Cannot de-stock item from location because of unfulfilled order and cannot fulfil the order

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

Merchants are encountering an error preventing them from unstocking items from specific locations due to “committed inventory” tied to unfulfilled or cancelled orders. The system blocks destocking even when orders are old (60+ days) or cancelled, creating frustration.

Root Cause:
Inventory remains committed to a location when assigned to an order, regardless of order status (cancelled/archived).

Solution Steps:

  1. Locate the problematic unfulfilled order(s)
  2. Unarchive if the order is closed/archived
  3. Either fulfill the line item OR change the item’s location via the fulfillment box (3 dots menu)
  4. Re-archive the order after completion

Bulk Processing:
No native bulk solution exists. Partial automation possible using apps like Order Automator for steps 4-6 (auto-fulfill rules with batch processing). Steps 1-2 may require manual filtering by order tags, though this remains untested.

Multiple users report this as an ongoing issue, particularly for merchants with large SKU counts or those using fulfillment services like ShipBob.

Summarized with AI on October 29. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

Hi there! I have placed a test order with a new product, that is now stuck and cancelled and unfulfilled. I would like to stock this item at only one of my two locations, but cannot do it, because of the error:

Can’t unstock from this location because it has unfulfilled orders.

When i go to the unfulfilled orders, i cannot fulfil them with any methods available on the forum.

Does that mean I will never be able to de-stock this item?

2

I have the same issue. and the order that’s blocking this is canceled and older than 60 days so I’m quite frustrated because it seems like I’m just stuck. Any suggestions anyone?

3

BUMP

Same here!

4

I came across this after searching Shopify’s error message in Google: “Can’t unstock from this location because it has committed inventory”

And figured out the solution. Sharing here in case someone in the future finds this the same way I did.

  1. Find the order(s) that has that product unfulfilled

  2. If the order is archived (closed), click More actions button and Unarchive

  3. Now you can edit the order

  4. Fulfill the line item, then archive the order

  5. If you can’t do step 4, then click the 3 dots in the fulfillment box and select Change Location

  6. Change locations of the item, then repeat step 4

Committed inventory just means it’s assigned to that location in an order, and you have to either re-assign the location or fulfill the item to clear that committed inventory.

Hope that helps someone.

1 Like
5

@JoesIdeas thank you for this! Can you unstock in bulk? I work at ShipBob and we consistently see this issue for merchants and a bulk way to do this would be so helpful for those who have thousands of skus or variants. ALSO, we frequently will direct them to Shopify support for help with unstocking inventory from old or archived orders.

6

Woo ShipBob is great! (I used it in the past when I owned an eCommerce store).

I don’t know of a way to bulk action this. Parts of it yes (steps 4-6 can be done in bulk by Order Automator by creating auto fulfill rules and running a batch process).

Step 1 and 2 I’m not sure how to automate or handle in bulk. Maybe by using order tags to identify these orders, then filter all those orders and make a bulk action. Untested though just a guess on this part.