Pause ordering — take a break without going offline

Vacation, festival closure, stock-taking? Stop new orders for a while with your own message and an auto-resume date — your website stays live.

3 min readUpdated 14 Sep 2026

In this guide

Going on vacation, closing for a festival, or doing stock-taking? Pause ordering stops new orders for a while — without unpublishing your website. Customers see your own message (and reopening time), your pages stay on Google, and everything switches back on the moment you return — or automatically, at a date you set.

Two places to control it

Manage page → “Your store right now” — the one-tap switch. It reads Taking orders, Ordering paused or Pause scheduled; tap to pause right now, tap to resume. Saves instantly.
Appearance → “Pause ordering” — the full controls: your message, what customers can still do, and the schedule. Reach it from Appearance in your sidebar, or the Pause settings → link on that same Manage card.

The switch itself always saves instantly — there's no chance of thinking you're paused when you're not. Only the wording and schedule fields go through the page's normal Save button.

What customers can still do — three choices

Customers can browse and fill their cart (default, recommended) — shopping and checkout look completely normal. When someone taps Place Order, your message pops up with the reopening time instead of placing the order. Carts are saved, so orders come in the moment you resume.
Customers can browse, but not add to cart — stricter: Add to Cart and Buy Now buttons are hidden, with a note on each product page explaining why and when you reopen. Checkout is blocked too.
Show a “temporarily closed” notice instead of the website — visitors see a full-screen notice with your store name, message and reopening time instead of the website. Your pages stay published and on Google — a temporary closure never harms your SEO.

In every mode, a bright amber notice bar sits at the top of your pages, and the cart drawer reminds customers their cart is saved.

Your message

Set the Heading customers see (“Closed for Diwali!”) and a Message (“We're back on 25 Oct — see you then!”). Leave them blank for the standard wording. Show a notice bar on every page puts a slim bar at the top of your website (you can switch it off), and Show a WhatsApp button in the notice lets customers still reach you — it uses the WhatsApp number from your Business Info or Social & Links.

Schedule it — start and auto-resume (IST)

Pause from — leave blank to pause right now, or pick a date to schedule a closure in advance (say, before you leave for the wedding).
Resume automatically at — leave blank to stay paused until you switch it off, or pick a date and the store reopens by itself, to the minute. No need to remember.
Announce the upcoming break in advance — offered once you set a future start date: the notice bar shows early (“Orders pause from 20 Oct”) so regulars can order ahead.
Show customers when you reopen — adds “Reopening 25 Oct, 10:00 am” to every notice.

What keeps working while paused

Your own manual orders — record phone/WhatsApp/counter sales as usual.
Payment links for existing orders — customers can still pay what they owe.
Subscription deliveries — recurring orders continue (pause individual subscriptions from the Subscriptions page if needed).
WhatsApp buttons, contact forms, bookings — enquiries never stop.

The block is enforced on our servers, not just on the page — a customer with an old tab open can't sneak an order or a payment through while you're paused.

Good to know

Restaurant sites have their own richer pause (with daily opening hours) under Restaurant → Online ordering — the switch on the Restaurant home screen reads Taking online orders when you are open. This feature is for store sites.
Google Shopping / Facebook product feeds are left as-is during a short pause — removing and re-approving products takes longer than most breaks.
Pausing is not the same as unpublishing — your website, SEO and customer accounts are untouched.