Aligning Total Product Quantities with Variations

Retail & Point of Sale
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Topic summary

A Shopify merchant is struggling with inventory management for products that have multiple variants, specifically items that can be personalized or sold without personalization.

Core Problem:

  • Shopify requires setting inventory quantities per individual variant
  • After selling both personalized and non-personalized versions, warehouse totals don’t match Shopify’s variant-level tracking
  • This mismatch allows customers to order variants that are actually sold out

Desired Solution:
The merchant wants to:

  • Track total product inventory across all variants (rather than per-variant tracking)
  • Use a single barcode for all variants of a product
  • Have Google Shopping recognize products correctly (currently blocked due to barcode discrepancies, as Shopify requires unique barcodes per variant)

Current Status:
The discussion remains open with no solution yet. A second merchant has confirmed experiencing the identical issue with personalized/custom products, also seeking a way to set quantity regardless of which option customers select.

Both are open to apps, workarounds, or custom solutions to address this variant-independent inventory tracking need.

Summarized with AI on November 14. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

Hello Community,

I am currently facing a challenge related to inventory management for products with multiple variants/options and corresponding barcodes. I’m hoping to find a solution here with your assistance.

To provide more context, the issue revolves around products that can be personalized (for example, with a customer’s name) or can be sold without any personalization. In Shopify, as I understand it, we need to specify the inventory quantity for each individual product variant/option. However, I’ve run into a problem where, after selling a personalized product and a non-personalized one, the total inventory in the warehouse does not match the quantities indicated in Shopify. This leads to situations where a customer is able to order a product variant that is already sold out.

I’m seeking a solution that allows me to manage the total quantity of goods in the warehouse, irrespective of their options/variants. I would like Shopify to consider the overall inventory and not just the inventory of each individual variant.

Moreover, I have noticed that each product variant asks for a unique barcode, which creates an issue as my products, regardless of personalization, share the same barcode. It seems that this discrepancy prevents Google from confirming the entire product selection and therefore it is not being added correctly.

Is there a way I can add product options, manage total product inventory (rather than variant-specific inventory), and use a single barcode for all variants of a product?

I should note that this functionality is primarily required for personalized goods in my store. I am open to using an app, a workaround, or even a custom solution. If any of you have had similar experiences or can provide guidance, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thankyou in advance for your support and assistance.

2

Hello!

I’m afraid I don’t have a solution, but have the same question. So I’m following along in hopes that we both can find the answers we need. I also have personalized or custom products and am looking for a way to set the quantity regardless of the option the customer picks.