Inventory, Locations & Transfers

Overview

StretchShop tracks how much of each product and variant you have, and — if you run more than one warehouse or store — where you have it. This guide covers turning on inventory tracking, viewing stock levels, making adjustments, moving stock between locations with transfers, and watching low-stock alerts.

Turn on tracking

Stock is only counted for items where track inventory is on.

1. Open a product or variant.
2. Enable Track inventory and set the starting inventory quantity.
3. Set a low-stock threshold so the item is flagged before it runs out.

When tracking is on, checkout reserves stock and refuses to oversell — an order that exceeds available quantity is blocked with an insufficient-stock error.

Locations

Locations represent the physical places you hold stock.

1. Open Locations and click New location; give it a name and address.
2. Repeat for each warehouse, store, or fulfillment point.
3. Use Set default to choose the location new stock and orders assume by default.

With multiple locations you can view inventory by location to see exactly where each unit sits.

View stock levels

• Open Inventory to see levels across the store. Filter by location, product, or variant.
• Use Inventory by location to drill into a single location's on-hand counts.
• Open Low stock to see everything at or below its threshold, so you know what to reorder.

Make an adjustment

Adjustments record a change in on-hand quantity with a reason (received shipment, damage, count correction).

1. Open Inventory and choose New adjustment (or open the product/variant and adjust its inventory directly).
2. Enter the quantity or an adjustment amount. An adjustment can be negative (for example -3 for breakage) but cannot drive stock below zero.
3. Record the reason and save. The change is logged so you can review adjustment history per product or variant.

Move stock with transfers

Transfers move units from one location to another.

1. Open Inventory > Transfers and click New transfer.
2. Choose the origin and destination locations and the items and quantities to move.
3. Save the transfer. It stays open until the receiving location confirms arrival.
4. When the goods arrive, open the transfer and click Receive. Stock is added to the destination location.

A realistic example

You hold candles in Toronto (default) and Vancouver. A shipment of 100 candles arrives in Toronto, so you record an adjustment of +100 with reason "Supplier PO 1180". Vancouver is selling fast, so you create a transfer of 40 units Toronto → Vancouver. When Vancouver confirms delivery, you Receive the transfer; Toronto drops by 40 and Vancouver rises by 40. Later, a customer returns a damaged candle, so you make a -1 adjustment with reason "Damaged — discarded."

Tips

• Set a realistic low-stock threshold on every tracked item — it is the difference between reordering on time and going out of stock mid-sale.
• Always attach a reason to adjustments; your adjustment history becomes your audit trail for shrinkage and counts.
• Keep a default location set so new stock and orders have a sensible home.
• Receive transfers promptly — until you click Receive, the destination's available stock does not reflect the incoming units.

Troubleshooting

• "Insufficient stock" at checkout — the requested quantity exceeds available stock for that product/variant; restock, adjust, or reduce the order.
• "Inventory cannot be negative" — a negative adjustment would drop stock below zero; reduce the adjustment amount.
• Stock didn't move after a transfer — the transfer is still open; open it and click Receive at the destination.
• A sale didn't reduce stock — the item likely has track inventory turned off; enable it to count down on future sales.