E-commerce
July 1, 2026
"The bot told me shipping is late March while my size L is scheduled for June." "The AI confuses my preorder color with the one in stock." "Chatbot promised a size change without checking the cutoff." Three failures where a miscalibrated variant preorder bot invents ETAs or mixes up SKUs.
An AI preorder chatbot by variant does not replace VARPRE agents (#551). It reads VARPRE-MAP, cites eta_ship_date by ordered SKU, explains mixed stock and handoff swap delay to humans.
This guide #552 covers intents bot_varpre_*, flow VARPREbot and KPI varpre_bot. Bot pairing for the VARPRE playbook (#551). New AI use case: granular size color format ETA without hallucination.
Summary
Why automate variant pre-orders with a bot?
"When will my size M ship?" and "is the blue color available now?" explode on multi-variant drops. A calibrated bot looks up line item SKU, cites eta_ship_date map, and distinguishes in_stock vs preorder.
What the bot solves at tier 1
Variant ETA: ordered SKU eta_ship_date grounded
Mixed stock: availability_summary map of other variants
Split status: fulfillment cited per line item
PDP availability: variant pdp_badge before purchase
Preorder policy: preorder vs backorder vs in_stock
Talk Shop estimates that 40% of preorder tickets are about delay confusion per option (Talk Shop, preorder 2026). The bot intercepts bot_varpre_eta before the parent product date is invented.
VARPREbot vs VARPRE #551, preorder #187 and variant bot
Five contents, five levels of ETA granularity.
Quick Matrix
#552 VARPREbot: tier 1 bot ETA mixed stock variant
#551 VARPRE: agents swap delay cancel line execute
#187 preorder: global preorder cancellation compensation
Variant selection bot: pre-purchase variant choice
Split shipment bot: multi-status line items
Pipeline: bot ETA quote → #551 swap delay execute. #187 = general preorder policy, no variant SKU lookup.
Which bot_varpre_* intents should be configured?
Eight preorder variant bot intents mapped to typologies #551.
Eight bot_varpre intents
bot_varpre_eta: when my ordered variant ships
bot_varpre_availability: what size/color is available when
bot_varpre_stock_mixed: stock vs preorder same product
bot_varpre_split_status: one variant shipped, the other not
bot_varpre_swap_handoff: change variant → handoff #551
bot_varpre_delay_info: variant delay new ETA quote
bot_varpre_pdp_badge: preorder checkout badge explain
bot_varpre_cancel_line_handoff: cancel a line → #551
Tier 1 auto: eta, availability, stock_mixed, split_status, pdp_badge if order or product lookup + VARPRE-MAP.
bot_varpre_swap_handoff, cancel_line_handoff, delay compensation → agents #551 with payload variant_sku intent.
How should VARPRE-MAP #551 be consumed?
The bot reads VARPRE-MAP #551: variant_sku, availability_type, eta_ship_date, eta_window, swap_allowed, pdp_badge, cancel_line_allowed.
Lookup grounded
Order line lookup: SKU variant ordered fulfillment status
VARPRE-MAP row: eta availability swap badge rules
Product browse: availability_summary all PDP variants
NO-PARENT-ETA: never parent product date if SKU differs
LINE-ITEM-SCOPE: scoped response ordered line
SWAP-HANDOFF: swap execute → agents #551
Alignment anti-hallucination (#123): ETA = VARPRE-MAP or Shopify metafield only, never inferred.
VARPREBOT-SUP policy in six rules
Six safe pre-order variant bot rules.
VARPRE-MAP-GROUNDED: ETA availability from map only
NO-PARENT-ETA-BOT: bot never quotes parent product date
LINE-ITEM-SCOPE: ordered SKU scoped status
NO-SWAP-BOT: variant change → handoff #551
MIXED-STOCK-CLEAR-BOT: distinguish in_stock preorder explicit
DELAY-SCOPE-BOT: delay quotes affected variant only
Flow VARPREbot VPBB-1 to VPBB-8
Eight-step variant pre-order bot flow.
VPBB-1 Classify: bot_varpre_* intent detect
VPBB-2 Context: order line or product variant collect
VPBB-3 Line lookup: SKU fulfillment status Shopify
VPBB-4 VARPRE-MAP: eta availability swap badge
VPBB-5 Guardrail: NO-PARENT-ETA LINE-ITEM NO-SWAP
VPBB-6 Respond: TPL-VARPREbot grounded
VPBB-7 Handoff: swap cancel delay → #551 payload
VPBB-8 Log: intent variant_sku tag varpre_bot
Example TPL-VARPREbot-ETA
“Variant [variant_label]: pre-order, estimated shipping [eta_ship_date]. Order #[order_num], line status [fulfillment_line]. Other options: [availability_summary map].”
TPL-VARPREbot and touchpoints templates
Four essential templates.
TPL-VARPREbot-ETA
Variant [variant_label] SKU [sku]: [availability_type]. Estimated shipping [eta_ship_date]. Fulfillment line status [fulfillment_line].
TPL-VARPREbot-AVAILABILITY
Availability per option: [availability_summary map]. Select the variant on the product page to see the badge [pdp_badge].
TPL-VARPREbot-SPLIT
Order #[order_num] partial shipment: [variant_shipped] shipped, tracking [tracking]. [variant_preorder] preorder, ship [eta_ship_date].
TPL-VARPREbot-HANDOFF
Request [swap / line cancellation / delay compensation] forwarded to an agent. Order reference #[order_num], variant [variant_label]. Delay [handoff_sla].
Touchpoints
PDP variant: bot_varpre_availability chip dynamic
Order tracking page: bot_varpre_eta if order verify
Checkout badge preorder: bot_varpre_pdp_badge trigger
Help center preorder FAQ: bot embed VARPRE-MAP RAG
Edge cases and reroutes
Five cases outside tier 1 bot standard ETA.
Variant swap: NO-SWAP-BOT handoff #551 VARPRE-SWAP-01
Line cancellation: cancel_line_handoff #551 policy #187
Mixed cart: #187 mixed cart reroute
Limited preorder quota: quota variante sold out handoff
Made-to-order variant: MTO production atelier reroute
Bot never modifies Shopify line item: swap cancel → handoff agents #551 ops.
Essential bot variables KPIs
Five VARPREbot management metrics.
varpre_bot_eta_accuracy: % bot ETA = post-ship audit map
varpre_bot_parent_eta_violation: parent date cited, target 0
varpre_bot_deflect: ETA sessions without human ticket
varpre_bot_mixed_stock_clarity: CSAT stock vs preorder bot
varpre_bot_swap_handoff: swap sessions u2192 #551 agents
Monthly red team: 10 prompts "product shipping date", "change my size now", "make up next week ETA". Parent or made-up ETA = NO-PARENT-ETA-BOT violation.
VARPREbot Anti-patterns
Six common mistakes.
Parent product ETA: NO-PARENT-ETA-BOT
Invented ETA: VARPRE-MAP-GROUNDED
Direct bot swap: NO-SWAP-BOT handoff #551
Global order status: LINE-ITEM-SCOPE
Confusing preorder stock: MIXED-STOCK-CLEAR-BOT
Delay all variants: DELAY-SCOPE-BOT
VARPREbot with Qstomy
Qstomy on Shopify: detect bot_varpre intent, line item variant lookup, VARPRE-MAP RAG eta cite, NO-PARENT-ETA guardrail, split status by SKU, swap handoff #551 payload.
Pipeline: bot tier 1 ETA variant → #551 swap delay execute → AI governance #142 audit ETA bot.
Explore AI support and request a demo.
Checklist, FAQ and going further
VARPREbot Checklist (8 steps)
Sync VARPRE-MAP #551: RAG bot + variant metafields
Policy VARPREBOT-SUP: 6 NO-PARENT-ETA-BOT rules
8 bot_varpre_* intents: flow VPBB-1 to VPBB-8
4 TPL-VARPREbot-* templates: ETA AVAILABILITY SPLIT HANDOFF
PDP variant chip: bot_varpre_availability entry
Order tracking embed: post-purchase bot_varpre_eta
Red team 10 prompts: ETA parent swap invented
KPI Dashboard: varpre_bot_* section 9
FAQ
Difference #551?
#551 = agents swap delay cancel execute. #552 = bot tier 1 ETA cite handoff.
Does the bot change my size?
No. NO-SWAP-BOT. Handoff #551.
Product or variant ETA?
Ordered variant only. NO-PARENT-ETA-BOT.
Stock color other preorder?
TPL-VARPREbot-AVAILABILITY availability_summary map.
Going further
This week: sync VARPRE-MAP RAG bot, red team "product shipping date", measure varpre_bot_parent_eta_violation. Activate preorder variant PDP chip.
Enzo
July 1, 2026
