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Configure MSI backorders

Lori Krell edited this page Jul 2, 2018 · 23 revisions

New! This content is new and in-progress for MSI.


Backorders allow your store to continue selling products after the quantity reaches zero, or is effectively out of stock. When a customer order is a backorder, the funds are authorized and captured immediately, the processing status of the order does not change, and the shipping remains on-hold until stock is available. Depending on your store and sales, you may want to enable backorders globally for all products or only on specific products.

Currently, when backorders is enabled globally or for a product, the Out-of-Stock Threshold amount is ignored. The inventory quantity is considered unlimited or infinite. A negative threshold will be supported at a later time.

Products must be set to In Stock status when enabling backorders. You can set this through the Product page. For Multi Source merchants, you must have at least one source marked as In Stock.

Note: Additional features for backorders will be available in a later release.

Configure backorders globally

To support backorders for all inventory in your store:

  1. On the Admin sidebar, tap Stores. Then under Settings, choose Configuration.

  2. Select Default Config for the Store View.

  3. Tap Catalog. Then choose Catalog and Inventory.

  1. Under Product Stock Options, locate Backorders.

  2. Click off the Use Default checkbox and select an option from the drop-down menu:

    • No Backorders - Disables backorders for the entire store
    • Allow Qty Below 0 - Allows for orders when the product quantity falls below zero
    • Allow Qty Below 0 and Notify Customer - Allows for backorders and notifies the customer the order is a backorder

    Note: Backorders allow for an infinite quantity below 0, ignoring any configuration entered for Out-of-Stock Threshold. A negative threshold will be supported at a later time.

  3. Tap Save Config.

Configure backorders per product

To enable backorders strictly per product:

  1. On the Admin sidebar, tap Catalog. Then, choose Products.

  2. Select a product to edit. Scroll down the page to the Sources area.

  3. Tap Advanced Inventory. A page of product specific configurations displays. Any setting listed as global displays the current global setting for the store.

  4. Click off the Use Default checkbox and select an option from the drop-down menu:

    • No Backorders - Disables backorders for the entire store
    • Allow Qty Below 0 - Allows for orders when the product quantity falls below zero
    • Allow Qty Below 0 and Notify Customer - Allows for backorders and notifies the customer the order is a backorder
    Backorders Setting Enabled

    Note: Backorders allow for an infinite quantity below 0, ignoring any configuration entered for Out-of-Stock Threshold. A negative threshold will be supported at a later time.

  1. When done, tap Done then tap Save for the product.

MSI Documentation:

  1. Technical Vision. Catalog Inventory
  2. Installation Guide
  3. List of Inventory APIs and their legacy analogs
  4. MSI Roadmap
  5. Known Issues in Order Lifecycle
  6. MSI User Guide
  7. DevDocs Documentation
  8. User Stories
  9. User Scenarios:
  10. Technical Designs:
  11. Admin UI
  12. MFTF Extension Tests
  13. Weekly MSI Demos
  14. Tutorials

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