account admin approval buyers credit customers date defer digital download file free item link login manual pay paypal preorder product purchase ready release released require sell send setup transaction updates

Is it possible to set up a preorder purchase for a digital download item? I'd like customers to pay now and then make the download happen on a certain date.
So far the only way I see to make it work would be to send a free download link to them on the date I want to release the item. Do you have any other ideas for this?

You can simply sell them an item with no file and then when you release the product, you can send it to the buyers from Admin > Send Updates.

Is it possible to defer the credit card transaction until the file has been released?

If you are using PayPal you can setup your PayPal account to require manual approval of all payments. Then once the file is ready you can login to your PayPal account and approval the payments. Once that is done your buyers will get the download link.