Shopify Sold Out Despite Stock? How to Set Inventory Correctly

You've set everything up, open your store, and see the Shopify sold out message everywhere: "Sold out" or "Unavailable". This is one of the most common problems when starting with Shopify, especially after importing from dropshipping or print-on-demand apps. Here you'll find every cause when Shopify shows "sold out", the matching solution and the right inventory setting for your business model. The article is part of the overview Products and product range in Shopify.

Shopify sold out: the causes

How to fix it step by step

1. Check inventory tracking and stock

1. In the admin, open Products and click the affected product.
2. Look at the Inventory section (for products with variants: open each variant individually).
3. If Track quantity is switched on, enter the real stock under "Available". If you don't need inventory management, switch the option off.
4. Save and reload the store in an incognito window.

By default, Shopify stops selling when stock reaches 0. Customers then can't add the item to the cart (Shopify Help Center). For many products at once, use the Products > Inventory page or the bulk editor.

2. Check the location

If you have more than one location (for example "My warehouse" and an app location), a product can be sold out online even though there is stock at another location. This happens when the location with the stock doesn't fulfill online orders. Shopify confirms this explicitly: the solution is to enter the stock at a location that fulfills online orders (Shopify Help Center). You can see which locations do this under Settings > Locations.

3. Check dropshipping and POD apps

Apps such as DSers, AutoDS, Zendrop or CJ Dropshipping often create their own location and are supposed to sync the supplier's stock. If it shows 0 there, either the item really is out of stock at the supplier, syncing is switched off or the import was faulty. Check the inventory sync settings in the app and re-import the product if necessary. If the product says the quantity is managed by the app, you can't change it in Shopify. You then change the warehouse location and stock in the app, for example to an EU warehouse instead of one in China. How each app works is compared in the article AutoDS vs. Zendrop vs. DSers vs. CJ.

With print on demand (Printify, Printful, Gelato), there is no stock. Here you simply switch off inventory tracking. According to the Shopify Help Center, digital products, services, made-to-order items and gift cards often don't need inventory tracking either; with dropshipping, you can leave it off or let the app manage the stock.

4. Check the inventory state

Shopify distinguishes several states (inventory states in the Help Center):

• Available: sellable. Only this number counts for the store.
• Committed: reserved for open orders or drafts.
• Unavailable: damaged, in quality control or held back as safety stock.
• Incoming: on its way to you, only sellable after it arrives.
• On hand: the sum of Available, Committed and Unavailable.

If "On hand" shows 10 but "Available" shows 0, the stock is reserved or blocked. In that case, move it to "Available".

5. Check publishing

If the store shows "Unavailable" instead of "Sold out", or the product is missing entirely, it is often not published to the Online Store sales channel or is still a draft. You can see this in the product, in the publishing section on the right. If you sell to several countries, also check whether the product is available in each market, see Shopify Markets. If the "All products" page only shows part of your range, usually nothing is sold out: check the products-per-page setting in the collection template and whether pagination appears at the bottom.

Track inventory or not? By business model

By the way, without your own warehouse you don't have to buy products in advance. Shopify is the store system, not a wholesaler. The goods either come from your warehouse, from a dropshipping supplier, or, with print on demand, are only produced when ordered. Where to find reliable suppliers in Europe is covered in Finding dropshipping suppliers, and the POD version in Print on demand with Shopify.

Locations: what "10 locations" means

In Shopify, a location is any place where you store goods, sell or ship orders from: your warehouse, a retail store, a fulfillment service. A location is not an additional store. If you have five brands, you still need five Shopify stores or a shared store structure.

Apps that hold stock for you (dropshipping apps, fulfillment services) count as locations, but according to Shopify they don't count toward the limit (Shopify Help Center). You manage your locations under Settings > Locations. A location's address is also the sender address for shipping labels and the basis for shipping zones, see Setting up shipping in Shopify.

One inventory for your store, shop and marketplaces

Shopify keeps inventory per location, not per sales channel. If you sell online and in your own shop with Shopify POS, both draw on the locations you have enabled for them. If you want to sell online and in your shop from the same quantity, the location with the stock must also fulfill online orders. Channels you connect via a Shopify app, such as TikTok Shop or a marketplace integration, sell from this stock if the app syncs the quantities. Check this in the settings of the respective app. It gets risky if you sell on eBay or Etsy in parallel without the platform being connected to Shopify: then each platform counts on its own, and you sell goods twice. How to connect your shop, Amazon, eBay and Instagram properly is explained in Shopify POS and multichannel.

Hiding sold-out products or showing them sensibly

Sold-out products clutter collections, but often already have Google rankings or backlinks. So: hide them, yes; delete them, preferably not.

• Keep them out of collections: In automated collections, add the condition "Inventory stock is greater than 0". Sold-out products then drop out automatically and come back when restocked. How automated collections work is explained in Collections and menus in Shopify.
• "Availability" filter: With Shopify's free Search & Discovery app, you can offer customers a filter for available products.
• Keep the product page: If the product is coming back, leave the page online and collect email addresses. If it is never coming back, redirect the URL to a similar product or the matching collection instead of producing a 404 error.
• Back-in-stock notification: There are apps for this. If you already use an email tool like Klaviyo that offers back-in-stock notifications, you don't need an additional app. More in Email marketing in Shopify.

Hiding sold-out variants

If only one size or format is out of stock, many themes show the variant crossed out or grayed out. This is usually helpful for customers, because they see that the option generally exists. In most themes, sold-out variants can't be hidden completely via a setting. For that you need a variants app or a small code customization in the theme, see Customizing Shopify code.

Removing "Only 26 left in stock"

Notices like this come from the theme (the "Inventory" block in the product template) or from an urgency app. In the theme editor, you can hide the block or set it to appear only below a certain quantity. You switch off app overlays in the app. Only show real numbers: fake scarcity or countdowns that keep restarting are misleading and can lead to a cease-and-desist letter (Abmahnung) in Germany.

Pre-orders and "Continue selling"

With the Continue selling when out of stock option, customers can buy even when stock is 0. The option only appears when inventory tracking is switched on. It makes sense for goods you can restock quickly, for pre-orders and for made-to-order items.

The important thing: the customer must know before buying when the goods will arrive. Put the delivery time or delivery date clearly visible on the product page. For pre-orders that are paid immediately and only delivered in a few weeks, state a specific delivery date or period. Vague information leads to inquiries and cancellations. For genuine pre-orders with partial payment or later charging, there are specialized apps.

Returns: When you create a refund, you can restock returned items. For damaged goods, move them to "Unavailable" instead so they aren't sold again. How returns are organized is described in Returns and refunds.

FAQ

Why does Shopify show "sold out" even though there is stock?

Usually the stock is at a location that doesn't fulfill online orders, or it is marked as "committed" or "unavailable". Check in the product which location the quantity is at, and under Settings > Locations whether this location fulfills online orders. For products from apps, also check whether the app location is syncing correctly.

Do I need my own warehouse with Shopify?

No. Shopify is just the store system. You can sell from your own warehouse, through a fulfillment service, via dropshipping or with print on demand. With dropshipping and print on demand, the goods are with the supplier. In these cases, you switch off inventory tracking or let the app sync the stock. You don't have to rent storage space.

What happens if my dropshipping supplier is sold out?

If your app syncs the stock, the product automatically shows as "sold out" in Shopify as soon as the supplier reports 0. Without syncing, your store keeps selling and you only notice when the order comes in. Then you have to inform the customer and issue a refund. So use apps with inventory sync or keep a second supplier ready.

How do I hide sold-out products in Shopify?

In automated collections, with the additional condition "Inventory stock is greater than 0". Sold-out products then disappear automatically and reappear when there is new stock. You can also offer an availability filter with the Search & Discovery app. Don't delete the product page itself if the product is coming back or already ranks on Google.

What does "10 inventory locations" mean in Shopify?

It means that on the Basic, Grow and Advanced plans, you can manage stock at up to 10 locations, such as warehouses, shops or shipping services. It doesn't mean 10 stores. For several brands, you still need separate stores or a shared structure in one store. Shopify Plus allows 200 locations, and app locations don't count toward the limit.

Do I need a back-in-stock app if I have Klaviyo?

Usually not. Klaviyo offers back-in-stock notifications that you connect to a form on the product page. An additional app is only worth it if you need features Klaviyo doesn't cover, such as SMS in certain countries or pre-orders. Fewer apps also mean less loading time on the product page.

What does "Inventory not tracked" mean in Shopify?

That inventory tracking is switched off for this product. Shopify then doesn't count down any stock, and the product can never be "sold out". That's exactly right for print on demand, digital products and dropshipping without inventory sync, for example if you created products via Printify or Printful. The downside: if an item is out of stock at the provider, your store won't notice. Then you have to set the product to draft yourself.

As of: October 2026. Labels in the Shopify admin may differ slightly depending on language and version. The Shopify Help Center is authoritative.