In this guide, we will show you the best ways to manage WooCommerce backorders with WooCommerce Estimated Delivery Date plugin and how to display accurate delivery dates to your customers. Read along.

WooCommerce Backorders

When it comes to managing inventory you need to be on your toes to update the inventory stock status for your products. This way the customers will never leave your store empty-handed. However, just in case your stock runs out, there is another way to make sure the customers are still able to place their orders without any hassle.

WooCommerce supports backorders on the products which are not in stock but will be there soon. This way you can still allow your customers to place orders for those products and then fulfill their orders as soon as the product is in stock.

Backing up with a WooCommerce Shipping Scenario with Backorders

Talking about the backorders, Ben, owner of a US-based WooCommerce store, uses backorders to make sure his customers can still place an order with the currently out of stock products. However, this requires him to display different estimated delivery dates to his customers as the products will be available in a few days. And as soon as they are available, he can fulfill the orders and carry on with the WooCommerce shipping procedure.

According to Ben,

“We only keep limited stock in our warehouse available for next day delivery. However, we can get any products from our suppliers within 5-10 days. It would be ideal to be able to show in-stock products with one estimated delivery date and out of stock/backorder with a different estimated delivery date. Can we change estimate delivery times based on stock level? Such that, if it’s on backorder the estimated date will be different from in-stock items.”

Importance of Displaying Accurate Estimated Delivery Dates

Just like Ben’s scenario, most of you would have faced this situation when the customers get a delivery date on the cart page and later they got a late delivery due to some reasons. Not being able to deliver products on time is among the worst-case scenarios no matter the reasons for it.

Providing an estimate of 3 days delivery time and actually delivering the products on the 8th or 10th day will definitely annoy customers. Hence, the best possible way is to make sure you are displaying accurate delivery dates to your customers.

In the next section, we will check out an advanced estimated delivery date plugin which not only handles delivery dates for normal orders but also takes care of backorder delivery dates.

Solution

In Ben’s case, since he wants different estimated delivery dates for his in-stock products and the products for which he requires backorders, let’s see how he can configure it using WooCommerce Estimated Delivery Date plugin.

Based on Ben’s case, he can set up his scenario in the following ways:

Set up a Dedicated Estimated Delivery Date for all Backorder Products

This way Ben can set up a dedicated delivery date for the products which are on backorder. This date will be different for different products.

This way Ben can set up a dedicated delivery date for the products which are on backorder. This date will be different for different products. Set up a Common Estimated Delivery Date Adjustment for all Backorder Products

This way Ben can set up a common delivery date adjustment for all his backorder products. Unlike the above option, this adjustment will be common for all the products and will be applicable to all backorder products.

Set up a Dedicated Estimated Delivery Date for all Backorder Products

Follow the steps below to set up a dedicated estimated delivery date for all backorder products.

One of the ways to use backorder functionality is to allow backorders for your products . To set it, visit the product page and enable Manage Stock? under Inventory and set Allow Backorders to Allow.

Backorders

. To set it, visit the product page and enable under and set to Backorders Now install the Estimated Delivery Date for Backorder Products plugin. This add-on will allow you to set a dedicated estimated delivery date for every product once the product goes into backorder.

plugin. This add-on will allow you to set a dedicated estimated delivery date for every product once the product goes into backorder. Click on Settings to visit the plugin settings page.

to visit the plugin settings page. Enable Show Only for Backorder Products , if you want to display the estimated delivery only for the backorder products.

, if you want to display the estimated delivery only for the backorder products. Choose a product under the Product Name drop-down. This drop-down will contain all the WooCommerce orders

drop-down. This drop-down will contain all the Choose from the following Extra Delivery Date Formats : Fixed Date

This will allow you to select a delivery date for your products as soon as the product goes into backorder Custom Text

This will allow you to add a custom text which will be displayed in the cart page, product page and checkout page.

Example: 4 to 5 Weeks Number of Additional Days

This will allow you to select the additional delivery days that it will take to fill the inventory. These days will be added to the calculated estimated delivery date and displayed on the cart and checkout page

: Save the settings and visit the product page.



The estimated delivery date will be displayed based on your settings in the steps mentioned above.

Set Up a Common Estimated Delivery Date Adjustment for All Backorder Products

Follow the steps below to set up a common Estimated Delivery Date adjustment for all backorder products.

We discussed how you can set up backorders in the section above. However, if you are dealing with the WooCommerce backorders, you can also set the product stock status to On Backorder . This way you will be able to identify which products are out of stock currently but will be available soon. The image below displays the product level settings for stock settings.

Once you are done with this, install the WooCommerce Estimated Delivery Date plugin , activate it and visit the plugin settings.

, activate it and visit the plugin settings. Set Adjustment for Backorder Products based on your business scenario. So, in the case of Ben, since he can update the stock of his products within 10 days, all he needs to do is enter 10 in the delivery days option for backorders.

based on your business scenario. So, in the case of Ben, since he can update the stock of his products within 10 days, all he needs to do is enter 10 in the delivery days option for backorders. Now since we have set up the additional number of days it will take for the backorders, let’s take a look at the delivery dates displayed for the customers on the cart page for an In-stock product and a backorder product.

You can see the estimated delivery date in the case of a product which is in stock is the 28th of August. Now, let’s check out the delivery date for the backorders. In this image, you can see the delivery date changes based on the stock status of the product. Hence, if a customer wants to buy products that are not in stock, don’t hold back and provide accurate estimated delivery dates on your store. This way your customers won’t get confused about not getting their packages on time.

Plugins Used:

The following plugins were used to create the shipping scenario mentioned in the article:

WooCommerce Estimated Delivery Date Plugin

This plugin is among the best plugins which can display estimated delivery dates on your website. Along with that, this plugin is also capable of calculating estimated delivery dates based on factors like the destination address, shipping classes, shipping methods, etc. And the best part is, the plugin now supports delivery date calculation based on the stock status.

This plugin is among the best plugins which can display estimated delivery dates on your website. Along with that, this plugin is also capable of based on factors like the etc. And the best part is, the plugin now supports delivery date calculation based on the stock status. Estimated Delivery Date for Backorder Products

This is free of cost plugin that works along with the WooCommerce Estimated Delivery Date plugin to display delivery dates. The plugin handles backorders and displays accurate delivery dates based on your requirements.

NOTE: This is not an Independent Plugin and works ONLY with the Estimated Delivery Date plugin.

Final Thoughts

We all know how important it is to display accurate order delivery dates to your customers, no matter the products are in stock or not. WooCommerce Estimated Delivery Date plugin does just that on your WooCommerce store.

It helps you to first calculate delivery dates and then display them on your website. So, if you are also worried about the delivery date that is displayed to your customers, try WooCommerce Estimated Delivery Date plugin today.

If you need help setting up WooCommerce Shipping on your online store then feel free to contact our customer support. Our support team would help you set it up.