By default EZ Importer does not reduce product inventory. If you do want to have your inventory reduced during import we have a configuration option in the data mapping. If you are running tests or notice any errors in your import and you want to delete your import, you WILL have to add the inventory back by hand. EZ Importer WILL NOT add inventory back when deleting an import.

To "turn" this feature on, simply click the Reduce Inventory Ignore Policy or Reduce Inventory Obey Policy checkbox in the Reduce Inventory Options section.

 

Once you have this option checked, save the data mapping and your imports will have inventory reduced if you have the product properly "linked".

Linking Your Product

When you have the Reduce inventory feature turned on you'll need to make sure you have the product "linked" during import. You can do this by using our Link product by SKU feature or you can map the products product id and variant id. You can read more about it here.

Reduce Inventory Ignore Policy

When you enable the Reduce inventory feature by clicking the Reduce Inventory Ignore Policy checkbox, EZ Importer will reduce a products inventory no matter what the policy on the Product. This means if your Product has 0 items in stock, EZ Importer will still decrement the inventory on Import. We do this to try and keep things simple and to ensure orders do not fail if there is none left in stock. Remember, EZ Importer is a tool used to manage orders NOT inventory. If you are looking for a more comprehensive inventory management tool you may find our companion app, EZ Inventory is better suited for your needs.

Reduce Inventory Obey Policy

When you enable the Reduce Inventory feature by clicking the Reduce Inventory Obey Policy checkbox, EZ Importer will reduce a products inventory only if it's within the policy of the Product. If you do not have the Allow customers to purchase this product when it's out of stock checkbox enabled in Shopify and you try to do an import with a product that has 0 items in stock you'll get an error from Shopify during import.

This means any orders that have a single line item that does not have it's inventory in stock will fail. This is all handled by Shopify's inventory management system and orders with line items that are out of stock can NOT be imported. If you want the order to import and ignore the policy you will have to edit the data mapping and re-import your order.

Which Location Is My Inventory Reduced From

EZ Importer uses the Shopify Order API to help reduce your products inventory, meaning Shopify will actually do the job of reducing your products inventory instead of EZ Importer.  This means Shopify will determine if the product can or can not be reduced and it ensures the policy is obeyed if you are using this option.  

If you have multiple locations stocking your products, Shopify will use the Fulfillment Priority list to determine which location to reduce inventory from.  This list can be found in your Shopify admin under Settings->Locations.  Once you click on the Locations section of the Shopify admin scroll to the bottom of the page where you will see the Fulfillment Priority. 

Shopify will start at the top of the list and make it's way down when determine where to reduce inventory from.  If one of the locations is out of stock, Shopify will move to the next location in the list and check if any inventory is in stock, if so it'll remove the inventory.  

Deleting Order

EZ Importer allows you to delete orders that you've imported. If you have the reduce inventory feature turned on during your import, EZ Importer will NOT add inventory back to your product. This means you'll need to manually add back any inventory that was removed during the import.

We understand this isn't ideal and it's something we are working on. When this feature comes out of Beta, deleting your orders will add inventory back.

You can tell if an import has the Reduce inventory feature turned on by looking at an imports "Review Import" page.

As you can see there is a Reduce Inventory field displayed in the Order Import Details section. This will tell you if your import had the reduce inventory feature turned on.

Remember to manually add inventory back to your products if you deleted an import that had the Reduce inventory feature turned on.

Large Imports

We do NOT recommend you have this feature turned on for large imports. This feature was designed for customers who are doing smaller daily imports. If you are doing a large import we recommend you do your import and then update the inventory manually.

If you're looking to manage your inventory we recommend you use an inventory management app like EZ Inventory.

If you have any other questions or concerns about managing your product inventory during an import please don't hesitate to let us know.