations.