customer can purchase more items in my inventory than what is there. How do I stop this?

[Onwards]

I run an online gallery that sells 1 original artwork from several artists.

In square, customers can ourchase multiple amounts of this 1 item. How do I make this one item, once sold, state out of stock or stop multiple orders?

[Laurie_]

Hi there @Onwards,

I'd be happy to help with this!

To prevent customers from over-buying your stock, you can enable stock tracking and ensure you enter only the amount of stock that is on offer. Once the item is sold out, your Square Online site will update to automatically include a sold out message for that item.

You can enable the option to manage stock in Square Online for new and existing items by following the below steps:

1. From your Square Online Overview page, go to Items > Site Items.
2. Select an existing item or select Create new item.
3. Under Options, select a button under the Stock column for the specific variation you’d like to manage stock for.
4. In the pop-up window, toggle on Track stock.
5. If you have stock history enabled, Select a restocking preference to update.
6. Enter a number to manage the stock and select Update Stock.
7. Finish all other edits to the item and select Save when finished.

Any changes to stock in Square Online will sync to your Square Item Library (and vice versa). You can learn more about how to manage stock in Square Online here. 

If anything else comes up, don't hesitate to reach out to us!

[Onwards]

Hi Laurie,

This still does not stop additional purchases using the Square app.

Even though it indicates 'sold out' or 'out of stock', multiple purchases can still be made. 

How do you prevent this from happening?

Brett

[Laurie_]

Hi @Onwards,

If you're selling the item in person through the Square app, you can add it to a sale, even if it's sold out online.

However, when stock tracking is enabled, and you hit 0 stock, a red 'Sold out' message will pop up next to the item in your app. Occasionally, in-person stock levels might differ from what's recorded. For instance, a customer might find one more unit in-store than what you had recorded. In such cases, you should be able to override the available stock limits and complete the sale. That's why the ability to override available stock is a featured option in the app only.

I hope this helps to provide some more context around the ability to sell out of stock items via your Square app.