Viewing inventory adjustment history

If you are using Shopify to track a product's inventory, then you can view its inventory adjustment history. If the product has variants, then you can view the inventory adjustment history for each variant that is being tracked, but you can't view the inventory adjustment history for all of the variants at once.

You can view only the last 90 days of inventory adjustment history for a product or variant.

When you view the inventory adjustment history for a product or variant, you see the following information about inventory adjustments:

  • Date - The date of the adjustment.
  • Activity - The event that caused the adjustment, such as a transfer or an order. If a staff member caused the adjustment, then their name is listed.
  • Unavailable - The inventory that is unavailable after the adjustment.
  • Committed - The number of units that are part of an order but aren't yet fulfilled. Inventory units that are part of draft orders aren't counted as committed until the draft order becomes an order.
  • Available - The inventory quantity that is available after the adjustment, and that isn’t committed to any orders or set aside as unavailable.
  • On hand - The inventory that is on hand after the adjustment, and that is a sum of your Committed, Unavailable, and Available inventory.

Learn more about inventory states.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.

  2. Click the name of the product.

  3. If the product has variants, then click on a variant.

  4. In the Inventory section, click Adjustment history.

Understanding your adjustment history page

The table that displays on a product or variant's adjustment history page that lists the last 90 days of inventory adjustment history data.

The Activity column displays the event that caused the inventory adjustment, such as a new order, a return, or a manually selected inventory adjustment reason.

The numbers under each of the inventory states display the adjusted quantity first, and the new total quantity second. A dash indicates that the adjustment didn't affect that column.

For example, the store Mel's Mustards has 43 spicy dijon mustards in the Available state.

A customer places an order for five spicy dijon mustards, causing the Committed count for this SKU to increase by five. On the inventory adjustment page, the first number under Committed for this order is (+5), and the second number under Committed reflects the total quantity of units for this SKU that are committed to all orders.

Because five units were committed to this order, they're subtracted from the Available state. The first number under Available for this order displays (-5). The second number that displays is 38, which is the total quantity of Available units after the order was placed. The Available quantity has gone down from 43 to 38.

Inventory adjustment reasons

When you adjust your On hand, Available, or Unavailable inventory quantities from the Shopify admin, you can select a reason for why the quantity has been adjusted. Inventory adjustment reasons display in your adjustment history under the Activity column, but the reason that you select and how it displays on the adjustment history page might differ slightly.

The following table displays each adjustment reason that you can select, the corresponding reason that displays on the adjustment history page, and the usage for each reason.

Inventory adjustment reasons
Inventory adjustment reasonAdjustment history page activityUsage
CorrectionInventory correctionThe default option if no other option is selected. Use to correct an inventory error, or as a general reason.
CountInventory manually countedUse after counting physical stock, where a discrepancy was found between the actual inventory quantity and the previously recorded inventory quantity.
DamagedDamagedUse to mark inventory as Unavailable because it's damaged.
Quality controlQuality controlUse to mark inventory as Unavailable due to quality control. For example, to review a shipment to make sure that there are no damaged items.
Promotion or donationPromotion or donationUse when you're adjusting inventory due to items that are used in promotions or as donations.
ReceivedInventory receivedUse when adding new inventory to refer to new stock.
Return restockItems restockedUse to add a returned item back to available inventory, when the item can be resold.
Safety stockSafety stockUse to mark inventory as Unavailable when you want to set aside some items for safety stock. For example, you have items that sell quickly and you want some stock set aside to release later.
Theft or lossTheft or lossUse when you're adjusting inventory due to theft or loss.
OtherOtherUse when you're adjusting inventory to be Unavailable for any other reason.

System inventory adjustment activities

You might encounter adjustment activities on your adjustment history page that don't match the self-selected reasons that you or your staff might choose when you manually adjust your inventory. Your inventory might be adjusted by Shopify or third-party apps following certain processes to ensure that your store has accurate inventory counts.

For example, when you mark an incoming transfer as received, the inventory is automatically adjusted, and the adjustment history for these products displays Transfer created.

The following table displays the most common automatic adjustment reasons, which display on the adjustment history page along with the manually selected adjustment reasons.

System inventory adjustment activities
Adjustment history page activitiesUsage
Data correctionRefers to an error correction that was made automatically.
Reservation created Refers to an item that has been put on hold or set aside due to a draft order or third-party app and made Unavailable in the inventory count.
Reservation updatedSignifies that Unavailable inventory has been updated by store staff or a third-party app, such as from updating a draft order.
Reservation deletedSignifies that Unavailable inventory has been deleted by store staff or a third-party app. When a third party deletes a reservation or a draft order expires, associated inventory goes back to Available.
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