Before buyers can check a merchandise item’s availability, choose whether Rhythm tracks stock for that item and how it counts stock. You set this on the merchandise item form, alongside the item’s name, price, and other details. For help with the rest of that form, see Merchandise Items: Create, Edit, and Find.
Where to Find It
Open a merchandise item for editing from Orders & Inventory › Merchandise, select a result’s name, and then select Edit Merchandise. To create a new item, select Create Merchandise. Scroll to the Inventory Tracking card.
Turn On Stock Tracking
- Open the item’s
Inventory Trackingcard. - Turn the card’s switch to
Enabled. - Choose
Track Inventory By:. SelectProductto count stock once for the whole item, orSkuto count stock separately for each version, such as size or color. - If you chose
Sku, make sure the item has at least one variant option and variant defined. See Merchandise Items: Create, Edit, and Find. Rhythm refuses the save otherwise. - Optionally enter a
Reorder Point:and decide whether to leaveAllow backorders?ticked. - Select
Save Changes.
Result
After you save, orders can check the item’s availability against recorded stock. The item’s record page also gains an Inventories tab that shows its stock records.
The Settings
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inventory tracking switch | Enabled / Disabled | Disabled | Controls whether orders check and commit against recorded stock for this item. |
Track Inventory By: | Product or Sku | Product | Counts stock once for the whole item, or separately for each variant (SKU). Tracking by SKU requires at least one variant. |
Reorder Point: | A whole number | Empty | Records the stock level where the item should be reordered. |
Allow backorders? | On or off | On, for a new item | Controls whether buyers can order the item after its tracked stock is exhausted. This setting matters only when tracking is on. |
Tip
You can sell an item in different versions, such as size or color, without tracking stock for each version. Those choices personalize the order, and they affect stock counts only when you track inventory by SKU. See Merchandise Items: Create, Edit, and Find if buyers only need to pick a version and you do not need to track each version’s stock separately.
Warning
An item tracked by SKU cannot be used as a bundled product, such as inside a membership package. Rhythm cannot determine which variant to ship when a SKU-tracked item is part of a bundle. If you need to bundle the item, track it by product or do not track inventory for it.
The per-unit cost you enter when you add inventory for an item is separate from the COGS expense account in the item’s Financial Setup. The unit cost is entered with the stock itself, while the COGS expense account is chosen under Merchandise Options › Modify Financial Configuration. When you enable inventory tracking on an item, you may also need to assign that item’s cost-of-goods-sold and other inventory-related general ledger accounts there before related batches can post at month-end close.
Once Stock Is Held, These Settings Lock
After a stock record exists for the item, these settings lock. A stock record exists once stock has been received or adjusted for the item at least once.
| You cannot | Because |
|---|---|
| Switch inventory tracking off | Rhythm refuses the save: Cannot change inventory status once inventories exist. |
Change Track Inventory By: between Product and Sku | Rhythm refuses the save: Cannot change inventory tracking method once inventories exist. |
| Remove or rename a variant (SKU) that has stock recorded against it | Rhythm refuses the save: You cannot delete SKU '[sku]' because it has inventories attached to it. Make it unpurchaseable instead. Renaming a SKU is treated the same as removing it because the comparison is exact. |
| Edit the item’s unit cost | Once inventory has been added for the item, the unit cost entered with that stock cannot be adjusted afterward. |
Warning
If you need to stop selling a SKU that already holds stock, tick that variant’s Not available for purchase checkbox instead of removing it. Rhythm refuses the save if you remove or rename a SKU after it has stock.
Deleting the entire item is the only way around this lock, and it removes the item’s stock records along with it.
Related
- Merchandise Items: Create, Edit, and Find: the rest of the item form, including variants and versions.
- Merchandise Categories and Shared Options: categories and version or personalization questions you can reuse across items.
- Adjust and Transfer Stock: recording the stock movements that create the lock described above.
- View Stock Levels and Movement History: reviewing an item’s recorded stock.