What is the point of Reserve Items on a Draft order?

[Sarah_Preu]

The Reserve Items function needs to decrement the inventory on tracked products. What is the point of it otherwise?

Draft orders has all the functionality needed to flow wholesale orders through, EXCEPT the ability to hold products. Say, for a NET30 wholesale customer. The have the product, and will pay for the product, but there is no ability to reflect that in the inventory set up.

Any ideas? So frustrated with this. Inventory is the whole reason I went with a POS shopify system, but I'm still stuck manually managing inventory and keeping wholesale inventory separate. 

[C_2]

I'd like to know or find an answer to this topic as well.  I'm still manually deducting inventory for customers who prefer to send payment by check so they're products don't sell out while their payment is in the mail.  Is this feature still under development?

[FurnaceX]

Did you ever figure this out?

[JB6]

I'd like to bring this to the attention of Shopify support again. In my two years of using Shopify, I'm yet to come across a reason to "reserve" an item without the need to actually adjust the inventory tracking accordingly. I have various reasons to reserve items and they all require taking them out of inventory so that customers don't try to buy an item that I don't have in stock at the moment. So, I'd like to request that Shopify alter this function, as I've seen numerous conversations in favor of. 

[wlg]

We have several wholesale customers that we create draft orders for, yet Shopify does not visibly take those items added to the draft order out of inventory. After doing some testing, I realized that a customer can't ultimately buy an out of stock item from our online store, but instead of showing it "out of stock" on the product page, the customer is able to add the product to their cart and go all the way through to the checkout before the system shows the item is unavailable. Why won't Shopify address this issue? Once something is placed on a draft order, it should be deleted from inventory (or there should at least be the ability to turn on that functionality). At the very least, even if it didn't decrease the amount in inventory, the customer should see that the product is out of stock on the product page. Please, Shopify...there are several threads on this subject that are many years old, yet I have not seen any comments or explanation from you on why this can't be fixed. Please address! Thank you!

[greiseve]

any update to this? it seems pointless to reserve if it doesn't decimate the inventory!

[JB6]

Unfortunately, not that I’m aware of.

[greiseve]

I would like to see if other people have the same issue.

Not everyone can afford to have the Shopify Enterprise solution that enables Wholesale. Perhaps the accurate inventory functionality is reserved for those accounts but it doesn’t negate the fact that even smaller online retailers need to have an accurate at a glance overview of their inventory. We use a lot of draft orders and they all convert to orders at some point but really make our planning and forecasting process hard if not impossible.

[SteveT]

Just one of a number of small functional bugs that never seem to be addressed by Shopify. They need to have a dedicated team looking at this sort of stuff to ensure that they provide the excellent product they aspire to provide. Unfortunately it's a growing list and developments seem few and far between.

[BlackheartGames]

Brick and mortar store here. I used it daily. It allows you to send an invoice to a customer to pay online (say a deposit for a special order). If you don't have it reserved or in stock they can't finish the transaction.

If you are getting customers to put a deposit on an item that you want to be able to edit properly once they have paid, you can reserve the item so it's not appearing in your store. Then you can still track inventory and items associated with orders and won't be clumsily adding stock in and out.

Particularly good for draft orders as Laybys.

Are you ok btw? Seem very vitriolic about reserveing items xD

[Nikki-D]

Also would like some support from Shopify on this one. I assumed it actually reserved the stock by removing it from inventory but discovered it didn't when I accidentally oversold items I couldn't get back in stock, which is a hassle for me and my customers. 

Ridiculous that this thread has been left hanging since 2018 now with not a peep from Shopify.

[media_by_bec]

This would be handy, seems silly to reserve the item and not have it be removed off the inventory, since it says it will be "automatically restocked" at the particular time and date! Anyone know a Shopify expert partner they can tag?

[migolondrina]

I would like an update on this as well.

[NickNapalm]

Yes, Shopify. For REAL. This is completely obtuse and absurd. I ran into oversell issues of my own today for this very reason. What on EARTH is the point of having a "Reserve Items" feature on draft invoicing when it doesn't actually deduct the stock from inventory? Like a couple others had mentioned in this thread previously, the shop will instead pretend like the item is in stock on the product page, but then display a "SOLD OUT" error during checkout.

Earlier today, I had 4 or 5 customers get in touch with me about this problem and I ended up manually invoicing them for the technically "out-of-stock" items, which the store let me sell because quantity was still showing from what turned out to be "reserved" inventory. Now, I'm oversold on two products and it's very frustrating to have to contact customers and tell them that I don't have what they wanted after they have already paid. Again, what the heck is the point of having this feature at all when it doesn't actually deduct from inventory? This is beyond frustrating, guys.

[sunams]

I need to chime in here as I have the same question, and would love to hear Shopify's handling of this. I very much need the ability to have an item be removed from inventory when 'reserve item' is selected for a draft order. 🙏

[greiseve]

HELLO SHOPIFY DEVELOPMENT TEAM!

DO YOU READ THIS AT ALL?

ANYONE OUT THERE?

THIS IS DIRECT CUSTOMER FEEDBACK... YOU DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO SOLICIT IT... GRANTED, NOT A PROBLEM WITH 1000's OF LIKES... BUT SOME REACTION WOULD BE AWESOME... ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, TREAT US WITH SOME DIGNITY!!!

[Matt_Goodwin]

Pleassee help us address this!  If a customer checks out from the cart the inventory is automatically adjusted for the item and they are allowed to check out.  If the customer uses a checkout url from a draft order to enter checkout then they see the same "Inventory Issues" warning but are not given the option to continue checkout with the lowered inventory level.

This is causing merchants running our app to lose sales and their customers are getting frustrated.  Can Shopify at least apply the same logic to draft order checkouts as regular checkouts?

[lhansen514]

this was answered in another discussion. here is the link

https://community.shopify.com/c/Shopify-for-Retail-Stores/quot-holding-quot-Inventory/m-p/530083

[Nikki-D]

This doesn't address why this thread has been ignored for years by Shopify, and as you can see on the thread you linked to, the Shopify response hasn't really solved the issue in a way that suits either retailers or customers. We still need a system for holding inventory that actually, you know, holds the inventory.

[JoelNZ]

SOLUTION? or at least step in the right direction:

1: Create the draft order for the customer.

2: Do not hit "email invoice".

3: Instead hit "mark as pending". Popup> choose "other" payment method, hit "create order".

- Your shop will send an email to the customer thanking them for their "purchase". Perhaps update this email format to say the correct thing such as "order".

- Your shop takes that item(s) out of inventory. So it cannot be accidentally purchased by someone else, and negates the bollocks of a customer getting to checkout to realise something is out of stock.

4: If you want them to pay remotely from their location,  hit "collect payment".

- Choose "send invoice" and it will send an email inviting them to pay for the order by any usual means on your checkout.

- Or if they call you to pay over the phone, choose "pay by c card" using their credit card.

5: If the customer then comes into store,

- It seems that the order is NOT available for credit card payment on either the POS app or the shopify app on mobile. Which is shit.

- It is possible to bring up the order on your usual shopify admin, hit "collect payment" and put a credit card through, same as phone method.

Cheers

Joel

[ELOU]

You are a genius! Thanks. This helped me today!

[greiseve]

This is also a great way to treat PO’s with customers who have payment terms. Rather than keeping their orders in drafts until they pay for example upon delivery or 30 days later, these drafts/PO’s can now be tracked with the other orders. No need to jump back and forth anymore between orders and drafts!

is there a way to receive only a ‘partial’ payment on an order?

[ngarza]

Thanks Joel for providing a workaround!

[JoelNZ]

Ok, looks like Shopify has changed the way this works. They have removed the "mark as pending" button.

To achieve this now, do this:

- Make draft order.

- Tick "Payment due later"

 

- Hit "create order"

- Popup about payment type, go "create order"

- Order is created in your orders list. You are taken to it.

- The item is taken out of stock.

- Now you can collect payment remotely or send an invoice.

[JB6]

Hallelujah!! Many thanks for posting this and alerting me.

[LisaO]

This is what we do for our wholesale orders.  Only problem is it creates the invoice date on the date the order is entered in drafts and coverted to order.  Sometimes (for us) this is months before we actually ship the product so their invoice looks like they are already months behind.   Hence, would be super to have this inventory deduction done while in draft process....

[soulchild37]

JoelNZ workaround is great! Thanks. 

If you would like to deduct inventory without converting the draft order into an order, I think my app can help (Draft Order Helper: https://apps.shopify.com/draft-helper).

The app allows you to deduct inventories for products used in a draft order in one click :

After installing the app, you can go to your draft order, select "More actions" > "Adjust inventory" , then deduct the inventories of the products used in the draft order, this will make the inventory count reflect the actual numbers.

The app has a free plan (5 free inventories deduction) which you can give it a try, https://apps.shopify.com/draft-helper, hope this can help you!

There's a caveat on this feature, you have to make sure there's enough inventory count after deducting the inventory using this app (eg: say the draft order place 5 quantity for an item, you need to ensure there is at least 5 quantity after deducting inventory), as Shopify will deduct the inventory again when customer finish paying for the order.

Here's the inventory flow : 

1. You use Draft Helper app to deduct inventory (eg: inventory goes from 10 to 5)
2. Customer checks out and make payment, Shopify deduct the inventory again  (inventory goes from 5 to 0)
3. Shortly after the order is paid, Draft Helper app automatically replenish the inventory deducted by Shopify to prevent double deduction. (inventory goes from 0 to 5).

You can also restore the deducted inventory for the draft order, right before sending the customer to checkout, in case you don't have enough inventory at that time.
restore inventory right before sending the customer the invoice


Regards,

Axel Kee

[Siti_K]

Hi I contacted Shopify and they said this:

When you reserve the inventory of an item, it will not being taken out of inventory in the Shopify admin, and will appear to be in stock on the storefront. This is because the item has not yet been purchased and could be bought in the future by a different customer. However, if someone attempts to purchase it before the reservation has expired, they will be presented with an error in the checkout letting them know an issue with the inventory is preventing their purchase from completing. So in this sense its beneficial to avoid the inventory being used by another customer.

Hope that helps!

[Drew111]

Thank you for sharing this. However @Shopify  this solution is weak... but it does work. Ultimately leads to a disappointed customer at checkout. Another Shopify fail.

[SteveT]

There is a new 'Commited Stock' status for inventory has been announced. I wonder if this will be utilised for reserved stock?

https://changelog.shopify.com/posts/improve-your-inventory-accuracy-with-the-new-committed-inventory...

[Drew111]

Unfortunately this solution is junk. Only shows committed on PC, not on mobile app. And still leads customers to believe product is available until checkout.

[Chimevault]

Reserve stock.. doesn't reserve stock.. I don't get it either.

[MichelPlante]

I was expecting some solution here, but looks like the (SHPFY) dont care 😞

THAT would be great especially when you do a draft order for a client with your last item/color/size available,,. So now, it means if someone come in and grab that last item (even if reserved), the client to whom you sent that draft order will face an Out of Stock situation... 😞

[Drew111]

Yup. 100% happens all the time in our shop. Unless EVERYONE is aware of the draft order and physically removes the product from in store availability, but still shows in stock online. Simple solution @Shopify. Lets fix this.

[FurnaceX]

@Drew111, all: I agree that Shopify's implementation is poor.

A stopgap solution is offered above by @JoelNZ: Create a Draft order and mark it as "Payment due later".

I would just add that, once you create a draft order, you can now "Hold fulfillment". This will reserve the inventory but prevent the order from being fulfilled. Once paid, you can remove the hold.

[Drew111]

Yes it is a partial solution however, at that point it is no longer a draft order. You have in fact, created an order.

[MichelPlante]

Sorry but, not good, you still need to keep an eye on this, and come back to it.

The real solution is make the actual one working. You set it and forget about it... Next ...

I guess these work around might work for those having 10-20 orders a day... At +/- 100, not a solution. Having to create a draft takes time already, no need to add more steps, hoopls and loops to make up for a feature that doesn,t work 😞

[MichelPlante]

Totally Agree, All these workaround are NOT the solution, Why on earth we have a 'Reserve Item' function that doesn't do the job it's supposed to do?

THis one is marvelousely designed, 'Reserve item... Until Date/Time, then release it back to regular inventory. It only needs to work! 

@Shopify, are you reading this board? If not then it sucksm if you do and do nothing, it's not better. Many issues are brought up here for YEARS! (Merge clients,,, )

[BobbinRobin]

2022 and this is still a problem. This first entry was from 2018 ... 4 years and it hasn't been addressed.  I just created a draft order and reserved the items and they still look available on my store.  Why hasn't this been addressed

[Matthew_25]

Just went to try and use this feature as well only to find out that it does ..... absolutely nothing.

If your not going to fix it shopify just remove it.

Why does it seem like shopify constantly fixates on all this pointless cosmetic changes to the admin site and theme/app store, which don't actually add any improvements yet bury their head in the sand which it comes to actually making their broken features work, I mean it took how many years just to be able to combine discount codes, and yet we still can't combine a product discount and cart discount together.

[travisromine]

Hey, give it a try, it works now. They must have fixed it. 

[Matthew_25]

Thanks for the heads up.

Just tried this out and yeah it's now doing what it should have done a year ago.

[travisromine]

UPDATE: It works perfectly now. Make sure you have your products set to track inventory and don't allow backorders. Then it will work perfectly. The great part is it has a date field you can set to expire the reservation which is super handy and requires no maintenance or additional workflows. When the inventory reservation expires it goes back into stock and is available on your website and channels again. 

[Livia_c]

I just tested placing a draft order and then click "reserve items" above the product list and inventory was decreased by corresponding amounts and available stock of the products was also adjusted. This means that the customer will not be able to add to cart a product that is no longer available and will not have to have the annoying experience reaching all the way to the checkout with a product that is not available.

One thing to keep in mind is that you still can reserve products if the stock is zero or if your requests triggers the stock of the product to go lower 0. That happens even if the option of "Continue selling when out of stock" is not activated. Apparently reserving using a draft order bypasses this check.