How Shopify's Fulfillable Inventory Setting Affects STOQ Preorders and Alerts
Shopify's fulfillable inventory setting controls whether products display on your online store based on stock at locations tied to the customer's market. When you sell across multiple markets — such as USA and Canada — each market can be assigned to specific fulfillment locations. This setting determines which inventory counts toward "in stock" for each market's storefront. STOQ uses this same logic to decide when to show preorder buttons and back-in-stock alerts, so understanding this setting is important for accurate storefront behaviour.
What Is Fulfillable Inventory?
Shopify's fulfillable inventory setting ensures that only stock at locations assigned to a customer's market is counted when determining product availability on your storefront.
The Problem It Solves
If you sell across multiple markets, each market is tied to specific fulfillment locations. For example:
- You have two markets: USA and Canada
- Location A is assigned to the USA market and has 5 units of a product
- Location B is assigned to the Canada market and has 0 units of the same product
Without the fulfillable inventory setting, Shopify looks at the sum total inventory across all locations. The product would show as "in stock" to Canadian customers even though Location B — the location tied to Canada — has no stock to fulfill their order.
With fulfillable inventory enabled, Shopify only counts Location B's 0 units for Canadian customers. The product correctly appears as out of stock in Canada, while US customers still see it as in stock based on Location A's 5 units.
This is a common scenario: a product shows as in stock in one market although it's supposed to be out of stock — mainly because inventory exists elsewhere. Enabling the fulfillable inventory setting solves this.
Where to Find the Setting in Shopify
- Go to Shopify Admin → Settings → Shipping and delivery.
- In the Shipping section, click the fulfillable inventory link.
Shopify's fulfillable inventory is enabled for all stores. Products display on your online store only when they are in stock at locations that deliver to the customer's shipping zone. Customers can only complete checkout for products that can be shipped to them.
FAQs
Q: What happens if I have only one location?
A: If you have a single location and it fulfills online orders, the fulfillable inventory filter has no practical effect — all your inventory is at that one location and it is already counted. The setting matters primarily for multi-location stores.
Q: Can I choose which locations STOQ counts for inventory?
A: STOQ automatically uses Shopify's "Fulfills online orders" flag on each location. You do not need to configure locations separately in STOQ. If you also use Shopify Markets and need to set up Preroders on the colelction / home page only then you would have to use STOQ's market location filtering.
Updated on: 02/07/2026
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