A user has identified a workflow issue with Shopify’s item reservation feature in draft orders. While they appreciate the ability to reserve inventory and create draft orders, the feature is currently only available on desktop—not on the Shopify Mobile App or Mobile POS App.
Key Problem:
When a reserved draft order is accessed in the POS system for checkout, items display as “sold out” even though they’re reserved for that specific order. This creates confusion for employees processing the transaction.
Proposed Solutions:
Extend the reserving items feature to mobile and POS apps for cross-platform consistency
Change the POS display to show “Reserved” instead of “Sold Out” when viewing the specific draft order containing reserved items
Keep “Sold Out” status visible in all other contexts to prevent overselling
Implement real-time inventory updates that distinguish reserved quantities from available stock
A community member acknowledged the feedback and outlined these actionable improvements for Shopify to consider.
Summarized with AI on November 3.
AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
Thank you for taking the time to read these suggestions.
I finally found a way to hold items for customers that pull inventory from online while being able to make changes to their order during checkout, and that is by creating draft orders and reserving items, a feature which is only accessible on the desktop. I do want to point out my approval of the ability for the POS to create draft orders, but I think reserving items feature should be added to the Shopify Mobile App and even the Shopify Mobile POS App. One confusing thing I noticed when using the reserving items with draft orders, is that once you go to the draft order in the POS system and go to edit and check out that draft order, it will mark the item as sold out. In one sense this is exactly what I wanted, but I find it confusing for employees if they are ringing up the exact draft order that is reserved and it says sold out. I think it should show as sold out everywhere except when checking out that specific draft order that the products are reserved for on the POS. If this is a possible change, I think it would be very helpful. Thank you for providing a service that allows for reserving items, and checking out those items on the POS App.
To address your feedback on improving the reserving items feature in draft orders, here are actionable suggestions:
1-Extend Reserving Items Feature to Mobile Apps: Shopify could add the ability to reserve items in draft orders on the Shopify Mobile App and Mobile POS App for consistency and convenience across devices.
2-Adjust Sold-Out Messaging for Reserved Items: Update the POS system to differentiate between reserved items and sold-out items. For example:
Display “Reserved” instead of “Sold Out” when accessing the specific draft order tied to the reserved items.
Maintain “Sold Out” status for other contexts to prevent confusion for employees.
3-Enable Real-Time Inventory Updates: Ensure the system automatically updates inventory visibility across channels to show reserved quantities separately from available stock.
These changes would improve workflow clarity and accessibility for businesses using draft orders and reserved items on Shopify.
If you have other questions, feel free to ask, and I will answer them as well.
Hello! Looks like it’s been about another year since this topic has been revisited… I wanted to start the dialogue once again, just to reiterate how SUPER helpful getting the “Reserve Inventory” functionality moved over into the POS app and other platforms would be. We are so close to being able to have our staff function completely within their POS, but unfortunately without this feature, we have to maintain keeping a number of other devices around the store, and otherwise it just really slows down productivity having to manage this one aspect of an order on a different app or device. Hope we can see this simple update completed soon!