Creating and managing inventory transfers

You can create inventory transfers to reserve inventory at the origin location and send it to a destination location. You can use inventory transfers to track inventory between your store locations.

You can create draft transfers, mark your transfers as ready to ship, and duplicate your transfers. You can also edit, cancel, and delete your transfers.

You can also create transfers for products that use a third-party fulfillment service.

Note

After May 15, 2025, a new transfer experience is available in your Shopify admin, and some historical information won't be available. Transfers that don't have an origin or destination location specified need to be created again, because they aren't migrated. Custom saved views for transfers need to be created for the new experience, because they aren't migrated. Shipping details, such as arrival dates, carriers, and tracking numbers that are associated with draft transfers appear as notes.

Transfer statuses

Your transfers can have different transfer statuses that indicate the transfer state. Review the following table to learn about the different transfer statuses.

Inventory transfer statuses and their descriptions

Transfer status	Description
Draft	The transfer was created, but hasn't been marked as ready to ship. The inventory included in the draft transfer isn't reserved.
Ready to ship	The transfer is marked as ready to ship. The inventory that you're transferring is reserved at the origin location.
In progress	The transfer is in progress when all shipments in a transfer are in transit.
Transferred	All shipments in the transfer were received. Your reserved items are made available at the destination location.
Canceled	The transfer is marked as canceled. Your reserved items are made available at the origin location.

Create a transfer

You can create an inventory transfer for your active store locations from your Shopify admin. You can also create a transfer with a barcode scanner. When you create a transfer you can view inventory quantities at the origin location and adjust the quantities that you want to transfer to a destination location.

After you create a transfer, your transfer is saved as a draft. Your inventory isn't reserved and you can edit any details of your transfer.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Transfers.

2. Click Create transfer.

3. In the Origin section, click Select origin and then select the origin location that you want to transfer inventory from.

4. In the Destination section, click Select destination and then select the active location where you want to receive the inventory.

5. In the Add products section, search for products or click Browse, and then add the products to your transfer.

6. In the Quantity column, enter the quantities for each product in the transfer.

7. Optional: Add a note to your transfer:

   1. In the Notes section, click the pencil icon.
   2. Enter a note, and then click Save.

8. Optional: In the Transfer details section, add additional information about your transfer:

   • In the Date created field, select or enter the date you want displayed as the transfer's creation date.
   • In the Reference name field, enter a name for your transfer.

9. Optional: To assign tags to your transfer, in the Tags section, search to find existing tags or create new tags, and then click Save.

10. Click Save.

Import inventory into a transfer in bulk

You can bulk import variants to a new or existing transfer using a transfer CSV file. The transfer CSV file contains information that uniquely identifies products, product variants, and their inventory quantities at your location or specified locations. You can download and view a sample transfer CSV file to use as a template.

If you import variants to an existing transfer and the transfer CSV file contains variants that already exist on the transfer, then the existing variant quantities are overwritten by the new quantities.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Transfers.

2. Click Create Transfer or click an existing transfer.

3. Click Import, and then click Add file.

4. Select the transfer CSV file that you want to upload.

5. Click Import products.

Mark a transfer as ready to ship

After you prepare your items for transfer, you need to mark it as ready to ship. Marking a transfer as ready to ship automatically reserves all inventory at the origin location.

After you mark your transfer as ready to ship, you can't change the origin and destination locations, but you can edit all other transfer details, such as products, notes, or tags. If you need to change either of the locations, then duplicate or cancel the transfer.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Transfers.

2. Click a transfer that you want to mark as ready to ship.

3. Click Mark as ready.

4. Click Done.

After you mark your order as ready to ship, you need to create a shipment for your transfer.

Managing transfers created by third-party apps

You can view and manage inventory transfers created by third-party apps directly from your Shopify admin. When you create an inventory transfer using a third-party app, your transfer is displayed in the Source column on the Transfers page. The transfer source is also displayed on each transfer, so you can identify whether a transfer is coming from a third-party app. You can also view the transfer timeline for third-party app events.

Note

All transfers created by third-party apps are in the Ready to ship status. This means that you can't edit the origin and destination locations for transfers created by a third-party app.

You can manage your third-party transfers the same way you manage transfers created directly in your Shopify admin. You can duplicate, cancel, and delete third-party transfers. You can also create and manage shipments for third-party transfers.

Duplicate a transfer

You can duplicate an existing transfer. You can duplicate any transfers including canceled transfers. Your new transfer is duplicated as Draft.

Duplicating a transfer can be useful when you need to make a new transfer from the same origin or destination, or for the same items.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Transfers.

2. Click a transfer that you want to duplicate.

3. Click More actions, and then click Duplicate.

4. Click Duplicate transfer.

Edit a draft transfer

After you create a draft transfer, you can edit your transfer details, such as origin and destination location, adjust products, and edit other transfer information.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Transfers.

2. Click a draft transfer that you want to edit.

3. Optional: Adjust your origin and destination locations:

   • In the Origin section, click Select origin and then select the origin location that you want to transfer inventory from.
   • In the Destination section, click Select destination and then select the active location that you want to receive inventory to.

4. Optional: In the Add products section, add or remove products from your transfer:

   • To add new products to a transfer, search for products or click Browse, and then add the products that you want to transfer.
   • To remove products from a transfer, click x next to the products that you want to remove.
   • To adjust product quantity, in the Quantity column, enter the quantities for each product in the transfer.

5. Optional: Adjust any other transfer details, such as notes, tags, or date created.

6. Click Save.

Edit a ready to ship transfer

After you mark your transfer as ready to ship, you can edit your transfer details, such as adjust products, and edit other transfer information. You can't edit the origin and destination locations for transfers that are in the Ready to ship status.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Transfers.

2. Click a transfer that you want to edit.

3. Optional: In the Ready to be shipped section, click Edit, and then add or remove products from your transfer:

   • To add new products to a transfer, search for products or click Browse, and then add the products that you want to transfer.
   • To remove products from a transfer, click x next to the products that you want to remove.
   • To adjust product quantity, in the Quantity column, enter the quantities for each product in the transfer.

4. Optional: Adjust any other transfer details, such as notes, tags, or date created.

5. Click Save.

After you finalize your transfer, you need to create a shipment for your transfer.

Cancel a transfer

If you no longer need to make a transfer, then you can cancel it. You can cancel a transfer that is in the Draft or Ready to ship status. You can access and duplicate canceled transfers at any time.

After you cancel a transfer your reserved items are made available at the origin location.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Transfers.

2. Click a transfer that you want to cancel.

3. Click More actions, and then click Cancel transfer.

4. Click Cancel transfer.

Delete a transfer

You can delete transfers that are in the Draft status. You can't delete transfers that are ready to ship.

You can't access deleted transfers. After you delete a transfer your items are returned to origin location.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Transfers.

2. Click a draft transfer that you want to delete.

3. Click More actions, and then click Delete transfer.

4. Click Delete transfer.