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 to an order, 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.
Your inventory units can be in the following states:
You need to input inventory information into Shopify, and to activate inventory tracking for Shopify to be able to determine your inventory's states.
On this page
Understanding inventory states
On hand
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 Unavailable because they're reserved for draft orders
- 6 jams that are Committed to orders and need to be fulfilled
- 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.
Available
Available inventory refers to inventory that you can sell. Available inventory isn’t committed to any orders 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
Committed inventory refers to the number of units that are part of a placed order but aren't yet fulfilled. When units are part of a draft order, they can’t be purchased by customers, but also don’t count as Committed until the draft becomes an order.
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.
Unavailable
Unavailable inventory refers to the number of units that are reserved for draft orders, set aside by apps, or other inventory hold reasons, such as damaged, quality control, or safety stock. Unavailable inventory is stocked at your location but isn't available to be sold. You can also move Available items to Unavailable by adjusting inventory quantities.
For example, Jo's jams has 55 jams stocked in their warehouse currently, but they have been making draft orders today, and now 35 of those jams have been reserved for draft orders. Jo notices that one jar is missing a label during an inventory count 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 jams. If Jo replaces the label and makes the jam Available to sell again, then their Available inventory is 20 units of jam.
Incoming
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.
Inventory state reference chart
Your inventory is grouped into the following 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 to any orders or reserved for any draft orders. It also doesn't include inventory that's considered Incoming. |
| Committed | Committed inventory refers to the number of units that are part of an order but not yet fulfilled. When units are part of a draft order, they can’t be purchased by customers and won’t count as Committed inventory until the draft becomes an order. |
| Unavailable | Unavailable inventory refers to the number of units reserved for draft orders, set aside by apps, or other inventory hold reasons, such as damaged, quality control, or safety stock. Unavailable inventory is stocked at your location but it's not available to sell. |
| Incoming | 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 has been received and its state has been changed to Available. |