Manage orders waiting on stock or on hold

The Waiting tab lists order items that can't be packed yet: preorder items waiting for stock, and items you have put on hold. Use it to release those items back into the pack queue once they are ready.

Before you start

Preorder items appear here when a parent orders a product that has preorder switched on and there is no stock left. See Track stock and allow preorders.
Open Orders › Waiting. The badge shows how many items are waiting.

Read the Waiting tab

Use By order or By item, and filter by reason with All, Preorder or On hold (each shows a count).

By order has one row per waiting item: Order, Customer, Waiting on (the item), Reason, Since paid and Rest of order. Reason reads Preorder or On hold · {reason}. Since paid turns red from five days. An order with several waiting items shows them together.
By item is a read-only tally: Item, Reason, Units to pack, No. of orders and On hand.

Release preorder items

Add stock for the product. See Adjust stock levels.
In Waiting, select Release on a preorder row. If the item doesn't have enough stock yet, the row says None in stock instead.
Check the list. It shows every order waiting on that same product or variant: Released for the orders that paid first and can be covered by the stock on hand, Stays waiting for the rest.
Select Release N to confirm.

Released items move to To pack, joining the order's other items if it is still there. You can also release an item from the order's own page, using Release (or Release all N for a bundle) in its Waiting section.

Put items on hold

Use this when an item can't go out as ordered, for example a sizing query or a damaged item.

Open the order and select Put items on hold. The button only shows when at least one item is in To pack or Packed.
Tick the items to hold. A selected item is held in full: you can't hold part of a quantity, and a bundle is held as one item.
For each ticked item, choose a reason: Sizing check, Damaged / quality issue, Unavailable or Parent request.
Select Place N on hold.

The items move to Waiting with the reason On hold. The parent is emailed straight away, naming each held item and its reason. If your shop has a phone number saved, the email invites them to call to cancel or swap the item.

Release a held item

Held items don't need stock. Select Release on the row, then Release 1 to confirm. The item goes straight back to To pack. Releasing a held item doesn't send the parent an email.

Good to know

Preorder items are not released automatically when stock arrives. You release them yourself.
When you pack a released item, the parent gets the usual "ready to collect" email. See Emails sent to parents.
An order with items in To pack and Waiting appears in both tabs. See Manage orders in the Store Portal.
If a parent asks to cancel or swap a held item, see Cancel an order and Refund or exchange items.