How to enable or disable automatic back in stock alerts in STOQ
STOQ can automatically notify customers when a product they signed up for is back in stock. This is controlled by the Send Automatic Notification toggle in the Notifications tab. When enabled, STOQ monitors your inventory and sends alerts as soon as a product is restocked. When disabled, no automatic alerts are sent, but you can still send notifications manually from the Reports page.
Why Enable Automatic Alerts
Automatic back in stock alerts save you time and keep your customers informed without any manual effort.
- Hands-off notifications. STOQ monitors your inventory in real time. When you restock a product in Shopify, alerts go out automatically to every customer who signed up.
- Faster response. Customers are notified within minutes of a restock, giving them the best chance to purchase before the product sells out again.
- Higher conversions. Timely alerts catch customers while demand is still high. The sooner they know, the more likely they are to buy.
- Supports the full notification sequence. Automatic alerts trigger follow-up reminder notifications (if enabled), creating a multi-touch sequence that drives more sales.
Why Disable Automatic Alerts
There are situations where you may want to turn off automatic alerts and send notifications manually instead.
- Inventory transfers. If you are moving stock between locations or warehouses, you may not want alerts going out during the transfer.
- Gradual restocking. If you restock in small batches over several days, you may prefer to wait until all inventory is in before notifying customers.
- Quality checks. If newly received inventory needs inspection or processing before it is ready for sale, you can delay alerts until you are confident the stock is available.
- Planned launches. If you want to control the exact timing of when customers are notified (e.g., coordinating with a marketing campaign), disabling automatic alerts lets you send notifications on your schedule.
- Seasonal pauses. During periods when your store is closed or fulfillment is paused, disabling alerts prevents customers from purchasing when you cannot ship.
Prerequisites
Before enabling or disabling automatic alerts, make sure the following are in place.
- The STOQ app is installed and active on your Shopify store.
- You have at least one product with customer signups for back in stock notifications.
How to Enable Automatic Back in Stock Alerts
Follow these steps to turn on automatic notifications.
- Open the STOQ app from your Shopify admin.
- Click Back in stock alerts in the left menu bar.
- Click the Notifications tab.
- Click the Signup Widget tab.
- Enable the widget.
How to Disable Automatic Back in Stock Alerts
Follow these steps to turn off automatic notifications.
- Open the STOQ app from your Shopify admin.
- Click Back in stock alerts in the left menu bar.
- Click the Notifications tab.
- Click the Signup Widget tab.
- Disable the widget.
The toggle saves immediately. STOQ will stop monitoring inventory changes and will not send any automatic alerts when products are restocked.
What Happens When Automatic Alerts Are Disabled
When you disable automatic back in stock alerts, the following changes take effect.
- No automatic emails or SMS. Customers will not receive any automatic back in stock notifications when you restock products in Shopify.
- No automatic reminder notifications. Since the initial alert is not sent, follow-up reminders in your notification sequence will not be triggered by new restocks either.
- Customer signups are preserved. Disabling alerts does not delete or remove any existing customer signups. Customers remain on the waiting list.
- Manual sends still work. You can still send notifications manually from the Reports page at any time, regardless of whether automatic alerts are on or off.
- Settings are preserved. Your minimum restock quantity, email templates, SMS templates, and all other notification settings remain unchanged. They will be used again when you re-enable automatic alerts.
Important: Disabling automatic alerts does not affect preorder notifications. Preorder notifications are managed separately.
How to Send Notifications Manually
When automatic alerts are disabled, you can send notifications manually from the Reports page.
- In the STOQ app, click Reports in the left menu bar.
- Click the Back in stock tab.
- Find the product or variant you want to notify customers about.
- Click on the product to view its signup list.
- Use the Send notification option to notify individual customers, or use the Send all button to notify all pending signups at once.
How Automatic Alerts Work Behind the Scenes
Understanding how STOQ monitors your inventory helps you make the most of automatic alerts.
- When you enable automatic alerts, STOQ registers an inventory webhook with Shopify to listen for stock level changes.
- When you restock a product in Shopify (e.g., increase inventory quantity), Shopify sends an inventory update to STOQ.
- STOQ checks several conditions before sending alerts:
- The restocked quantity meets or exceeds the Minimum restock quantity threshold.
- The product is active and published to your online store.
- The inventory location is allowed (if location-based alerts are enabled).
- There are pending customer signups for this product.
- If all conditions are met, STOQ sends email and/or SMS notifications to customers who signed up.
- If you have reminder notifications enabled, STOQ schedules follow-up reminders based on your configured wait time.
Known Limitations
Keep these points in mind when enabling or disabling automatic alerts.
- The toggle applies globally to all back in stock products. You cannot enable automatic alerts for some products and disable them for others.
- Disabling automatic alerts does not cancel notifications that are already in progress or queued. If alerts were triggered just before you disabled the toggle, they may still be delivered.
- Reminder notifications depend on the initial automatic alert being sent. If automatic alerts are off, reminders for new restocks will not be triggered. However, reminders for previously sent alerts may still be delivered on schedule.
- The toggle does not affect preorder notifications. Preorder alerts are managed in a separate section.
- Manual sends from the Reports page are always available and are not affected by this toggle.
- When you re-enable automatic alerts, only future restocks will trigger notifications. Products that were restocked while alerts were disabled will not retroactively send alerts.
Troubleshooting
If automatic alerts are not working as expected, use this table to find a fix.
Symptom | Likely Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
Alerts not being sent after restocking | Automatic alerts are toggled off | Go to Back in stock alerts > Notifications and toggle Send Automatic Notification on |
Alerts not being sent even though toggle is on | Restocked quantity is below the minimum threshold | Check the Minimum restock quantity field and lower the value, or restock more units |
Alerts sent for a product you did not expect | Product was restocked (even by a return or inventory adjustment) | Set a higher Minimum restock quantity to avoid alerts from small inventory changes |
Reminder notifications not being sent | Automatic alerts are disabled, so the initial alert never triggered | Enable automatic alerts or send the initial notification manually first |
Toggle does not save | Network or session error | Refresh the page and try again. If the issue persists, contact support |
Customers still signed up after disabling | Disabling alerts does not remove signups | This is expected. Signups are preserved so you can re-enable alerts or send manually later |
FAQs
Q: Does disabling automatic alerts delete customer signups?
A: No. Disabling automatic alerts only stops new notifications from being sent. All existing customer signups are preserved. You can re-enable alerts at any time, and signups will be notified on the next restock.
Q: Can I send notifications manually when automatic alerts are off?
A: Yes. You can always send notifications manually from the Reports page, regardless of whether automatic alerts are enabled or disabled. Manual sends also bypass the minimum restock quantity threshold.
Q: Does this setting affect preorder notifications?
A: No. The Send Automatic Notification toggle only controls back in stock alert notifications. Preorder notifications are managed separately in the Preorders section.
Q: Will customers be notified for restocks that happened while alerts were off?
A: No. When you re-enable automatic alerts, only future restocks will trigger notifications. Products that were restocked while alerts were disabled will not retroactively send alerts. You can send those notifications manually from the Reports page.
Q: Do I need a paid plan to use automatic alerts?
A: No. The automatic alerts toggle is available on all STOQ plans, including the free plan.
Q: What happens to reminder notifications when I disable automatic alerts?
A: Reminder notifications for new restocks will not be triggered because the initial automatic alert is never sent. However, reminders that were already scheduled from previously sent alerts may still be delivered on their normal schedule.
Q: Is there a way to enable automatic alerts for specific products only?
A: No. The automatic alerts toggle is a global setting that applies to all products. You cannot enable or disable it per product. To control which products receive alerts, you can exclude specific variants from the STOQ dashboard.
Q: How quickly are automatic alerts sent after a restock?
A: Automatic alerts are typically sent within a few minutes of a restock event being detected. The exact timing depends on when Shopify sends the inventory update webhook to STOQ.
Updated on: 03/03/2026
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