I have a tshirt pressing business and like to print per order rather than stock finished product. So, I have an inventory of blanks that can be applied to any of the products I list. I make the thsirts from transfers that either I’ve made or purchased elsewhere.
When I list a product, it is a mockup of the finished product. I have no way of knowing how many will sell of each size so I am wanting to change the way I set up inventory for these products.
My questions are:
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How can I make a listing for a product (the picture of the finished product which is the blank tshirt + the transfer applied)?
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Can I have inventory of all my blanks that the one tshirt can pull from when the order is placed?
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Is there an app that does this if not something that Shopify offers?
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Is there a video tutorial that I can view on how to do this?
Thank you!
Lisa
Hi @Lisa1223 shopify has no concept of shared-inventory, inventory-pooling, parts assembly , etc.
This is roughly done with sync apps as a backend way to control this.
I generally recommend usemechanc as it’s the most flexible automation app I know of so when you need custom business logic it can be scripted.
Also they have a pay what feels good pricing policy useful for new merchants or to save costs if you need to hire someone.
See ready to go sync tasks in there task library: https://tasks.mechanic.dev/?tags=Sync
Probably this one for a simple t-shirt use case https://tasks.mechanic.dev/sync-inventory-across-a-product-type
An alternative is theme customizations where a customer may pick the initial variant&options but before checkout the items is swapped for a specific primary product that is used to control the inventory. And that primary product goes through checkout with customization details such as reference to customers picked variant.
If you need this automation setup for you then contact me by my email for services.
Contact info in forum signature.
ALWAYS please provide context, examples: store url, theme name, post url(s) , or any further detail in ALL correspondence.
Good Hunting.
Thank you so much for the fast reply!
I will take a look at mechanic in a bit - thanks for the info.
Regarding your theme modification I need more clarity…
So, for example, let’s say I have a product listed as a tshirt with a heart on it. I offer two color choices and five different sizes (based on my blank, unpressed, inventory). I also have other listings for other tshirts that will be made using the same inventory, but different designs.
Once my customer chooses the tshirt, the color and the size and places the order, what do they see? Do they see the confirmation with the product they purchased or are seeing something else?
What happens behind the scenes?
Once the order is placed, does it automatically reduce the inventory for that color, size by the amount purchased?
Where are the tshirt inventory items listed on the backend?
If this would be easier to discuss via email please let me know!
Tx,
Lisa
@PaulNewton Just wanted to make sure you saw my additional questions above 
I have this same dilemma. Did you receive an answer?