Allow Pre-Orders items when store is closed

[SSBIceCream]

I own an ice cream parlor. We are closed for our off-season from October - March, but still doing online pre-orders for some items during the holiday season as supplemental income. I have the couple items listed in Square that I put in the item details that it is a pre-order with a specific fulfillment date range. The issue that I'm having is that I have to have my Square business hours as open or else people can't pre-order. For example, if I have my business hours listed correctly it would say 12-8pm, but that means people can't order any of the pre-orders until 12pm.

As a work around, Square customer service directed me to put my business as 24 hours a day, which is then of course showing that our shop is open when you look at our online site. I really hope people realize that our shop isn't truly open, and it is just our online ordering site that is open.

It would be incredibly nice for items that are listed as "pre-order" for customers to be able to truly purchase them whenever, including when the business is closed for their regular hours or in my case, the off season.

[Stacelyn24]

Hey there! 👋
I totally understand what you’re running into — that can definitely be frustrating when you’re closed for the season but still want to bring in those holiday pre-orders.

Unfortunately, Square doesn’t currently allow pre-orders to process when your store is marked “closed,” which is why support suggested keeping the online store open 24 hours. That said, there are a few workarounds you might try:

1. Use a “Pre-Order” category and custom banner.
   Keep your store technically open 24/7, but add a header note or banner at the top of your site that clearly says something like:
   “We’re closed for the season! These are pre-orders only for December pickup — the shop itself isn’t open right now.”
   That usually clears up any confusion for customers who land on your page.

2. Try a third-party integration like Orderable or GloriaFood.
   Those can connect through your Square Online or POS and sometimes give more flexible pre-order scheduling options. You can even embed the widget on your site while keeping your regular store hours accurate in Square.

3. Consider using Square Invoices or Checkout Links.
   If you only have a few seasonal items, you could make pre-order checkout links (each tied to a specific product or package) and share them directly on social media or email — no need to have your store “open.”

Hopefully one of those gives you a smoother path until Square adds a true pre-order toggle (I think a lot of seasonal businesses would benefit from that).

Hang in there — it’s awesome that you’re still finding creative ways to keep sales flowing during your off-season! 🍦✨

[JMezza]

So for someone who wants to order 15 min. before we open to pick up after we are open they can't unless i purchase a yearly subscription through orderable for another $150 fee because square can't provide this?!