Stock tracking settings explained

Where do I find these settings?

Open Stock Monitor in your Shopify admin, go to Settings, then select Stock Tracking. It has four cards, in this order: Product status mode, Inventory value mode, Exclude products and Low stock.

Looking for why a product shows as out of stock? Go to the section on out of stock products below.

What does Product status mode do?

It decides when a product with several variants counts as out of stock. You choose All variants or Any variant. The default is All variants.

Example: a t-shirt has 0 small, 6 medium and 9 large in stock. With All variants it is not out of stock. With Any variant it is, because one size has none.

It affects the home page count, the Products list status and the daily reports. If you pick the other option, a warning appears: Please note: changing this will mean how out of stock status is calculated for products will differ to previous. More in How is a product's stock status worked out?

What does Inventory value mode do?

It decides whether stock is valued at what it cost you or at what it sells for. You choose Cost or Price. The default is Cost.

Example: a variant costs 4 and sells for 10, and you have 20 in stock. With Cost its value is 80. With Price it is 200.

It affects the Total Inventory Value figures, columns and charts. More in How is inventory value calculated?

What does Exclude products do?

It leaves products out of Stock Monitor. Nothing is excluded to start with. A product only needs to match one of these four ways.

• Product Types: every product of a type you pick.
• Tags: every product with any one of the tags you pick. Example: pick the tag "sample" and a product tagged "sample" is left out.
• Vendors: every product from a vendor you pick.
• Products: individual products, chosen with Select Products.

Excluded products drop out of the home page figures, the Products list, the nightly record and the daily reports. More in How do I exclude products from Stock Monitor?

What does the Low stock card do?

It holds the low stock threshold, a number of units. A product that still has stock, but whose total is at or below the number, shows as Low in stock. The default is 10.

Example: with the threshold at 10 and the default All variants, a product with 8 in stock shows as Low in stock and a product with 12 shows as In stock. A product with one variant and 0 in stock shows as Out of stock.

It affects the status and red stock figures on the Products list and product pages. Low stock alerts by email or Slack use their own separate threshold under Notifications, so changing one does not change the other. More in How do I set the low stock threshold?

How do I save my changes?

Change a setting and the Save button at the bottom becomes available. A save bar also appears at the top while you have unsaved changes. After you save, a message reads Settings saved.

Some figures on the home page and the Products page can take up to an hour to update after you change a setting.

Why does Stock Monitor say this product is out of stock?

A variant is out of stock in Stock Monitor when its stock is zero or below, and your Product status mode decides whether one empty variant, or every variant, makes the whole product out of stock. The questions below cover the cases that surprise people.

Why is the whole product out of stock when only one variant is empty?

Because Product status mode is set to Any variant. Under the default, All variants, every variant must be at zero or below. Check the Product status mode card under Settings, then Stock Tracking. Example: the t-shirt above is out of stock under Any variant and in stock under All variants.

Why does a product with stock in one location say out of stock?

Stock Monitor does not look at locations one by one. It uses the total Shopify reports for each variant across your locations, and a variant at zero or below is out of stock. Overselling can take a total below zero.

Why does the product page badge disagree with the Products list?

The Products list follows your status mode, but the badge at the top of a product page uses the product's total stock. The badge reads Out of Stock only when the total is exactly 0, Low in Stock when the total is at or below your threshold, and In Stock otherwise. A negative total, for example after overselling, shows as Low in Stock.

Example: with the threshold at 10 and Any variant selected, the t-shirt above shows Out of stock on the Products list, but its product page badge says In Stock, because the total is 15. The Stock Status filter on the Products list also works from total stock, not the mode: Out of Stock there means a total of zero or less.

Can an excluded product still trigger an out of stock notification?

Yes, if the notification is set to All Products. Exclusions apply to your figures, the nightly record and the daily reports, not to notifications sent when stock changes. Choose Selected Products on the notification to leave the product out. More in How do I exclude products from Stock Monitor?

Why is a product missing from Stock Monitor instead?

Stock Monitor skips a product that is not active and published, or that has inventory tracking turned off on any variant. It does not show a warning when it does this.

• A product with tracking turned off on even one variant is left out of the home page figures, the nightly record and the daily reports. The Products list still shows it.
• A draft, archived or unpublished product is left out of all of these, including the Products list.
• An excluded product, by type, tag, vendor or one by one, is left out in the same places.

The full list is in How is a product's stock status worked out?

What should I check first?