I have been playing around with the option of having some sort of pre-order facility within Magento. I have used the back order option that is already a part of Magento but have then written some code to display a message on the product page to show the item is pre order only.
I thought I would share this with others as I'm sure a few will find it helpful.
1. Within your selected product go to "Inventory" set 'Qty' to 0, set "Backorders" to Allow qty below zero and notify customer. Ensure stock availablity is set to IN STOCK, this will allow someone to purchase a product on pre-order.
2. Paste this code to your view.phtml within app/design/frontend/default/YOUR THEME/template/catalog/product
put the code in your desired location. It will be best near to your order button so that it can be seen.
<?php
$manageStock = $_product->getStockItem()->getManageStock();
$inventoryQuantity = (int)Mage::getModel('cataloginventory/stock_item')->loadByProduct($_product)->getQty();
if($inventoryQuantity <= 1): ?>
<?php
<strong><font color="red"><?php echo $this->__('PRE-ORDER - Our supplier(s) is waiting for shipments of this product. You can still order but we can not ship until stock arrives. You can e-mail us at YOUREMAIL@DOMAIN.COM for more information.') ?></font></strong>
<?php else:?>
<?php echo $this->__('') ?> <?php endif; ?>
This is a demo of what it will/can look like. Obviously edit how you wish.
Your cart should also note that the item is on pre order/back order.
I'm sure my coding is quuite shoddy by most of your standards and I expect a few of you here could clean the code up, something I am welcoming of.
Enjoy
