Sellable inventory = Available inventory − Safety stockCustomers only see sellable inventory at checkout, ensuring your reserves stay protected.
Why use safety stock
Prevent stockouts
Keep a buffer for walk-in customers, B2B orders, or emergency restocks
Account for shrinkage
Compensate for damaged items, theft, or inventory discrepancies
Handle demand spikes
Protect against sudden increases in order volume
Support store operations
Reserve stock for in-store displays, samples, or promotions
How to access
Safety stock is managed in Charlie → Settings → Safety stock.
Safety stock mode
When safety stock is enabled, choose how Charlie should behave when inventory reaches the safety threshold:
| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Prefer other locations | Deprioritize the location but allow overflow when needed. Orders can still be fulfilled if no other option exists. |
| Block orders | Exclude the location entirely when inventory reaches safety stock. Hard block—no orders assigned. |
Two ways to configure safety stock
Safety stock can be managed at two levels depending on your needs.1. Rules-based configuration (recommended)
Create rules in the Charlie app to apply safety stock across products, collections, and locations in bulk. Go to Charlie → Settings → Safety stock → Add rule.
Name your rule
Give the rule a descriptive name (e.g., “Holiday season buffer”, “Retail floor reserve”).
Choose reserve type
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Fixed quantity | Reserve a specific number of units (e.g., 10 units) |
| Percentage of inventory | Reserve a percentage of available stock (e.g., 5%) |
Define which products
Target products using:
- All products — applies globally
- Specific collections — select one or more collections
- Specific products — select individual products
Define which locations
Filter locations using:
- All locations
- Location type (Warehouse, Store, etc.)
- Location tags
- Specific locations
2. Product or variant overrides
For granular control, set safety stock directly on a product or a specific variant. Overrides take priority over rules. Priority: variant override → product override → rules. Go to Shopify → Products → [Product] to set a product-level override (applies to every variant), or open a specific variant for a variant-level override.
- Available — current inventory at all locations
- Safety — total safety stock reserved
- Sellable — available minus safety stock
- Fulfillable — quantity that can be assigned to orders
- Available for purchase — whether the variant can be sold
Overrides are for exceptions. For bulk configuration, use rules in the Charlie app.
Channel displays
When safety stock is enabled, you can enforce sellable inventory across your sales channels. These settings are now managed on a dedicated page. Go to Charlie → Settings → Inventory display to configure channel displays.Online store
Two features work together to protect against overselling:| Feature | What it does | Protection type |
|---|---|---|
| Cart block | Prevents checkout when cart exceeds sellable inventory | Hard protection |
| Theme integration | Shows accurate sellable stock on storefront pages | Soft protection |
Cart block
Cart block validates the cart at checkout against your sellable inventory. If a customer tries to check out with more items than are sellable, the order is blocked with an error message. To enable cart block:- Go to Charlie → Settings → Inventory display
- Under Online store, click Enable next to Cart block
- Confirm in Shopify’s checkout settings to enable the cart validation
“This item is not available in the requested quantity”The order cannot proceed until the quantity is reduced.
Theme integration
Theme integration displays accurate sellable inventory on your storefront pages. For setup instructions, see Theme integration.Point of Sale
Shows sellable stock to staff when viewing products in the POS app. This prevents store associates from selling through your safety reserves. To enable POS display, go to Charlie → Settings → Inventory display and activate the POS extension under Point of Sale.Examples
Protect retail floor stock
Protect retail floor stock
A fashion retailer wants to ensure stores always have items on display.Rule setup:
- Reserve as: Fixed quantity → 2 units
- Applies to: All products
- At locations: Location type → Store
Holiday season buffer
Holiday season buffer
An electronics retailer wants extra buffer during peak season.Rule setup:
- Reserve as: Percentage of inventory → 10%
- Applies to: Specific collections → “Holiday Bestsellers”
- At locations: All locations
Warehouse vs store strategy
Warehouse vs store strategy
A retailer wants different safety stock levels by location type.Rule 1 — Warehouses:
- Reserve as: Fixed quantity → 5 units
- At locations: Location type → Warehouse
- Reserve as: Fixed quantity → 15 units
- At locations: Location type → Store
Best practices
Start conservative
Begin with higher safety stock and reduce as you learn demand patterns
Use rules for scale
Configure safety stock via rules, not variant by variant—easier to maintain
Consider lead times
Locations with longer replenishment cycles need higher safety stock
Enable POS display
Let store staff see sellable inventory to avoid overselling reserves
Troubleshooting
Products showing out of stock when inventory exists
Products showing out of stock when inventory exists
Safety stock may be set too high, reducing sellable inventory to zero.Check: Compare safety stock to available inventory on the variant page. Reduce if sellable is zero but available is positive.
Safety stock changes not reflecting at checkout
Safety stock changes not reflecting at checkout
Changes should be immediate, but there may be a sync delay.Try: Wait 1-2 minutes for sync to complete, then refresh the checkout page.
Multiple rules applying to the same product
Multiple rules applying to the same product
When multiple rules match a product-location combination, Charlie uses the highest safety stock value.
Related
Theme Integration
Display sellable inventory on your storefront
App integrations
Wire product feeds, search, and filter apps
Metafields reference
All Charlie metafields and namespaces
Inventory Overview
How Charlie syncs inventory data