Selling items not in stock: backorder feature

[stumcm]

I am an artist who sells print-on-demand art prints through my Square Online store.

Most of my prints are small-format prints (A4 and A3-size), which I keep on hand, to quickly post to customers.

I also sell large-format prints (A2, A1, and A0 size) as print-on-demand. Whenever a customer orders a large-format art print, I immediately get in touch with my printer and get the artwork printed and sent to the customer.

Right now, it seems that I am forced to choose between not tracking my inventory via Square (so that it is always 'unknown' and never reaches 0), or accurately tracking my inventory via Square and having customers denied the ability to purchase items with '0' stock, that I would print-on-demand.

I want the ability to be able to sell items through my Square Online store that I have '0' stock.

In WooCommerce this is called 'backorders'. As this FAQ page shows, customers can still buy products that are on backorder through WooCommerce. There is an option for 'Allow, but notify customer', as well as an item where the customer is not made aware of the fact that they are buying a product that is not in the store's stock inventory.

Does a similar feature exist in Square? If not, could I please request it.

I want the ability to use Square to manage my inventory levels, but to also allow customers to buy stock with '0' inventory.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

[Arie]

Thanks for writing in with this question, @stumcm!

Right now, backorders would be a feature request which you can submit here. Another option could be to list your larger on-demand print options as separate items that are not tracked, but I understand that you'd ideally like to both track numbers, and also have the option to accept orders for stock you're ordering in. Let us know if this workaround could be suitable for your business, and as always, feel free to stop by The Community with your questions, concerns and feature requests ✨