Backorders & Pre-orders

A backorder is an order for an existing product you have temporarily run out of. A pre-order is an order for a product that has not yet been released or first stocked. Both are sales made before stock is in hand.

The distinction matters because the customer promise differs: a backorder says "this is coming back soon", a pre-order says "this arrives on launch". In AWRA both run on one mechanism — there is no separate pre-order record. A pre-order is a confirmed sales order for an item with nothing free yet, so its whole line backorders and is filled when the first stock arrives; the launch date is a promise you make to the customer.

A customer wanting a popular shoe you have sold out of is a backorder — it fills when your next delivery is received. A customer ordering next season’s model before it is released is a pre-order: create the item, confirm a sales order for it, and the full quantity sits on the Backorders tab until the first receipt fills it, oldest order first. If you would rather not ship before launch day, leave the order uninvoiced until then — the stock stays reserved for that customer in the meantime.

When stock hits zero you can still capture the sale as a backorder rather than turning the customer away. Confirming the sales order reserves whatever is free at the order’s warehouse and records the rest as backordered on the line; the Backorders tab under Inventory, Items, Reservations and backorders lists what every customer is still waiting for.

Capturing this demand matters because a recorded backorder is a kept customer and a signal to buying — it tells you exactly how much extra to order, instead of a lost sale that leaves no trace.

If a SKU stocks out but 25 customers place backorders before your PO of 100 arrives, you know to fulfil those 25 first and that real demand outstripped your last order. Without backorders those 25 simply vanish — no sale, no data, no idea you under-bought by at least a quarter.

When restock arrives, backorders should be filled first and in the order they were placed (first-come, first-served) before new walk-in sales. AWRA does this automatically: any stock coming in at that warehouse — a receipt, a transfer, a return, a completed build — fills waiting backorders for the item, oldest first, as far as free stock goes, before any of it is free to sell.

Fulfilment order matters because backorder customers have already waited; serving fresh demand ahead of them breaks the promise that made them wait in the first place.

A PO of 100 units is received against 120 backorders at the same warehouse. AWRA fills the oldest 100 and the remaining 20 stay on backorder for the next delivery, so a walk-in cannot buy units owed to someone who ordered last week. Stock that arrives at a different branch does not fill these backorders until it is transferred into the order’s warehouse.

A backorder or pre-order is only good if the date is honest. The backorder records the quantity owed; the date is a promise you make, so quote a realistic restock date based on supplier lead time and tell the customer if it slips — surprises break trust faster than delays.

Honesty matters because customers will wait for a clear promise but feel cheated by a vague or broken one. The date you quote is a commitment, not a hope.

If your supplier lead time is 14 days, promise "back in stock in about 2 weeks", not "any day now". If the truck is delayed to 21 days, tell the waiting customers proactively. A backorder kept honestly converts to a sale; one quoted carelessly converts to a refund and a bad review.