Understanding inventory states
To maintain accurate inventory quantities in your Shopify admin, your products are assigned an inventory state. An inventory state defines the status of a product, which includes whether a product is on hand and available to purchase, committed, unavailable, or part of an incoming shipment. Understanding inventory states ensures that you have the latest information about your products so that you can make the most educated decisions about your orders and inventory management.
The state of your quantities is displayed on your Inventory page next to each product or variant. You can create and edit views on the Inventory page to display the information you want. For example, if you don't need the On hand column, then you can hide it and save the view. Learn more about the Inventory page.
You can also view the inventory states on specific product or variant pages. The inventory card on product and variant pages lists every active location for the variant, including locations that don't fulfill the variant. At locations that don't fulfill the variant, On hand is displayed, along with any Committed, Unavailable, or Incoming quantities above 0. Available isn't displayed for locations that don't fulfill the variant. If On hand is recorded at a location but Available is a dash, then the variant is inactive at that location. You can adjust inventory quantities at any of these locations, regardless of whether the location is active for fulfillment of the variant.
You need to input inventory information into Shopify, and to activate inventory tracking for Shopify to be able to determine your inventory's states.
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Inventory states
Your inventory can in the different states. Review the following table to learn more about inventory states.
| Inventory state | Definition |
|---|---|
| On hand | On hand inventory refers to all inventory units that you have at a location. On hand inventory is made up of the total of your Committed, Unavailable, and Available inventory. |
| Available | Available inventory refers to inventory that you can sell. Available inventory isn't committed or set aside as Unavailable. It also doesn't include inventory that's considered Incoming. |
| Committed | Committed inventory refers to the number of units that are set aside and can't be sold, such as units in an unfulfilled order, reserved in a draft order, or in a transfer that's marked as ready to ship. |
| Unavailable | Unavailable inventory refers to the number of units set aside by apps or held for other reasons, such as damaged, quality control, or safety stock. Unavailable inventory is stocked at your location but isn't available to sell. |
| Incoming | Incoming inventory refers to inventory that's on its way to your location from inventory transfers or apps. Incoming inventory isn't available to sell until it has been received and its state has been changed to Available. |
On hand inventory state
On hand inventory refers to the total number of units that you have at a location. On hand inventory is the sum of your Committed, Unavailable, and Available inventory. You can edit your On hand quantity in the Shopify admin. When you edit the On hand quantity, your Available quantity changes by the same amount.
For example, Jo's Jams has the following inventory:
- 10 jams that are Committed because they're part of placed orders or reserved for draft orders
- 6 jams that are Unavailable because they're damaged or set aside by an app
- 4 jams that are Available and ready to be sold
The total units of jam that Jo's Jam has On hand is 20 jams, which is based on the total quantity of units that are in the Committed, Unavailable, and Available states.
You can view your On hand inventory in several places:
- The Inventory list page
- The inventory card on product or variant pages
- Shopify mobile app
- Shopify POS
Available inventory state
Available inventory refers to inventory that you can sell. Available inventory isn't committed or set aside as Unavailable. It also doesn't include inventory that's considered Incoming. You can edit the Available quantity in the Shopify admin. When you edit the Available quantity, your On hand quantity changes by the same amount.
For example, Jo's Jams has 60 units of jam in stock at their store, ready to sell.
The quantity of Available units of jam at this Jo's Jams store location is 60 units.
Committed inventory state
Committed inventory refers to the number of units that are set aside and can't be sold, such as units in an unfulfilled order, reserved in a draft order, or in a transfer that's marked as ready to ship.
For example, Jo's Jams has made some online sales today. They sold 20 jams. The 20 sold inventory units are now in a Committed state because they're a part of the orders that have been placed, but not yet fulfilled. If Jo reserves inventory for a draft order, then those units are also Committed before the draft order is completed.
Unavailable inventory state
Unavailable inventory refers to the number of units set aside by apps or held for other reasons, such as damaged, quality control, or safety stock. Unavailable inventory is stocked at your location but isn't available to sell. You can also move Available items to Unavailable by adjusting inventory quantities.
For example, Jo's Jams has 55 jams stocked in their warehouse. An app has set aside 35 jams as safety stock. During an inventory count, Jo notices that one jar is missing a label and moves one Available jam to Unavailable for quality control. The total Unavailable inventory for this location is 36 units of jam. The total Available inventory is 19 units of jam. If Jo replaces the label and makes the jam Available to sell again, then their Available inventory is 20 units of jam.
Incoming inventory state
Incoming inventory refers to inventory that's on its way to your location from transfers, purchase orders, or apps. Incoming inventory isn't available to sell until it's been received at the location. After you receive the incoming inventory from purchase orders or transfers, the state automatically changes to Available. Apps might have other states than Available after the incoming inventory is received. For example, an app might put the received inventory into Unavailable as Safety stock. When incoming inventory is received and becomes Available, then it's also counted in the On hand quantity. Learn more about receiving inventory transfers.
For example, Jo's Jams has two stores: Store A and Store B. Store A sends a shipment containing 90 jams to Store B.
The Incoming quantity for Jo's Jams at Store B is 90 units of jam.