Inventory Policy

Two switches in a product's Inventory section decide how it behaves when stock runs out: Track quantity and Sell when out of stock. Separately they look like small options. Together they are the product's inventory policy, and they answer the only question that matters at zero, which is whether a customer can still place the order.

Getting the pair wrong is not visible in the admin. It shows up as orders you cannot fulfill, or as a product quietly refusing sales you could have made.

Before you begin

• You have the Edit products permission.
• Open a product and scroll to its Inventory section.

What each switch does

The three combinations worth using

The first row is the right answer for most physical products and the safe default. The second is a promise: you are choosing to take orders you cannot ship today, so it belongs only on products where you know when the stock is coming and the product page says so. The third is for things that cannot run out.

Note the last row carefully. With Track quantity off, the product is always available, so Sell when out of stock has no effect at all, even though the setting stays visible on the page.

What the section looks like in each state

With Track quantity on, stock is listed per location, and On hand is the sum of the other three.

View adjustment history links out to the record of past changes, and More details holds the SKU, Barcode and Sell when out of stock.

Turn Track quantity off and the per-location table and its columns disappear entirely, leaving only the SKU, Barcode and Sell when out of stock. That is worth knowing before you switch it off on a stocked product: you are not hiding the counts, you are ending the counting.

Setting it

(opens full size)

1. Set Track quantity (1). On to count stock for this product per location, off to leave it untracked and permanently available.
2. Set Sell when out of stock (2). On to let customers order past zero, off to stop sales when Available reaches zero.
3. Save the product. The policy takes effect on the storefront right away, with no further step and no preview.

Because it takes effect immediately and silently, the policy is worth revisiting the first time a product actually runs out. That is the moment it does something, and the moment you find out whether the choice was the one you wanted. Manage Inventory is where the effect is visible across the whole catalog.

Verify the result

• With Track quantity on, the location table shows On hand, Available, Committed, and Unavailable, and stock counts down as orders come in.
• With Sell when out of stock off, the product cannot be bought once Available reaches zero.
• With Sell when out of stock on, customers can still order at zero Available.

Best practices

• Use Track quantity on with Sell when out of stock off for normal stocked products.
• Turn Sell when out of stock on only when you can fulfill backorders, and tell customers the wait on the product page.
• Leave Track quantity off for made-to-order items or services that never run out.

Common mistakes

• Selling out of stock without a plan to fulfill, which leads to late orders.
• Tracking quantity but never updating On hand, so Available drifts from reality.
• Turning off Track quantity on a stocked product, which hides stockouts and risks overselling.

If something goes wrong

• The product still sells at zero stock. Turn off Sell when out of stock.
• Stock does not count down. Confirm Track quantity is on.
• The counts have drifted from the shelf. Tracking records sales, not miscounts and breakages. Correct it with Update On-Hand Quantities.
• Permission denied. Your role lacks the Edit products permission.

Next steps

• Manage Inventory
• Update On-Hand Quantities
• Low Stock Threshold

Related articles

• Inventory History
• Inventory by Location