WooCommerce Pre-Orders: Hooks and Filters

This document explains the main hooks and filters available in WooCommerce Pre-Orders, with practical examples you can adapt for your store.

If you are looking for merchant setup guidance, see WooCommerce Pre-Orders documentation.

For general WooCommerce hook fundamentals, see Introduction to hooks, actions, and filters and WooCommerce actions and filters.

How Pre-Orders Hooks Are Used

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Pre-Orders uses both actions and filters throughout product display, checkout, status transitions, and admin workflows.

• Filters let you modify values such as availability date text, supported product types, or gateway lists.
• Actions let you react to events such as a status change, release date change, completion, or cancellation.

Key Filters

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Filter	Purpose
wc_pre_orders_localized_availability_date	Customize the formatted availability date shown on the frontend
wc_pre_orders_localized_availability_time	Customize the formatted availability time shown on the frontend
wc_pre_orders_get_utc_availability_datetime_timestamp	Adjust raw UTC timestamp before localization
wc_pre_orders_product_message	Customize pre-order product messaging
wc_pre_orders_product_can_be_pre_ordered	Control whether a product can currently be pre-ordered
wc_pre_orders_product_supports_pre_order_feature	Control whether a product can support pre-orders at all
wc_pre_orders_supported_product_types	Add or remove globally supported product types
wc_pre_orders_remove_unsupported_gateways	Modify available gateways during pre-order checkout
wc_pre_orders_fee	Modify pre-order fee label/amount/tax setup
wc_pre_orders_cart_item_meta	Customize cart/checkout pre-order metadata row

Key Actions

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Action	Purpose
wc_pre_order_status_changed	Runs on every pre-order status transition
wc_pre_order_status_{new_status}	Runs when status is updated to a specific value
wc_pre_order_status_{old_status}_to_{new_status}	Runs on a specific from/to transition
wc_pre_orders_pre_order_date_changed	Runs when a release date is changed
wc_pre_orders_pre_order_completed	Runs when a pre-order is completed
wc_pre_orders_pre_order_cancelled	Runs when a pre-order is cancelled
wc_pre_orders_process_pre_order_completion_payment_{gateway_id}	Runs gateway-specific completion payment logic

Availability Date Example

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This is a common request: changing how {availability_date} appears to customers.

add_filter(
    'wc_pre_orders_localized_availability_date',
    function ( $formatted_date, $product, $none_text ) {
        if ( empty( $formatted_date ) || $formatted_date === $none_text ) {
            return $formatted_date;
        }

        $timestamp = WC_Pre_Orders_Product::get_utc_availability_datetime_timestamp( $product );

        if ( ! $timestamp ) {
            return $formatted_date;
        }

        return wp_date( 'D, M j, Y', $timestamp, wp_timezone() );
    },
    10,
    3
);

Related setting path: WooCommerce > Settings > Pre-Orders

Product Eligibility Example

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This example prevents guest users from placing pre-orders.

add_filter(
    'wc_pre_orders_product_can_be_pre_ordered',
    function ( $can_be_pre_ordered, $product, $variant ) {
        if ( ! is_user_logged_in() ) {
            return false;
        }

        return $can_be_pre_ordered;
    },
    10,
    3
);

Priority

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When multiple callbacks use the same hook, priority controls execution order. Higher numbers run later.

If another customization already uses the same hook at priority 10, try 20 for your callback.

add_filter( 'wc_pre_orders_localized_availability_date', 'my_custom_date_format', 20, 3 );

More Examples

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Customize cart metadata label

add_filter(
    'wc_pre_orders_cart_item_meta',
    function ( $meta, $cart_item ) {
        if ( ! is_array( $meta ) ) {
            return $meta;
        }

        $meta['name'] = __( 'Pre-order release', 'your-text-domain' );
        return $meta;
    },
    10,
    2
);

Run custom logic when pre-orders complete

add_action(
    'wc_pre_orders_pre_order_completed',
    function ( $order, $message ) {
        if ( ! $order instanceof WC_Order ) {
            return;
        }

        // Replace with your own integration.
        error_log( 'Pre-order completed: #' . $order->get_id() );
    },
    10,
    2
);

Troubleshooting

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• Hook not firing: confirm your code runs in the correct context (frontend/admin).
• No visual change: verify callback priority and accepted argument count.
• Date values not changing: confirm the product has a release timestamp.
• Gateway behavior not changing: confirm cart mode is pre-order and expected charge type is active.

Additional Links

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• Pre-Orders merchant documentation
• Introduction to hooks, actions, and filters
• WooCommerce actions and filters