Scott I hope you are at home yelling at your screen like me. These responses are so hollow and dont lead anywhere. It’s really frustrating how simple this can be solved but everything responding seems like ai.
Topic summary
A merchant wants to display t-shirt designs as individual products while having all designs pull from a shared inventory of blank shirts by size and color. This would allow production on-demand without updating inventory across multiple product listings.
Core Challenge:
- Shopify’s native system tracks inventory per variant, not across multiple products
- Displaying blank shirts as main products is less appealing than showing designs
- Risk of overselling shared inventory when multiple designs use the same blank shirts
Proposed Solutions:
Bundling Apps: Several users suggest treating designs as bundles that consume blank shirt inventory. Apps mentioned include Bundle Up, Fusion Inventory, and Variants Shared Inventory.
Disable Inventory Tracking: Turn off tracking and fulfill based on orders received, though this doesn’t prevent overselling.
Custom Development: Build a custom app to handle shared inventory across products.
Community Frustration:
- Multiple users express this should be a native Shopify feature, not requiring paid third-party apps
- Concerns about app costs ($30-150+/month), site performance impact, and API latency (14-28 seconds for inventory updates)
- One merchant notes this is critical for time-sensitive sales of limited materials
Status: Discussion remains open with various app recommendations but no consensus on an ideal solution. Many participants seek alternatives to paid apps.
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