Shopify ignoring my inventory quantity when i upload csv

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

A Shopify bookstore owner is unable to set inventory quantities when importing ~300 products via CSV. The “Variant Inventory Qty” column is being ignored during import, defaulting all quantities to 0 instead of the intended value of 1.

Root Cause:
Shopify deprecated the ability to update inventory through product CSV imports around October. Inventory quantities now require a separate inventory CSV import process.

Workarounds Mentioned:

  • Use Shopify’s dedicated inventory CSV import functionality (separate from product imports)
  • Third-party apps like “mix table” for bulk inventory management

Related Discussion:
Other booksellers discussed challenges with physical location inventory syncing and whether initial inventory can still be set during first-time product imports (question remains unanswered).

Commercial Solution Offered:
BookSell app was promoted as an alternative, offering dropshipping for 11+ million book titles to avoid manual inventory management entirely.

Status: The original poster’s urgent issue (sale starting on the 9th) requires using the separate inventory import process rather than the product CSV method.

Summarized with AI on November 2. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

Hi. I have an online bookstore here on shopify and only one physical location. I am trying to upload around a 300 books from a csv file. The quantity of each book that i have available is 1. Ive entered the same quantity in my csv and named shopify as my variant inventory tracker as well. However, whenever I import my csv in the products category, it shows my variant quantity as 0. At the time of importing, when i click “change the order of column headings” it shows that the column of Variant Inventory Qty is being ignored and I cant change that no matter what i try.

Ive been trying to fix this for hours now and each time it ignores my column. A friend of mine has a similar business to mine on shopify and she has never faced this issue. I cant possibly sit and manually increase the quantity on each product one by one.

Any help to resolve this ASAP would be greatly appreciated. I have a discount sale planned to start on the 9th and i cant possibly afford such a delay.

Thanks

2

Hi

The ability to update inventory on product csv imports was deprecated around October. You now need to use inventory csv import for quantities: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/inventory/inventory-csv

Regards

Tom

3

Hello, may I ask you a question.
I am in your position: I have an online bookstore on Shopify and only one physical location

Obviously, when I sell online, the Shopify system automatically reduces the number of books on my inventory.
When I sell books in my physical location, I have to keep a physical record of the barcode of the book which I have sold. At the end of the day, I go to my shopify inventory and manually adjust the inventory.

May I ask: at your physical location, are you able to adjust your inventory in real-time by scanning an ISBN and communicating that to your Shopify system.

I have the basic Shopify subscription.

Many thanks and best wishes, Pat McMahon at Quay Books, Limerick, Ireland.

Pat at Quay Books, Limerick, Ireand

4

When you have over 10,000 products in your store from various vendors and api’s not being able to upload inventory quantity with the initial csv file upload makes things very difficult. I am trying the mix table app. let’s see how this goes

5

May I ask if it is still possible to set the INITIAL INVENTORY quantity when using the Import products functionality to import new products for the first time? OR had this also been deprecated?

6

Hi @quay-books !

We want to make an app that will allow booksellers to sell books at physical bookstore using Shopify POS.

Did you find a solution to your problem?

Thank you.

Cristina.

7

Hi there,

I understand how frustrating this issue must be, especially with a big sale coming up. Let’s address the CSV import issue and explore a more efficient way to manage your inventory.

Fixing the CSV Import Issue

It sounds like Shopify is ignoring the “Variant Inventory Qty” column because the inventory management settings for your products may not be configured correctly. Here are a few steps you can try:

1.Check Product Inventory Settings:

Before importing the CSV, ensure the “Inventory managed by” field is set to “Shopify” for all products in the CSV file. You can do this by including a column titled Variant Inventory Tracker in your CSV and setting the value as shopify for all rows.

  1. Column Mapping:

Double-check that your CSV file matches Shopify’s template, especially for column headers. If “Variant Inventory Qty” is ignored, it’s often due to a formatting or mapping issue.

Ensure that the column headers are exactly as required (e.g., Variant Inventory Qty) without any extra spaces or characters.

  1. File Encoding:

Save your CSV in UTF-8 format to avoid compatibility issues.

  1. Re-import the File:

After making these adjustments, re-upload your file and confirm the mappings before importing.

If you still face issues, Shopify’s support team or community forum might be able to assist further.

An Easier Solution with BookSell

While fixing this issue, let me introduce you to BookSell, a Shopify app designed specifically for booksellers. With BookSell, you can:

  • Access over 11 million titles from top publishers like Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster.
  • Sell without managing inventory through our dropshipping model.
  • Avoid manual uploads altogether—BookSell integrates directly with your store, saving you hours of work.

This might be a perfect fit for your business and help streamline your operations, especially during busy times like sales events.

If you’d like to learn more, check us out at www.booksell.co

Let me know if you have any questions or need help getting started.

Best regards,

Carlos Goyco

CEO, BookSell