About the store
Celt Models is a family-run retailer of premium die-cast model trucks, construction equipment and commercial vehicles. It serves collectors in the UK and abroad, and traded for several years as Welshmans before a rebrand.
The owner, Richard, drove HGVs for many years before moving into model retail. The business is based in Gaerwen, Anglesey, in North Wales, and sells mainly online.
Celt Models is an authorised WSI Models reseller. It also stocks Tekno, Cavallino, AT Collections, DieCast Masters and Britains, plus its own commissioned editions.
The challenge
In scale-model collecting, brands such as WSI announce models in limited production runs. Collectors want to secure a copy before a run sells out.
A store that lists a model only when stock arrives misses those early buyers. Listing it as a normal product before arrival causes a different problem, because shoppers may expect it to ship straight away.
Each upcoming model also needs the right wording and button, which is slow to set up by hand across hundreds of listings.
Use case 01: A full release calendar on pre-order from one collection
Celt Models keeps upcoming releases in one Pre-order collection of 217 products, most of them in 1:50 scale. All 36 cards on the first page of that collection show a Pre-Order badge and a PRE-ORDER NOW button.
A single campaign in the app covers the whole collection. When a new model joins the collection, it gets the badge, button and message with no separate setup.
In TA Preorder & Back In Stock, this is a preorder campaign applied by collection. The badge and button show on both product pages and collection cards.
Use case 02: Reserve today, pay when the model arrives
On a product page such as the Koyama Classic Flatbed Trailer, a maroon PRE-ORDER NOW button takes the place of Add to cart. Under it, a short message says the store will contact the buyer to arrange payment once the item arrives.
That message sets the terms before checkout: the collector knows the model has not arrived yet and when payment will be requested. That suits releases whose arrival dates depend on the manufacturer.
The wording comes from the Button & Message settings in the app, which add a custom message under the preorder button.
What merchants say
Great customer service so far. Exceptionally quick responses. A* service and app
Try it on your store
The steps for taking orders before launch are in Launch a new product or limited drop without losing momentum. To apply the same setup across a large catalogue, see Keep labels current as your catalog changes.
TA Preorder & Back In Stock is available on the Shopify App Store.
Observed on the live storefront on October 13, 2026. Store settings may have changed since. Product counts come from the public collection page, and Celt Models did not supply data for this case study.
