Managing inventory reservations

A reservation holds units back from sale without removing them from the recorded shelf stock. Use Inventory > Reservations to see why units are held, find the order responsible, or set units aside manually.

This guide covers reservations in detail. For the main stock table, Add versus set, location transfers, and the bulk edit modal, see Managing inventory.

Understand the three reservation sources

• Order: stock held by a placed order for units that have not shipped. These holds contribute to Committed.
• Draft order: stock held for a draft order that is reserving its items. These holds contribute to Unavailable and can have an expiry.
• Manual: stock set aside by a staff member, such as damaged units or safety stock. These holds also contribute to Unavailable.

For a stocked variant at a location, Available = On hand − Committed − Unavailable. Creating a manual reservation increases Unavailable and reduces Available by the same number. On hand stays the same.

For example, if 20 units are On hand and 5 are already Committed, 15 remain Available. Reserving 3 manually leaves 12 Available, with 3 Unavailable. This is an explanation, not an instruction to change those quantities in your store.

Open and find a reservation

1. Open Inventory and click Reservations, or open Inventory > Reservations directly.
2. Search using the product, SKU, or description.
3. Use Add filter to select Source, Reason, or Location. Source can include Order, Draft order, and Manual. Use Sort to change the Created order.
4. Open a row to inspect the item, location, quantity, details, and source.

The demo store has no reservations at review time. Select any screenshot to enlarge it. Records were not created to populate the list for this guide.

Where records exist, the columns show Product, Location, Type, Description, Created, and Quantity. Type identifies the manual reason or includes the originating order/draft number where applicable. A row is a hold on a specific item and location, rather than a total for the whole product.

From Inventory, a positive Committed or Unavailable figure can open a filtered reservation search. Committed links select Order; Unavailable links select Manual and Draft order. The search uses the SKU or product title, so also check Location when investigating stock at one warehouse.

Before creating a manual reservation

• Use an account with Products permission.
• Identify the exact product variant and location. The item must already be stocked at that location; a zero stock level is different from having no stocking record at all.
• Decide how many units need to be held and why. Use a whole quantity of at least 1.
• Review the stock preview and the existing holds. Check that the physical units are actually present before setting them aside.

The manual reasons are Damaged, Quality control, Safety stock, and Other. The reason explains a manual hold; selecting a reason does not turn it into an order or draft-order reservation.

Create a manual reservation

1. Click Create reservation.
2. In Item to reserve, use Search products and choose the required product variant. Check its variant label rather than relying on the product title alone.
3. Review Location. The form selects a stocked location, preferring the default location where available. Change it to the intended stocked location if needed.
4. Enter Quantity as a whole number of 1 or more.
5. Select the Reason and optionally add Description (Optional). Use a clear staff explanation, up to 500 characters, such as the inspection or hold reference.
6. Review Stock at each location and the projected Available figure for the chosen location.
7. Click Create only when ready to hold the stock. The reservation opens after creation; check Inventory afterward to confirm the updated figures.

This form was opened without creating a reservation. Create remains unavailable until the form has changes; all required fields still need to pass validation.

If you cannot find an item in the selector, check its product and variant setup rather than choosing a similarly named item. Location offers the selected variant's stocking locations. Select an item first and This item is not stocked at any location yet explain why a location cannot be selected.

Manual creation does not offer an expiry-date field. It remains held until staff edit or delete it. A description mentioning a date does not schedule a release.

Read the stock preview before confirming

The create form's Stock at each location block shows Title, SKU, In stock, and Available. In stock is the selected location's recorded physical quantity. Available is its current sellable quantity minus the Quantity entered in the form.

This is a local, unsaved preview. The projected figure does not become a saved reservation until Create succeeds.

An unsaved over-reservation example: 100 available minus the 103 entered leaves a projected −3. No reservation was created and the store's stock was not changed.

If the values have changed while you were preparing the form, refresh and check again before confirming. Creating a reservation changes sellable availability, not the physical count itself.

Edit a manual reservation

1. Find and open the manual reservation.
2. Check its item and the Summary, including Source, creator, and creation date where shown.
3. Change Quantity, Reason, Description, or Location as needed.
4. Click Save, then verify the stock figures. Use Discard to return to the saved values if you do not want the edits.

The product variant is locked on an existing reservation. To hold another variant, deliberately release or adjust the old hold and create a separate reservation for the correct item.

Increasing Quantity holds more units. Decreasing it releases the difference back to Available. For example, changing a manual hold from 5 to 2 releases 3 units; it does not change On hand. To release the entire hold, use Delete reservation rather than entering zero.

Changing Location releases the old location's hold and applies it at the new stocked location for the same variant. This moves the reservation only. It does not physically transfer units between warehouses; use Transfer stock from Inventory when actual available stock needs to move.

Delete a manual reservation and release units

1. Open the manual reservation and use the header actions menu.
2. Choose Delete reservation.
3. Read The units go back to available stock., then confirm the delete action.
4. Return to Inventory and check the correct location. The manual hold is removed, Unavailable falls, and Available rises by the released quantity. On hand stays unchanged.

There is no bulk-delete action on the reservation list. Review and release manual records individually. If an expired or released reservation is no longer in the list, do not recreate it unless stock really needs to be held again.

Understand order reservations and shipping

Order reservations are created by the order workflow and hold the unshipped units. Open the reservation and use the order link in Summary to investigate. A notice explains that the record belongs to an order; the reservation page does not offer manual Save or Delete actions for it.

When units ship, their hold is consumed and those units leave On hand. This is different from releasing a manual hold. For example, 20 On hand with 3 Committed leaves 17 Available. Shipping those 3 leaves 17 On hand, 0 Committed, and 17 Available; the same units do not become sellable again just because the commitment ended.

When an unshipped order is cancelled, its hold is released. Already shipped stock follows the order's return/restock workflow; simply viewing a reservation does not restock it. Partial shipments leave holds for the remaining unshipped units.

For bundle orders, stock holds apply to the component variants. Look for the component item and order reference when reconciling bundle commitments; the bundle's calculated quantity is not adjusted as an independent shelf item.

Understand draft-order reservations and expiry

Draft-order holds follow the draft's reservation setting and reserve-until date. Open the draft-order link in Summary to change the draft's hold. The reservation page is read-only for this source, and Summary can display Expires.

• If the draft is not reserving items, it does not maintain a hold.
• Changing the draft's items or reservation setting updates its holds.
• When the hold expires, it is released by periodic processing. Allow time for that processing and refresh the inventory/reservation list before assuming the stock is still held.
• When the draft becomes an order, its draft hold is released and the order workflow manages the stock commitment. Do not create a manual reservation to duplicate it.

Manual reservations do not use this automatic draft-order expiry. Check Source and Summary before expecting a record to expire or attempting to release it.

Troubleshooting