If an order completes early, it’s usually caused by status automation or another plugin forcing completion.

Most common causes

Gateway auto-completes orders
Some payment methods set orders to “Completed” after payment.

  1. Another plugin changes status
    Shipping/fulfillment/automation plugins may override statuses.

  2. Pre-Order transition misconfigured
    The transition status might be set to “Completed.”

Fix in 3 checks

Go to WooCommerce → Pre-Orders → Settings.
Set Transition Status to something like Processing (not Completed).

  1. Temporarily disable other status automation plugins and retest.

  2. Test with a different gateway to confirm if it’s payment-method behavior.

Expected result:
Pre-orders stay in the correct pre-order phase until the release date.

Related docs