{"article":{"id":207099919,"url":"https://ecwidhelp.zendesk.com/api/v2/help_center/en-us/articles/207099919.json","html_url":"https://support.ecwid.com/hc/en-us/articles/207099919-Managing-inventory","author_id":2335105649,"comments_disabled":true,"draft":false,"promoted":false,"position":1,"vote_sum":28,"vote_count":68,"upvote_count":48,"downvote_count":20,"section_id":360001714559,"created_at":"2016-02-27T09:05:43Z","updated_at":"2026-07-15T10:02:13Z","name":"Managing inventory","title":"Managing inventory","source_locale":"en-us","locale":"en-us","outdated":false,"outdated_locales":[],"edited_at":"2026-07-15T10:02:13Z","user_segment_id":null,"permission_group_id":289649,"content_tag_ids":[],"label_names":["has-wl-version","inventory","inventory tracking","control stock","stock","products in stock","use_for_answer_bot"],"body":"

It is important to keep your inventory accurate and track the quantity of each product in your store. Accurate inventory allows you to avoid selling more products than you actually have and helps you replenish your stock before you run out.

You can specify stock quantity for every product in your Ecwid store, and Ecwid will automatically reduce it once a product is ordered. When the quantity of a certain product reaches zero, this product will receive a Sold Out label and become unavailable for purchase unless you enable pre-orders for it. You can also choose to receive an email notification when a product quantity gets low, so you have time to restock.

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Starting from the Business plan, you can also manage stock levels for product options (like colors or sizes) if you create variations out of them. Every product variation (e.g., size L, or a Yellow XL) can be tracked if it has its own SKU and quantity.

\nEnabling stock tracking for products

When you add new products to your store, they have an unlimited quantity by default. To enable stock tracking for a product, you should specify how many units of this product you have in stock.

When customers place orders for a product (and the order payment status is either Awaiting Payment or Paid), the product’s stock gets automatically reduced by the number of units ordered. Once that product’s stock reaches zero, it is labeled as “Out of stock” in your store admin. As for the storefront, you can choose one of the following out of stock behavior options for each product:

Learn more about the basics of inventory tracking in Ecwid →

To set quantity in stock for a product:

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Desktop
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iOS
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Android
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  1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Catalog → Products.
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  2. Open the product you want to edit.
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    Find the Stock Control block on the right:

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    \"UPD__Managing_inventory__6_.png\"

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  4. Click Manage stock control.
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    Enter the number of items you have in stock:

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    \"UPD__Managing_inventory__4_.png\"

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    6. \n
  6. (optional) Change the default out of stock behavior for this product and specify when you want to receive low-stock notifications.
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  7. Save the changes.
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  1. Open the Ecwid iOS app on your mobile device.
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  2. Tap Products.
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  3. Tap the product you want to edit.
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  4. Tap Stock Control.
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  5. Enable stock control to track inventory.
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  6. Specify the Quantity of the product you currently have in stock.
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  7. (optional) Change the default out of stock behavior for this product and specify when you want to receive low-stock notifications.
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  8. Save the changes.
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  1. Open the Ecwid Android app on your mobile device.
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  2. Tap Products.
    3. \n
  3. Tap the product you want to edit.
    4. \n
  4. Tap Stock Control.
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  5. Enable stock control to track inventory.
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  6. Specify the Quantity of the product you currently have in stock.
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  7. (optional) Change the default out of stock behavior for this product and specify when you want to receive low-stock notifications.
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  8. \nSave the changes.
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You can use Bulk Product Editor or Mass Update to set quantity in stock, out of stock behavior, and the quantity when a low-stock notification should be sent for several products in bulk.

You can also track the stock levels of a product by its options like color and size (example: a Yellow XL) as well as accept pre-orders for them. For that, you will need to create variations for your available product options and specify the SKU, stock quantity, and out of stock behavior for each variation. Learn more about managing stock of product options →

If you use QuickBooks for managing inventory, you can connect Ecwid with QuickBooks.

\nSetting up low-stock alerts

To know when it’s time to replenish a product’s stock, you can opt into receiving an automated message from Ecwid informing you that a product’s stock has reached a certain limit.

Simply enter the low stock value at which you would like to receive a notification, and the store will automatically send you an email when your product reaches this limit.

To specify product quantity for low-stock alerts:

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Desktop
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iOS
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Android
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    \n
  1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Catalog → Products.
    2. \n
  2. Open the product you want to edit.
    3. \n
  3. Find the Stock Control block on the right.
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  4. \n

    Click Manage stock control:

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    \"UPD__Managing_inventory__1_.png\"

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    5. \n
  5. \n

    Enter the number of items left in stock at which you want to receive the Low Stock notice (by default it is “1”):

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    \"UPD__Managing_inventory__7_.png\"

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    6. \n
  6. Save the changes.
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  1. From your Ecwid iOS app, go to Products.
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  2. Tap the product you want to edit.
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  3. Tap Stock control.
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  4. In the “Notify when stock reaches” field, specify the number of items when you want to be notified.
    5. \n
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  1. From your Ecwid Android app, go to Products.
    2. \n
  2. Tap the product you want to edit.
    3. \n
  3. Tap Stock control.
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  4. In the “Notify when stock reaches” field, specify the number of items when you want to be notified.
    5. \n
  5. \nSave the changes.
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You can specify low stock level for several products in bulk with the help of Ecwid's Bulk Product Editor or Mass Update.

The low stock notifications will be sent to the email address that you specified in Settings → Notifications, in the Admin email addresses block. You can specify another email there or add several email addresses (e.g., yours and an email address of a person who manages your inventory). Please note that this address is used for all your admin notifications, and not only for the “Low stock” notification.

When you receive a low stock notice in your inbox, you can click the Re-stock product button to quickly reach that product’s editing page and update the stock quantity once it’s been replenished:

\"UPD__Managing_inventory__8_.png\"

To stop receiving emails about low product stock, you can disable the Low stock notification in your Ecwid admin, in the Settings → Notifications page (this setting affects all products). To remove low stock notifications for just a certain product, go to that product’s page, select the stock control block, and set a zero value in the “Send me a note when the quantity in stock reaches” section. This way, the notification will be sent only when the product becomes out of stock in your store.

If necessary, you can customize your low stock notification template (click Edit in the Low stock notification section in Settings → Notifications). See our article about editing message templates in your Ecwid store.

\nDisplaying stock status and quantity on the storefront

On product pages in your Ecwid store, you can display the “in stock” status, products’ actual in-stock quantity, and a quantity field that allows customers to enter how many units of an item they want to add to cart.

\nDisplaying the \"In stock\" label and product quantity

By default, the “In stock” label is displayed for all the products in your store: for the ones with unlimited stock and for the ones with enabled stock control. If you’re using stock control, your product pages can also show information about the current stock levels.

You can hide this information from the product pages if you want (for example, if you sell services).

To show/hide the “In stock” label and quantity:

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Instant Site
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Any other website
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  1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Website → Edit Site.
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  2. In the Page dropdown at the top, select Product → Product Details.
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  3. Click “Add to Bag” Button and switch the toggles next to Stock Availability (and next to Number of items if you also wish to show/hide that information).
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  4. Publish the changes.
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  1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Design.
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    Scroll down to the Sidebar section and find the \"Add to Bag\" button menu:

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    \"Managing_inventory__2_.png\"

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  3. Check or uncheck the box next to Stock availability labels (and next to Number of items in stock if you also wish to show/hide that information).
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Displaying a quantity field on product pages

If your customers tend to order many units of the same product, or you offer quantity discounts, you can add a quantity box to your product pages.

To show/hide the quantity field:

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Instant Site
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Any other website
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  1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Website → Edit Site.
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  2. In the Page dropdown at the top, select Product → Product Details.
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  3. Click “Add to Bag” Button and choose your option from the Quantity selector dropdown. You can also choose between a full-fledged quantity field and a compact, inline field display.
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  4. Publish the changes.
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  1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Design.
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  2. Scroll down to the Sidebar section.
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  3. Find the “Add to Bag” button menu.
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    Check or uncheck the box next to Product quantity:

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    \"Managing_inventory__1_.png\"

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    5. \n
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If you use the Ecwid plugin on a Wix or Wordpress site, you should edit the product page layout by using the store design settings inside that sitebuilder.

\nSetting default behavior for out of stock products

There are three possible options for how your products can be treated when their quantity reaches zero. They can remain displayed on the storefront, be hidden from it, or they can become available for pre-orders. You can choose one of these out of stock behavior options while enabling stock tracking for individual products.

By default, all the new products that you create in your Ecwid store are set to remain displayed on the storefront when sold out. Their quantity is marked as “Out of stock”/“Sold Out” and the “Buy Now” and “Add to Bag” buttons for these products become hidden so that they can’t be ordered:

\"UPD__Managing_inventory__9_.png\"

You can change this default setting and specify which behavior should be selected for all the new products in your store when they become out of stock. This way, you can save time on individual product setup.

To set default behavior for all out of stock products in your store:

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  1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Settings → General → Cart & Checkout.
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  2. From the Default out of stock products behavior dropdown, choose your option: Show on storefront, Hide from storefront, or Show and allow pre–order.
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  3. \nSave the changes.
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That’s it! Now when you create a new product and specify its quantity in stock, the value in the When out of stock dropdown on the product page in your Ecwid admin will be set to the one that you’ve selected on the Cart & Checkout page. You can change it for individual products if you want.

To change out of stock behavior for several products in your store in bulk, go to Catalog → Products → Mass Update → Update Stock → Set Out of Stock Behavior and choose your option in the popup. You can also use our Bulk Product Editor for that.

Out of stock products that are hidden from storefront are still visible by direct link (though customers can’t add them to cart). To make these products completely inaccessible, you can disable them in your Ecwid admin.

Understanding stock changes in your store

If you are using stock control, the stock for products and product variations is changed according to the following rules:

If your stock becomes negative, you will need to provide more items or cancel/refund the order if you can’t provide the additional items.

Please note that if you edit the product quantity for existing orders, the change won't affect the in-stock quantity for these items in your store. You will need to take care of the stock changes yourself (e.g., update the stock manually or provide additional items, if needed).

\nUpdating product stock levels in bulk

You can always update the stock of individual products on their pages in Catalog → Products. In case you want to update the stock of your products or their variations in bulk, you can use the following options:

If you sell across multiple channels, you can manage all inventory in one place with the help of the SyncSpider app. SyncSpider syncs your inventory through each of your channels and unifies inventory and order data in one single back-end.

\nViewing your inventory

You can use several options to view the current stock of products and product variations in your store:

You can also use the Out of Stock filter on the Catalog → Products page in your Ecwid admin to get the list of out-of-stock products. This filter displays all the products that are currently out of stock:

\"UPD__Managing_inventory__5_.png\"

A product with variations appears under the Out of Stock filter only if all variations of this product are out of stock. If some variations of this product are still in stock, the product will not appear under the Out of Stock filter.
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