Remove damaged stock from inventory in Shopify
Damaged stock has to leave the sellable count, or the admin will keep promising shirts that cannot be sold. This tutorial removes 6 damaged Trail Crew Tees from the Main Street store, taking the stock from 42 to 36 units.
Written · Shopify admin, desktop steps · 5 minutes read
The worked example
| Product | Trail Crew Tee, Medium Blue |
| Location | Main Street store |
| Stock before | 42 units |
| Damaged units | 6 units |
| Stock after | 36 units |
| Destination | Inventory removal |
Download the record: trail-crew-tee-damage-record.csv (133 bytes).
A damage record for the Trail Crew Tee: stock before, units written off, and stock after.
1Open the Inventory page
From your Shopify admin, go to Products, then Inventory. Pick the Main Street store from the location picker.
2Click the quantity to change
In the Available or On hand column, click the quantity for the Medium Blue variant, which reads 42.
3Switch to Adjust by
Click the Set to drop-down menu, then click Adjust by. Enter 6 as the quantity to remove.
4Set the origin and destination
Select the Main Street store as the origin and Inventory removal as the destination. The origin is where the stock sits now, and the destination records that it left the stock for good.
5Add a reason
Click Add reason and select Damaged. The reason is saved with the adjustment, so the write-off is explained in the history instead of looking like a counting error.
6Stage it, then save
Click the check icon to stage the adjustment, review the pending change, then click Save. The stock reads 36, and the 6 damaged units are on the record as removed.
The arithmetic
The new total is a straight subtraction:
| Figure | Units |
|---|---|
| Stock before | 42 |
| Damaged units removed | 6 |
| Stock after | 36 |
42 units minus 6 damaged units is 36 units. The destination on the record is Inventory removal, so the history shows the units left the stock as damaged goods.
Held at the counter
Damaged stock is not the same as a count gap. A count gap is fixed with Set to after a recount. Damaged units are a movement, so use Adjust by with Inventory removal as the destination, or the history will not show what happened to them.
Removing stock does not delete the product. The variant stays listed with 36 units. If the product itself is finished, archive or delete the product as a separate step; an inventory adjustment never removes a listing.
A missing reason looks like a mistake later. Without a reason, a drop of 6 units reads as a counting error when someone audits the history. Add the Damaged reason at the time, while the facts are in front of you.
Sources
- Adjusting inventory quantities — Shopify's help pages: removing damaged, lost, or expired inventory with Adjust by, Inventory removal as the destination, and the reason field.