How can I stop orders being fulfilled from other warehouse locations when out of stock?

[Laurat1]

We are a small business but sell our product in different locations around the world (UK, US, Aus). The problem we have had is that when we have been out of stock in one location (i.e. UK) it has still been possible for UK customers to order our product through checkout using inventory from either the US or Aus warehouses (which is too expensive for us to fulfil). 

We need to be able to continue to sell in countries where we have stock whilst preventing customers where the product is out of stock being able to order. While Shopify have been expanding the offering in regards to International selling with Shopify Markets, the functionality we are looking for is not in place at the moment.

Has anyone in a similar position got any solutions to this problem?

[matiasricci]

Have you found a solution to this already? @Laurat1 
We're experiencing the exact same problem here.

[Laurat1]

Unfortunately no ideal solution. We are using an app- Multi Location Inventory Info, which has helped but is not fool-proof. It uses the IP address to locate the customer and then shut off out of stock products so they can't add it to their basket. Unfortunately, if the products are already sat in their basket from a previous visit to your web page or they click through from an abandoned cart email they can still checkout, even when the products are out of stock. It also won't work with Linkpop or buy button. I've been emailing Shopify for the past 18 months about this issue. They have admitted that it is a big problem for international sellers, however with all the developments they've made with 'Shopify Markets' recently there still doesn't seem to be a solution sadly. 

[matiasricci]

That's too bad - I'm sorry. If you want, shoot me an email at matias@unit1gear.com. I'm putting together a list of merchants that are experiencing the same issue to see if we put a group claim/feature request with Shopify.