How inventory works · Shelfkat Docs

Inventory is the count of how many units you have of each product and each variant (for example, the black t-shirt size M). It's turned on per catalog: you can have one store with inventory and another without it. Service catalogs do not manage stock.

With inventory on, Shelfkat:

Sets aside units when you confirm an order and deducts them when you deliver.
Marks as out of stock what reaches zero, so no one orders what you don't have.
Alerts you to what's running low and keeps the history of every change.

The three numbers: on-hand, reserved, and available#

Inventory screen with the Available to sell, Reserved for orders, Need restocking and To set up cards, the restock notice and the product table — The Inventory screen

Each variant has three quantities. You'll see them on the Inventory screen, on each product's panel, and on the product sheet.

Number	What it means	Example
On-hand	The units you physically have, in your warehouse or on your shelf.	You have 10 black t-shirts size M.
Reserved	Units that confirmed orders have already set aside but you haven't delivered yet. They're still on your shelf, but they already belong to someone.	You confirmed an order for 3.
Available	What you can still sell: Available = On-hand − Reserved. This is what counts for the store.	10 − 3 = 7 available.

Tip

If you count your shelf and get a different number than available, no worries: compare it with on-hand. The reserved units are still physically there until you deliver the order.

What happens to stock at each step of an order#

Order step	What inventory does	In the example (10 on-hand)
The customer sends the order on WhatsApp	Nothing yet: an unconfirmed order doesn't set aside units.	10 · 0 reserved · 10 available
You confirm the order	Reserves the units. If there aren't enough available, it won't let you confirm.	10 · 3 reserved · 7 available
You deliver the order	Deducts from on-hand and removes the reservation.	7 · 0 reserved · 7 available
You cancel a confirmed order	Releases the reservation: units go back to being available.	10 · 0 reserved · 10 available
You cancel an already delivered order	If you choose to restock, the units come back to on-hand.	Returns to 10

Note

An order you confirmed before turning on inventory has no reservation, so delivering it doesn't deduct anything.

Product states#

State	When it appears
In stock	It has available units.
Low stock	You set an alert (for example Alert at 5) and available reached that number or less.
Out of stock	Available is 0. In the store it shows as out of stock.
Not tracked	It doesn't have a quantity yet. It keeps selling without limit until you give it one with Set up.

If a product has multiple variants, it shows the worst state: one size being out of stock is enough for the product to appear in the Out of stock tab.

What your customer sees#

In Inventory → Inventory settings → Show in the store you choose what the buyer sees:

Available / Sold out (default): they only know if they can order it.
Exact quantity: they see how many units are left.

The history is never deleted#

Every quantity change is saved as a movement, with date and who made it:

Movement	What creates it
Opening	The first quantity of a variant (when turning on inventory or with Set up).
Receipt	An incoming shipment (Receive stock).
Adjust	A change to the physical count (Adjust, a count, or in simple mode, the product sheet).
Reserve, Delivery, Release, Return	The order steps from the table above.

If you delete a product that already has movements, Shelfkat archives it to keep the history.

Simple mode and advanced mode#

Inventory has two modes. Both count the same way, reserve the same way, and show the same thing in the store; what changes is where and how you record changes:

Simple: you change quantities on each product's sheet or from Inventory. You can turn it off anytime.
Advanced: quantities only change from Inventory and every change has a reason. It's permanent.

Next, read Turn on inventory or, if you already use it, Switch to advanced inventory.