Inventory Management
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      2. Inventory Management

      How to Reserve Inventory

      Reserved Inventory refers to the count of inventory that is flagged "reserved" if you try to create an order on ShipHero. It is often used in preparation for a flash sale, or to withhold inventory for potential returns or exchanges.

      How to Reserve Inventory

      • Open the products dashboard: https://app.shiphero.com/dashboard/products
      • Choose the product that you would like to reserve inventory for.
      • On the detail box, click the edit pencil icon:

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      • Update the Reserve quantity and then click Update:

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      Determining Available Units

      Reserved inventory is NOT taken into consideration when calculating the Available units within ShipHero. Available units are calculated in the app as follows:

      • On Hand - Allocated - Backorder + Sell Ahead = Available Units

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      In the example above, we indicate 96 units available because 4 units are allocated for orders (meaning not available for use).

      Reserved inventory IS taken into consideration when calculating Available units for your Sales Channel. Available units are calculated for your sales channel as follows:

      • On Hand - Allocated - Backorder + Sell Ahead - Reserved = Available Units

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      In the example above, we indicate 90 units available because 4 units are allocated for orders and 6 units are reserved (meaning not available for use). 

      Inventory Terms

      • On Hand: The total number of units physically in the warehouse.  On Hand is NOT what is published to your sales channel as available for sale.
      • Allocated: The number of units that have already been put aside for open orders pending fulfillment.
      • Reserve: The number of units that you do not want to sell in your Sales Channel (units to be reserved for returns or a flash sale).
      • Available: The number of units pushed to your Sales Channel and available for purchase by customers. Calculated as On Hand - Allocated - Backorder + Sell Ahead - Reserve.
      • Backorder: The number of units owed to customers for open orders that do not have stock in the warehouse.
      • Sell Ahead: The number of units coming in on a Purchase Order that should be included as Available on your Sales Channel, even though you have not yet received the inventory in the warehouse.
      Note: Reserved inventory is not taken into consideration when placing manual orders.  Reserved inventory is only taken into consideration when pushing the number of available items to your Sales Channel. Using a negative number in Reserved Inventory will increase the number of units available in the sales channel.