Every Product Ships Differently. Your Checkout Shows the Same Date for All of Them.
Flare lets you set different delivery lead times per product, variant or collection — so a custom wedding cake, a stock greeting card and a made-to-order piece of furniture all show the date they can actually be delivered.
Why a single delivery date breaks the moment your catalogue has more than one type of product
A customer adds a stock item and a custom-order item to the same cart. Without Flare, checkout shows tomorrow’s date — correct for the stock item, impossible for the custom order that needs 3 days prep. The order places. Your team has to contact the customer to explain why the custom item isn’t arriving tomorrow. With Flare, the cart calculates the most restrictive valid date across all items — and that’s the only date the customer can select.
Not all products ship the same way. A bakery’s stock cakes ship tomorrow but custom wedding orders need 3 days prep. A furniture brand has in-stock pieces that ship in 2 days and made-to-order items that take 6 weeks. A plant retailer sells seasonal products only available in certain months. Shopify’s native delivery estimate treats everything in your catalogue identically — the same lead time, the same cut-off, the same available dates — regardless of how different the products actually are.
The result is overpromised delivery dates on products that need more time. A customer who orders a custom item expecting tomorrow’s delivery because that’s what checkout showed is a customer who needs a difficult conversation when reality doesn’t match the promise. At low volume these conversations are manageable. As your catalogue grows and your custom or made-to-order range expands, they become a daily operational cost.
Mixed carts compound the problem. When a customer orders a 1-day stock item alongside a 6-week made-to-order piece, the checkout needs to show a date that works for both — not a date that works for one and is impossible for the other. Without product-level lead times, there’s no way to calculate that combined date automatically.
Lead times that reflect how each product actually ships.
Set lead times per product, variant or collection
Assign lead times at whatever level of granularity your catalogue needs. A lead time for an entire collection of custom products. A different lead time for a specific variant that takes longer to source. A seasonal availability window for products that only ship in certain months. Lead times stack with your global cut-off times and blocked dates — a product with a 3-day lead time also respects your bank holiday rules and courier cut-offs automatically.
Mixed carts show the date that works for every item
When a cart contains products with different lead times, Flare calculates the most restrictive valid date across all of them. A stock item that ships tomorrow alongside a custom item that needs 3 days prep shows a date 3 days out — the earliest date on which both items can be fulfilled together. The customer makes one date selection that works for everything in their cart. No impossible combinations reach your fulfilment team.
Pre-orders and seasonal products handled automatically
Set a lead time that extends to a future date for pre-order products — customers see the correct available-from date rather than a date based on today’s stock. Set seasonal availability windows so products only show delivery dates within the period they’re available. When the season ends, the product stops showing available dates automatically — no manual intervention required.
Three types of overpromised delivery that stop happening.
Custom and made-to-order products show accurate dates — not tomorrow’s date
Every product in your catalogue shows the delivery date that reflects its actual production or preparation time. A custom wedding cake shows the date after prep. A made-to-order sofa shows the date after production. Stock items show tomorrow. Each date is calculated from the product’s lead time — automatically, for every order.
Mixed carts never produce impossible delivery promises
A cart with a 1-day stock item and a 6-week made-to-order item shows only dates valid for both — never a date that works for one and is impossible for the other. The most restrictive lead time across all cart items determines what the customer can select. No impossible orders reach your team.
Pre-orders and seasonal products managed without manual updates
Pre-order lead times extend the available date range to whenever the product will be ready. Seasonal availability windows close the product’s dates outside the season automatically. Neither requires manual management — the rules run until you change them.
“We had been using another app for delayed/future orders for about a year. It was very confusing for our customers and didn’t look great either. We received loads of emails daily re whether or not they had actually selected a delayed delivery or not. We then found Flare and what a difference it has made! They integrated it into our website beautifully. Our customers love it.”
Product lead times — answered.
Shopify’s native delivery estimates apply the same lead time to every product in your store. There’s no way to set different lead times per product or variant natively. Flare lets you assign lead times at product, variant or collection level — so each product shows the date that reflects its actual preparation or production time, not a blanket estimate that’s wrong for most of your catalogue.
Yes. Lead times can be assigned at product level, variant level or collection level. A standard version of a product might ship in 2 days while a custom or personalised variant needs 5. Each variant shows the correct date based on its own lead time — calculated alongside your global cut-off times and blocked dates automatically.
Flare calculates the most restrictive valid date across all items in the cart. A 1-day stock item alongside a 6-week made-to-order item shows only dates 6 weeks out — the earliest date on which everything can be fulfilled together. The customer selects one date that works for the entire cart. No impossible combinations can be placed.
Yes. Set a lead time that pushes available dates to a future window for pre-order products — customers see when the product will be ready rather than an impossible near-term date. Set seasonal availability windows so a product only shows delivery dates within its available season. Both run automatically without manual updates.
Show the Right Delivery Date for Every Product — Automatically.
Set lead times per product, variant or collection once. Flare calculates the correct date for every order — stock items, custom orders, pre-orders and mixed carts — without manual management.
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