How do you run a t-shirt pre-order for an association?

How do you run a t-shirt pre-order for an association?

A t-shirt pre-order lets an association sell its merch before it is made: each member reserves and pays for a t-shirt over 7 to 21 days, and the run is only produced afterwards. On the tknp.io Store, everything goes through a link or a QR code.

In short:

• The tknp.io Store sets up each pre-order in its campaign creation assistant: the t-shirts, their price including VAT, then the 7 to 21-day duration, payment collection and hand-over.
• The price members pay stays the same for the whole campaign; it is our run price that falls as volume grows.
• The campaign is shared with a link, a QR code, a ready-to-send WhatsApp message, an A4 poster or an Instagram story.
• Delivery comes about three weeks after the close: one parcel at the club with a bag per member, or home delivery.

Ordering fifty t-shirts by guesswork, storing them at the clubhouse, then selling them one by one at the bar: that is the sale that leaves you with a box of size L at the end of the season. A t-shirt pre-order turns things around: your members reserve and pay first; the association's merch is only made afterwards, in the exact number.

Here is the step-by-step method on the tknp.io Store, based on its screens as seen on 26 October 2026: preparing the t-shirts, setting their price, configuring the campaign, sharing it with a link or a QR code, following the reservations, then handing each t-shirt to the person who paid for it.

What is a t-shirt pre-order?

A t-shirt pre-order is a sale in which each member reserves a t-shirt and pays for it before it is made: the run only starts once the sale has closed, for the exact number of reservations. It is also called a pre-sale. Unlike stock bought in advance, the association orders nothing by guesswork: it only has made what has been reserved. It is a way to offer its members, volunteers or supporters a custom t-shirt without buying stock or paying anything upfront.

The tknp.io Store organises pre-orders as campaigns of 7 to 21 days. The principle, as our Sell on pre-order page describes it: your members reserve, then we make the whole campaign in one go, at the price the volume reached allows, and the gap feeds your pot. Our terms of sale add that TKNP remains the seller, with the association receiving a share of the sale price.

Which platform for a t-shirt pre-order with a link or a QR code?

For a t-shirt pre-order with a link or a QR code, the tknp.io Store brings everything together in one place: the custom t-shirt, the reservation page, the payment, then production and hand-over of the t-shirts. Reserved for verified organisations, the Store is free to open, each campaign is free to publish, and it goes live as soon as it is published.

When members pay online, TKNP is the one selling to them, taking their payment, invoicing them VAT included and handling refunds: the association then has no payments to reconcile. It can also collect the money itself at the club, in which case TKNP invoices it for the run.

Who can open a pre-order on tknp.io?

On tknp.io, only verified organisations can open a Store, as the FAQ on our home page states; an organisation's verification relies on its company number or on an EU VAT number. A French association that does not yet have a SIREN number can get one through an online procedure, outlined in our guide to a student union's committee handover.

How do you organise a t-shirt pre-order for an association, step by step?

A t-shirt pre-order comes down to five settings, all made before the campaign is published: the t-shirts on offer, their price, the duration, payment collection and hand-over. On the tknp.io Store, they are set in the first three steps of the campaign creation assistant, which has four; sharing and tracking come next, from the Store dashboard.

1. Build the campaign: up to 10 garments from the wardrobe

A tknp.io Store pre-order campaign brings together up to 10 garments, chosen from the wardrobe (the "dressing") of the association's account: the ones already customised in the designer, with the logo on branded garments such as Stanley/Stella or B&C. Each garment has its own reservation threshold, and production is decided garment by garment.

In the designer, each t-shirt gets its model, its colour (an orange t-shirt for a club that plays in orange, for example), the position and size of the logo; once in the campaign, it has its own gauge to fill.

2. Set the members' price, which then stays fixed

On the tknp.io Store, the members' price is set including VAT and decoration, for the whole campaign: once the campaign is open, it does not move. At this step, the campaign creation assistant shows for each garment the minimum price at each reservation tier, and reminds you that the garment is produced from 10 reservations.

Once your price is in, a table breaks down each tier, from 10 to 250 reservations: the decoration technique, our price excluding VAT, your gain per t-shirt and the pot. It is our price that drops as reservations grow; online payment fees are deducted from the pot, whereas a t-shirt paid at the club costs nothing to collect.

The price level to aim for and the pot, tier by tier and in figures, are set out in our guide for associations that sell t-shirts to raise funds; the pot is paid to the association by bank transfer, after delivery.

3. Choose the campaign duration

The duration of a tknp.io Store campaign is chosen from 7, 10, 14 or 21 days, and the campaign creation assistant preselects 14 days. Choose it based on the day the t-shirts must be worn: our Sell on pre-order page announces delivery about three weeks after the close, and the exact date appears on the page before anyone pays.

The backwards planning, campaign duration included, is set out for a school in our guide to funding a school trip. The campaign also gets a name, shown at the top of the pre-order page.

4. Choose payment collection: online or at the club

On the tknp.io Store, payment for a pre-order is collected online or at the club, as the association chooses. Online, your members pay by card when they reserve and are refunded automatically if their garment is not produced; TKNP collects payment from each of them and invoices them, VAT included.

At the club, your members reserve without paying: the association collects the money itself, and TKNP invoices it for the run. This option leaves the association in charge of collecting payments, and so of chasing anyone who reserved without paying.

5. Choose hand-over: pick-up at the club or home delivery

On the tknp.io Store, the t-shirts of a pre-order are handed over by pick-up at the club, by home delivery, or as each member prefers. With club pick-up, a single parcel arrives, with a bag in each member's name; with home delivery, each member receives their t-shirt at home and pays for shipping.

Club pick-up keeps distribution quick: one training session or one general meeting is enough to hand out every bag. Home delivery suits members who rarely come to the club, or supporters who live far away.

How do you share a pre-order: link, QR code, WhatsApp message?

A pre-order is shared from the tknp.io Store dashboard, which gives each campaign a link to copy, a QR code to download, a ready-to-send message, and buttons for an A4 poster and an Instagram story. This reservation link, like the QR code, leads to the pre-order page, where each member picks a size and reserves.

The message to send writes itself and changes with the time left. At launch, it gives the Store name, the campaign name, the closing date and the link; a few days before the end, it says how many reservations a garment still needs. One button sends it to WhatsApp, to the members' group for instance; another copies it for an email or a social media post.

The QR code works where the association meets its members in person: printed and put up at the edge of the pitch, at the entrance to the hall or on the bar counter, it opens the pre-order page with a phone scan. Do not confuse it with a QR code printed on the t-shirt itself, which is a decoration.

How do you track reservations during a pre-order?

Pre-order reservations are tracked live in the tknp.io Store dashboard: each garment has its gauge, for example "0 / 10", showing how many reservations it has against its threshold and how many it still needs to be produced. The header adds up campaigns in progress, garments reserved and the pot earned so far.

Each campaign also shows its timeline, publication, close, production, delivery, with dates, and two buttons: one to see the reservations, one to see the campaign page. The gauge tells you where to focus: a garment still far from its threshold three days before the end calls for the reminder message, which the dashboard prepares with the number of missing reservations.

What happens when a pre-order closes?

When a tknp.io Store campaign closes, each garment is assessed separately: a sweatshirt that misses its threshold does not stop the t-shirts in the same campaign from going into production, and the dashboard simply flags it as not produced. If another technique can produce it at the same price, the look of the decoration may change and members are told by email; otherwise each member gets a full refund no later than 7 days after the close. How the threshold works is explained in our guide to collecting sizes without mistakes.

What does a member see on the pre-order page?

On a tknp.io Store pre-order page, the member sees the deadline to order, the expected delivery date, a countdown, then each garment with its price including VAT and its gauge. The page displays four guarantees: a fixed price, decoration and VAT included; a refund if the garment is not produced; secure card payment via Stripe; pick-up at the club or home delivery.

A box on the page explains the pre-order in three steps: you choose your garments and sizes, then pay before the date; each garment must reach its minimum, which its gauge makes visible; the run is decorated in one go, then delivered to the club or to your home.

What should members know before reserving?

Before reserving a t-shirt in a tknp.io Store campaign, members need to know three rules set by our terms of sale. Their reservation is a firm order, on the sole condition that the garment is produced. The right of withdrawal does not apply, since the t-shirt is made to order in the association's colours (article L221-28 3° of the French Consumer Code), and they are told so before paying. Finally, sizes cannot be exchanged: a garment is only replaced or refunded if it is defective.

Say so in the launch message, with the size instructions for the chosen model: it is what prevents bad surprises on distribution day.

Prepare the collection in the wardrobe before the pre-order

A pre-order on tknp.io always starts in the account's wardrobe: that is where the assistant picks the campaign garments, exactly as you customised them. A collection prepared in advance therefore means a campaign ready to open on the day the committee decides on it.