For bakers
How to Take Preorders for Baked Goods Without a Website
If you have been putting off selling because you think you need a website first, here is the number that should free you up: of the 2,413 home bakers listed on Small Baker across 51 metros, only about 12% have a checkout page. The other 88% are taking orders some other way - and plenty of them are busy.
So the real question isn't how to build a site. It's how to take preorders for baked goods in a way that doesn't eat your evenings, lose an order in a message thread, or leave you baking 14 dozen cookies for someone who never paid.
How to take preorders for baked goods with the tools you already have
A preorder system only has to do five things:
- Tell people what's available and when.
- Collect their order in writing.
- Collect their contact info.
- Take payment (or a deposit).
- Tell them exactly where and when to pick up.
That's it. A website is one way to do those five things. A pinned Instagram post plus a free form does them too, and you can set it up this afternoon.
What home bakers actually use
Here's how bakers listed on Small Baker take orders. Instagram DMs lead by a wide margin, with Facebook messages close behind the group of bakers who run their own site.
| Ordering channel | Bar | Share of listings |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram DMs | 47% | |
| their own website | 21% | |
| Facebook messages | 18% | |
| Square online store | 9% | |
| Hotplate drops | 4% | |
| Bakesy shop | 1% |
Main ordering channel across 2413 listings, October 2026.
Nearly half - 47% - run on Instagram DMs. Another 18% work through Facebook messages. Roughly 2 in 10 have their own website, 9% use a Square online store, 4% run Hotplate drops, and 1% sell through a Bakesy shop.
The lesson isn't "DMs are best." It's that the channel matters less than the structure you put around it. A messy website loses orders just as fast as a messy inbox.
Option 1: The form-and-post method (free, fastest to set up)
This is the workhorse setup for a one-person bakery.
What you need: a free form tool (Google Forms works fine), a payment app, and one social account.
How it runs:
- Build a form with: name, phone, item + quantity (use dropdowns, not open text), pickup slot, allergy notes, and a final field that says "I understand orders are final after [deadline]."
- Set the form to collect email responses so you have a paper trail.
- Post your menu as a graphic or a simple photo, with the form link in your bio and in the caption.
- Close the form manually at your deadline, or use a response limit so it shuts itself off.
- Export responses to a spreadsheet, sort by item, and that's your bake list.
Why it beats DMs: every order arrives in the same format, in the same place, with the same questions answered. No scrolling back through 40 messages to find whether someone wanted six or a dozen.
The catch: payment is separate. Put your payment handle in the form confirmation screen and in an auto-reply, and state plainly that the order isn't confirmed until payment lands.
Option 2: Structured DMs (if your audience lives on Instagram)
If 47% of bakers are taking orders this way, it clearly works - but only with rules.
- Post the menu as a carousel with prices, pickup date, pickup location (general area is fine until payment), and the order deadline on the first slide.
- Use saved replies. Write one message that lists everything you need: item, quantity, name, phone, pickup slot. Send it the moment someone DMs you. This alone cuts your back-and-forth in half.
- Log every order immediately into a notes app or spreadsheet. Treat the DM as the conversation, not the record.
- Mark paid vs. unpaid in that log and nowhere else.
- Use Stories for countdowns - "3 loaves left," "orders close tonight." Urgency is the one thing DMs do better than any website.
The risk with DMs is simple: Instagram hides message requests from people who don't follow you, and threads get buried. Check your requests folder before every deadline.
Option 3: A ready-made storefront
If you want payment and ordering in one place without building anything, a hosted store does it. About 9% of bakers use a Square online store, 4% run Hotplate drops, and 1% use a Bakesy shop. These handle inventory limits, pickup windows and card payment for you.
Go this route when:
- You're regularly chasing people for money.
- You sell timed drops that sell out and you want the cart to enforce it.
- You're spending more than an hour a week on order admin.
Stay manual when your volume is small enough that a spreadsheet still feels calm. There's no prize for sophisticated software you don't need.
Your preorder checklist
Before you open orders, lock these down:
- Menu and prices. Three to five items, not fifteen. Limited menus sell out; sprawling menus confuse.
- Order limits. Decide the maximum number of each item you can realistically bake, and say so publicly.
- Order deadline. Pick a day and time, and put it in every post. Late orders are how one-person bakeries burn out.
- Pickup window. A tight window - say, two hours on a Saturday morning - beats "whenever works."
- Payment rule. Pay up front, or deposit at order and balance at pickup. Write it down and never improvise.
- Confirmation message. One template with their items, total, pickup time and address. Send it to everyone.
- Reminder message. Sent the night before pickup. This is the single best defense against no-shows.
- A no-show policy. Decide in advance what happens after the window closes, and include it in your confirmation.
Where people find you in the first place
A form solves order-taking. It doesn't solve discovery. Social reach is unpredictable, and a form link does nothing for someone who has never heard of you.
That's the gap a directory fills. A free listing on Small Baker gives local shoppers searching for a baker in their area a place to land, with your ordering link right there - no algorithm in between. If you're selling without a website, this is effectively your front door. You can add your bakery for free and point it at whatever ordering method you've chosen.
Worth noting: nothing here is advice about what you're permitted to sell or how you must label it. Cottage food rules differ by state, so check your own state's requirements before you take a single order.
Start with one drop
Don't design a system. Run one preorder round - a single menu, one deadline, one pickup window - and see what breaks. Maybe people ignored the form. Maybe half the questions in your DMs were about parking. Fix that one thing, then run it again.
Next step: pick your menu for one drop, build the form in 20 minutes, and list your bakery on Small Baker so local shoppers can find the link.
Questions people ask
How do you take pre-orders for baked goods without a website?
Post your menu on social media with a link to a free order form that collects item, quantity, contact info and pickup slot, then confirm by message once payment arrives. Among bakers listed on Small Baker, 47% take orders through Instagram DMs and 18% through Facebook messages, so a site is not required.
What is the best app for bakery orders?
It depends on your volume. Listings on Small Baker show 9% of bakers using a Square online store, 4% using Hotplate drops and 1% using a Bakesy shop - these handle payment and sell-out limits for you. If you're doing a handful of orders a week, a free form and a payment app is usually enough.
Should I take payment up front for preorders?
For custom or perishable items, yes - or at minimum a deposit at order with the balance due at pickup. Decide the rule before you open orders and put it in writing in every confirmation message so there's nothing to argue about later.
How do I stop losing orders in my DMs?
Use a saved reply that asks for item, quantity, name, phone and pickup slot in one message, and log every order into a spreadsheet the moment it comes in. Treat the DM as the conversation and the spreadsheet as the record, and check your message requests folder before each deadline.
About the numbers. Figures come from public listings on Small Baker as of October 9, 2026, rounded to whole percentages; small groups are combined. We never publish an individual bakery’s traffic or sales.