I have asked this before years ago, so am asking again hoping there is a fix now.
I am wanting to have the inventory set for a product rather than a variant.
I do preorders on my website for a product every week. I only accept 100 orders per week, and the product has 2 options: size (different prices per size) and style. I have unlimited resources to make any size/style combination, so I do NOT want inventory on the variants, ONLY for the main product.
I have tried to use an app but they don’t always work, are expensive, and don’t allow me to export the variants chosen which means lots more manual work.
PLEASE is there a way to do this WITHOUT AN APP? It would make my life so much easier. I have considered going back to Etsy so many times because it is a native feature there.
Hi @Momsstitchetti 
Products are a container for merchandising.
Even if there’s visibly no variants because there’s no options.
There is still ONE variant for that product under the hood, ALWAYS.
Don’t expect this fundamental separation to ever change on shopify it’s a waste of time.
It’s either only have 1 product(aka productVariant) with a set price and any size/style combo are just line item properties that do not affect price.
Or do something with 1 main item, then child items in a bundle.
Or some other scheme for the frontend.
On the backend ,or through the api ,
You could use draft orders and custom items.
Or setup a process to sync inventory among skus or some other logic ala the mechanic automation app https://tasks.mechanic.dev/?q=sync or even in shopify-flow if you can do the advanced work.
When you have specific needs that don’t mesh 1:1 with the general features it’s either invest properly or use a different tool.
I guess it’s difficult to understand why it’s not native since other merchants are able to do this. I appreciate the breakdown that you’ve given though- I’ve contacted support multiple times and have never been given these options, just am told theyll add it to the change log. Good to know that row something that likely will never change for Shopify (although disappointing).
I’m happy to invest if there’s an actual solution that will work and not still cause me more manual labor in the end, which is my issue with the apps I’ve tried. I’m currently using easify options but have tried multiple others.
Having multiple products set up isn’t user friendly for customers, especially since it’s a preorder that sells out quickly. And I need to be able to make sure only 100 units sell (I cannot accommodate more than 100 each week).
Since it’s something I do weekly, i need to be able to edit the products myself easily as well. Im unsure how I could use flows or draft orders to fix this problem but im happy to learn if you have any resources you could point me to! I’m desperate to find a way to do this that will reduce at least some of my workload
If there are no options creating different variants technically shopify already has the feature you want.
Bundles might be the crudest way, ever bundle gets a ticket, the “ticket” has limited inventory.
When it’s inventoyr is out the bundles should no longer be purchasable.
“ticket” can be any word or concept.
This moves the problem around , in shopify at least, externally it moves the problem too as it doesn’t solve inventory tracking of the actual product just some gate-token.
So again may be better off making a sync process for inventory.
For drafts see mechanic https://tasks.mechanic.dev/create-a-draft-order-from-the-cart
it can get very advanced reach out(click profile pic) if you have the budget and need services.
Or see shopify forms > metaobject entries > shopify flow → techniques to create order/draft-order as a way to do this from a contact form potentially.
Hi @Momsstitchetti
I totally get your situation — Shopify doesn’t natively support tracking inventory at the product level instead of the variant level yet.
If you ever reconsider using an app, Easify Product Options could be a lightweight solution here. It lets you create all your product options (like size and style) without tracking inventory per variant, and you can still export your selected options for orders with the paid plan. It’s quite affordable and currently on sale for BFCM, so it might be worth checking out if you’re after a simple, reliable setup that just works.
- This is a demo: The size option is from the Easify app, and it doesn’t track inventory.
I hope this answer helps solve the problem. If you need further assistance, feel free to reach out to Easify anytime! 
As I mentioned I don’t want to use an app if I can avoid it. I actually currently use easify but it causes a ton of extra manual work for me, has randomly stopped working on multiple occasions, and is overall just not ideal.
The export option was super jumbled and would require a ton of manual work for me to adjust it to actually extract what I need from it, so it wasn’t worth the extra $10 a month.
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I’m not great with some of the tech beyond basics but I’ll definitely look into this- thank you!
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