Preventing New Orders Being Placed on Channels

Overview

There may be times when you need to temporarily stop new orders coming in across your selling channels — for example, during a holiday period or when you are unable to fulfil orders. Most platforms offer a built-in way to do this, but it must be done directly on each platform rather than through StoreFeeder.

This guide explains how to pause or restrict new orders on each supported platform.

Amazon - Holiday Mode

Amazon Seller Central lets you set your account to Holiday Mode, which pauses your listings so no new orders can be placed.

To enable Holiday Mode on Amazon:

1. Log in to Amazon Seller Central.
2. Go to Settings > Account Info.
3. Under Listing Status, click Going on Holiday?
4. Set your status to Inactive and save your changes.

For full instructions, see Amazon's help article: Going on holiday? Manage your listings.

eBay - Time Away

eBay's Time Away feature lets you schedule a break and choose whether to pause item sales or allow them to continue. You can also set an automatic response for buyers who message you during this time.

To schedule Time Away on eBay:

1. Log in to your eBay account and go to your Time Away settings.
2. Select Schedule time away.
3. Choose Allow item sales or Pause item sales.
4. Set a Start date and End date.
5. Save your settings.

For full instructions, see eBay's help article: Time Away.

BigCommerce - Maintenance Mode

BigCommerce allows you to put your storefront into Maintenance Mode, which prevents customers from browsing or placing orders while displaying a custom maintenance message.

To enable Maintenance Mode on BigCommerce:

1. Log in to your BigCommerce Control Panel.
2. Go to Storefront > Store Settings.
3. Under the Channels section, toggle Down for Maintenance to on.
4. Customise your maintenance message if desired, then save.

For full instructions, see BigCommerce's help article: Setting Store as Down for Maintenance.

Shopify - Pause Store

Shopify offers a Pause and Build plan, which deactivates your checkout across all sales channels so no new orders can be placed. You can still access and work on your store while paused.

To pause your Shopify store:

1. Log in to your Shopify Admin.
2. Go to Settings > Plan.
3. Select Pause or deactivate store.
4. Choose Pause and Build and confirm.

Note: You must be the store owner, past the free trial, and on a paid plan to use this feature. The Pause and Build plan is not available on Shopify Plus.

For full instructions, see Shopify's help article: Pausing your store.

Magento 2 / Adobe Commerce - Maintenance Mode

Magento 2 and Adobe Commerce can be put into Maintenance Mode via the command line. When enabled, shoppers see a 503 maintenance page.

To enable Maintenance Mode:

1. SSH into your server and navigate to your Magento installation directory.
2. Run the following command to enable maintenance mode: php bin/magento maintenance:enable
3. When you are ready to reopen, run: php bin/magento maintenance:disable

For full instructions, see Adobe's help article: Enable or disable maintenance mode.

WooCommerce - Coming Soon / Maintenance Mode

WooCommerce (WordPress) offers several ways to put your store into maintenance mode. Newer versions of WordPress include a built-in Coming Soon feature, or you can use a dedicated maintenance mode plugin.

For guidance on setting up a coming soon or maintenance page, see: How to Set Up a Coming Soon Page for WooCommerce.

Other Platforms - Reducing Stock to Zero

If you are on a platform not listed above, or if the built-in pause feature is not available to you, an alternative is to temporarily set your inventory to zero. When stock reaches zero, listings typically become unavailable to buyers.

You can do this efficiently in StoreFeeder using the Listing Import/Export feature to bulk update your inventory levels. See: How to use the Listing Import/Export Feature.

Important: Remember to restore your stock levels when you reopen, or use the import/export feature to restore them in bulk.