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Bloom holds pre-order fulfilment orders until you release them. A release makes the order Unfulfilled for your fulfilment app. It does not dispatch or fulfil the order.
Shipping & inventory management software typically will see the status change and trigger fulfilment processes but sometimes requires manual actions or work arounds.

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Which orders are released?

Orders are released, earliest first, and only when all pre-order inventory required is available. If an order has two pre-order products and only one is on hand today the order will be held. When the other product’s inventory is on hand, the whole order will be released.

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Ways you can release pre-orders

  1. In bulk / staged release from on hand inventory
  2. In bulk ignoring on hand inventory
  3. Automatically when inventory is on hand - off by default, turn it on

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Example inventory changes for a product on pre-order

  1. Available & on hand are 0
  2. 30 units are pre-ordered
  3. Product A inventory is -30 available
  4. You add 10 inventory
  5. Availalbe becomes -20, and on hand 10
  6. Orders for up to 10 units are available for release
  7. Releasing orders reduces on hand by 10 to 0

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How to release orders

Bloom monitors when Shopify inventory changes from any source: manual updates, imports, integrations and received purchase orders.
  1. Manual confirmation - the default. Covered orders stay in Ready until you confirm them.
  2. Automatic release. Turn it on under Apps → Bloom → Settings → Pre-order → Auto-release orders and matching orders release as On hand stock increases.
Bloom only checks an inventory update when that variant has held pre-order lines. Stock changes for unrelated variants do nothing here.

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Full release history

You can see every time a product / order is released in Bloom, whether it’s manual / bulk or automated. In each release you can see all the orders updated, and orders are tagged with the release ID. [screenshot of releases] [screenshot of order tag]

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Bulk release orders

Use Ready to release orders covered by current stock. Bloom releases the oldest eligible orders first.
  1. In Shopify admin, open Apps → Bloom → Products → Release orders.
  2. Select the variants to release.
  3. Choose Prepare orders for release.
  4. Check the order preview.
  5. Click Release orders.
Each selection releases whole orders, not individual lines. An order containing a selected variant is released as one fulfilment order.
Prepare all orders for release bypasses the stock check. It can release orders whose required stock is not on hand. Use it only when your warehouse can fulfil those orders.

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Releasing orders automatically

Automatic release is off by default - covered orders wait in Ready for you to confirm. Under Apps → Bloom → Settings → Pre-order → Auto-release orders:
  • Automatically release pre-orders when stock arrives - off by default. Releases the oldest fully covered held orders without confirmation. The Releases page becomes the record of what released. The four settings below only apply while it’s on.
  • Minimum stock increase to auto-release - the smallest single stock arrival that triggers an automatic release. Smaller increases stay available and do not reduce the pre-order limit.
  • Reduce pre-order limit as stock arrives - on by default. Lowers the oversell limit by received stock, so stock allocated to held orders does not reopen pre-order sales.
  • Auto-release quiet period (seconds) - a delay after the latest inventory update before releasing. Groups the tens or hundreds of variant updates that arrive seconds apart during imports and purchase orders, instead of triggering individual releases.
  • Auto-release maximum wait (seconds) - caps how long Bloom will wait, in case inventory keeps updating.

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Inventory statuses explained

  • Bloom uses on hand inventory to decide if pre-orders can be fulfilled
  • On hold is not unfulfilled. A held fulfilment order stays out of Shopify’s Unfulfilled list. Your 3PL should not ship it.
  • Released means unfulfilled. Bloom removes its hold. Your fulfilment app can now import, allocate and dispatch the order.
  • Available and on hand change together when you receive units. Bloom adds received units to Shopify’s Available inventory at the selected location. On hand rises by the same amount.
  • Incoming is not on hand. A Shopify purchase order creates Incoming inventory. It cannot release an order until you receive the units.

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Receive units in Bloom

If you would like to bulk update on hand inventory and release orders at once.
  1. In Shopify admin, open Apps → Bloom.
  2. Go to Products → Release orders.
  3. Enter the quantity under Receive units for each variant.
  4. Select the receiving location.
  5. Open Prepare orders for release, review the orders, then click Add units & release orders.
Bloom records the inventory adjustment with Shopify’s received reason. It adds units at the selected receiving location only. The On hand figure can include other online-fulfilling locations. The preview recalculates after your receipt. It shows the oldest orders now covered by stock. Confirming the receipt queues those orders for release in the same action.