If a product or variant in your Shopify admin shows as not tracked, Shopify is not keeping a stock count for it. This guide covers what that means, when leaving it off is reasonable, and how to turn tracking on.
What "not tracked" means
Inventory tracking is a setting on each product, or on each variant if the product has variants. With it off, Shopify holds no quantity for that item, so there is no number to go down when an order comes in and nothing to tell you that you are running low.
- Set per variant: One variant of a product can be tracked while another is not
- No count: There is no available quantity for Shopify to reduce
- No out-of-stock rule: The option to stop or continue selling at zero can only be chosen when tracking is on
When leaving it off makes sense
Shopify's help center lists product types you might choose not to track. They have one thing in common: there is no shelf of units to count.
- ✅ Digital products, such as ebooks and music downloads
- ✅ Services
- ✅ Made-to-order items
- ✅ Gift cards
- ✅ Dropshipped products, unless you use a dropshipping app that manages the supplier's inventory
If you hold physical stock, an untracked variant means you find out it is gone when you go to pack the order.
How to turn tracking on
You turn it on from the product itself. Shopify's help center calls the setting Track quantity in its setup article and refers to it as the Inventory tracked setting elsewhere, so look for whichever your admin shows in the product's Inventory section.
- Open the product: Go to Products and click the product. If it has variants, click the variant.
- Turn tracking on: In the Inventory section, turn on the tracking setting.
- Enter stock: Enter the number of Available units.
- Save: Click Save.
In the Shopify mobile app, the setting is on the Inventory details screen of the product or variant.
Decide what happens at zero
Once tracking is on, a second choice appears. By default a tracked product stops selling when it is out of stock, which means customers cannot add it to their cart at zero.
| Setting | What happens at zero |
|---|---|
| Stop selling when out of stock | Customers cannot add the product to their cart |
| Continue selling when out of stock | Customers can still buy it |
Check the count before you trust it
Turning tracking on does not count your stock for you. The Available number you type is what Shopify sells against from that moment.
- Count first: Enter what is physically on the shelf, not what you think is there
- Many products: Shopify says you can enter starting quantities one at a time, in the bulk editor, or by CSV import
- Several locations: Inventory is held per location, so enter the quantity at each one
Shopify's steps are on its inventory tracking setup page.
Doing this at scale
Tracked quantities are what make reorder planning possible. StockSense forecasts per-SKU demand from your order history, recommends a reorder point, quantity and date, and ranks SKUs by revenue at risk. See StockSense.