Vimeo On Demand pre-ordering allows you to start selling your work before it's released.
In this article:
Pre-order setup
To set up VOD pre-ordering, head to the Distribution tab of your Vimeo On Demand Settings, select In pre-order, and set your release date. Your release date can be no more than 90 days from the date that you make your work available for preorder.
Once you’ve uploaded a poster and a trailer, click Start Pre-order!
From that point on, viewers will be able to pre-order your work. When someone pre-orders, Vimeo authorizes the purchase so that we can charge the card upon the release of your video.
Release date
You can change your pre-order release date up to 3 times within the 90-day window that you first made your title available for preorder. When you do this, people who have already bought your work will receive an email.
Once your release date rolls around, you must return to your Vimeo On Demand Settings to upload the videos (if you haven’t already) within 48 hours. After you’ve done that, just click Publish and you’re done!
If you’ve already uploaded the work you’re selling, just sit back and it’ll be published automatically at the time you’ve selected.
Once it’s published, your pre-order customers will be charged and they'll receive an email informing them that your work is ready to view. Your VOD will also be available to them when they visit the VOD’s page, in their Watch Later queue, and in their Purchases page.
If you do not add the videos necessary to publish your VOD or change the release date within 48 hours of the original one, all of your pre-orders will be released and the buyers will receive an email saying the pre-order has been canceled.
Canceling pre-orders
If you need to cancel your Vimeo On Demand pre-order page, head to the Distribution tab of your VOD Settings and click Cancel pre-order in the Manage page section.
This will unpublish your Vimeo On Demand pre-order page, release any purchases that have been made, and trigger an email to your buyers explaining that the order has been canceled.
Pre-order analytics
On your Vimeo On Demand analytics dashboard, you may notice that your pre-order totals differ from your sales totals. When someone pre-orders your title (whether for rent, buy, or subscription), they will not be charged until the date your title is released. As a result, on your release date, your transaction total may differ from your pre-order sales total due to payment failures and/or cancellations that occurred between when the title was pre-ordered, and when those pre-orders were processed.