How can I effectively log free products and adjust inventory quantities?

Shopify Discussion
1

What is the best system or to log products as gifts or discounts so it gets deducted in inventory?

Also,

When I was setting up my store before I got a product I had a total quantity of products but the varients differed in sizes for sweaters. During products, it came out to be a little bit less. How can I make the adjustment to the quantities so it updates and does not interpret it as a new inventory?

Thanks in advance.

2

Hi, @MPFuli .

Julie here from Shopify Support. Great question!

The easiest way to keep track of a product that has been gifted would be to create a draft order and mark it as “paid”. Draft orders give you the ability to manually create orders, apply discounts to particular items, and accept payments if necessary. In this case, here’s what you’ll need to do:

  1. Create a draft order by selecting Orders > Create order.
  2. Add the “free” product to the order by either entering the name of the product or clicking Browse products. You will also have the option to Add custom item if the product does not exist in your admin.
  3. Optional: If you need to ship the product to a customer, enter the customer’s details in the Customer field.
  4. Apply a discount to the product by selecting Price next to the product’s name. Alternatively, you can select Add discount to apply a discount to the entire order. If the product is free, then you will want to enter 100% in the discount field. (Note: When you change the product price or apply a discount to the order, you will see an option to enter a reason for the discount in the Reason text box. This will help you keep track of which products were gifted/discounted and why).
  5. Select Mark as paid once the order total is correct. If you’re giving away a free product, the total should be $0.
  6. Select Mark as fulfilled. This will update your inventory levels.
  7. Use the Timeline section to enter a note explaining why the item was gifted.
  8. Optional: Enter a tag in the Tag field, located at the bottom right corner. Order tags allow you to filter your orders by tag, making it easy to organize and locate specific orders. The tag you enter will depend on why the product was gifted, but some examples of common order tags include “Gifted”, “Contest Prize”, or “Warranty Replacement”.

Once completed, your draft order should look something like this:

20-12-e4wdf-xuahf
20-12-e4wdf-xuahf1524Ă—1612 279 KB

Now, let’s move on to your second question!

The way that you can update the quantity for a single product depends on whether the product has variants. We have a help doc that explains how you can change the inventory quantity for one product, with different steps outlined for products with variants and products without variants.

If you need to change inventory quantities for multiple products or variants, then you can do so using the Bulk Editor.

Another option is to adjust the inventory quantities through the Inventory page in Products > Inventory. More information on how to view and adjust inventory in this area of the admin can be found here.

I hope this helps, but let me know if you require any further clarification! I’m also curious about the products you’re logging as free or discounted. Are you giving away products as part of a promotion or contest?

2 Likes
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Thanks!

1 Like
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Hey @Julie ,

Before I move forward to editing the inventory I want to make sure I am not going to mess the units already sold.

The situation is that I was expecting 150 units and updated the store according to what I was expecting, however it came out to be less and before getting the products in hand I had already pre-sold some. I am worried that if I make the changes to the inventory its going to mess up the inventory for what I started with.

Can you advice the best way to approach this.

Thank you.

5

Thanks for following up, @MPFuli !

When updating your inventory numbers, the inventory number that you enter should reflect current stock. For example, if you physically have 100 t-shirts available to sell at this moment, then you should ensure that the inventory quantity for that particular t-shirt is currently at 100. As long as you have enabled inventory tracking, quantities will automatically adjust after any sales you make moving forward.

If you previously didn’t have inventory tracking enabled, then your inventory levels likely didn’t change whenever a customer placed an order. If this is the case, then just make sure that you don’t count those when updating your inventory, otherwise you may run the risk of overselling.

Ultimately, you’ll just need to make sure that the quantities you enter right now match exactly what you physically have in stock (excluding any open orders that you haven’t yet fulfilled).

Let me know if that makes sense!

6

HI Julie,
I have a follow-up question regarding gifting inventory. If I do what you suggested above, won’t that show $24.99 in discounts and skew my discount numbers in Shopify? Is there a way to send gifts to influencers without it showing up in the discount line?
Thanks.