Inventory policy

Two values. Stop selling at zero, or carry on and let the number go negative.

The two settings people confuse

Inventory tracking decides whether Shopify counts at all. Inventory policy decides what happens when the count hits zero.

Turning tracking off to keep a product on sale throws the count away. Changing the policy keeps it, and lets the number go below zero where you can see it.

When to allow it

• A preorder with a real ship date
• Stock you know is on a van, on a purchase order you have already raised
• Made to order, where there is nothing to count

Negative stock is then a to-do list, not an error.

Where it goes wrong

It gets left on. A line sells two hundred past zero over a bank holiday, nobody looks until Tuesday, and there is no supplier delivery that can cover it. Every one of those is a refund and an apology.

Check which variants allow it before every peak. The other fault is switching it on to hide a stockout rather than to promise a date. A customer will wait for a date. They will not wait for silence.