Thank you for the reply and suggestion. Allowing things to be oversold would likely create issues for us that might not be worth the benefit, but it’s good to know there is a potential work around. Ideally Shopify would change this so that a location could simply be listed as a pick up location and not tied to inventory at all.
Topic summary
Core issue: Merchants want to offer local pick up at third‑party or event locations without tying those locations to inventory. Shopify’s current local pickup requires inventory at each pickup location, which breaks workflows when all stock is managed at a single main location.
Key pain points:
- Using a “free flat rate” shipping workaround surfaces it first at checkout, causing customers to mistakenly select it. Merchants also lose targeted “ready for pickup” notifications.
- Workaround suggested: mark products available at all locations, set inventory to zero at pickup sites, and enable “keep selling when out of stock.” This opens pickup options but risks overselling and is unmanageable with large SKU counts.
- Additional complications: fee apps create products only at the default location, limiting pickup/delivery availability; cannot change pickup location after order, causing incorrect automated messages; split orders across locations inflate shipping costs; creating temporary event locations triggers inventory transfers and tax registration prompts.
Current status: Multiple merchants report abandoned carts and manual follow‑ups. No official solution or timeline; issue has persisted for years. Merchants request pickup‑only locations decoupled from inventory, with proper notifications.