Product stock level troubleshooting

Learn how to investigate and fix common stock level issues in Craftybase.


Noticed your stock levels don't match what's on the shelf? Here's how to track down the source of the discrepancy and get your numbers back on track.

Stock levels in Craftybase are calculated from your complete history of manufactures, orders, adjustments, and stocktakes. When something looks off, the fix usually involves tracing back to a missing or incorrect entry.

In this article:

My available stock is showing as negative

A negative available stock means more units have been sold or committed than have been manufactured or added to your account.

Important: Craftybase allows negative stock — it won't block orders or manufactures. A negative number is a signal that something needs attention, not a system error.

  1. Check your order history — go to the product's page and review the Orders tab. If orders have been pulled from an integration, each one reduces your available stock. More orders than manufactures will push your stock negative.
  2. Check your manufacture history — open the Manufactures tab on the product page. Each completed manufacture adds to your stock. If you haven't recorded manufactures for past production, your stock won't reflect what you've actually made.
  3. Check for a starting inventory entry — if you had existing stock when you started using Craftybase, you need a starting inventory entry to account for it. Go to the product's Inventory tab and look for a "Starting" entry. If there isn't one, add an inventory adjustment to set your opening balance.

Tip: The quickest fix for a negative stock level is to add a stock adjustment that brings your available quantity back to what you actually have on the shelf. Then, going forward, record manufactures as you produce.


Stock is zero or negative after connecting an integration

When you first connect an integration, Craftybase pulls your orders but needs to know what stock you had before connecting.

  1. Check if starting inventory was set — during account creation, the "Set Your Starting Inventory" step lets you import stock levels from a connected channel. If you did this and stock still looks wrong, the channel quantities may have been inaccurate at the time. Run a stocktake to correct.
  2. If you set inventory manually (or connected the integration after account creation) — you'll need to add a starting inventory adjustment for each product to account for stock you had before connecting.

This is only needed when you first connect. Going forward, Craftybase tracks stock automatically from your order pulls and manufactures.


Stock doesn't match what's physically on the shelf

If your Craftybase stock level doesn't match your physical count, the discrepancy is usually caused by an unrecorded event — a manufacture, sale, adjustment, or breakage that wasn't entered.

  1. Run a stocktake — a stocktake compares your physical count against the system count and automatically creates adjustment entries to correct the difference. This is the recommended way to fix stock discrepancies.
  2. Review recent activity — check the product's inventory history for anything unexpected: duplicate orders, missing manufactures, or incorrect adjustments.
  3. Check for unshipped orders — orders that haven't been marked as shipped still reduce your "available" stock (they're committed). If an order was cancelled but not removed in Craftybase, it will still hold stock.

For a thorough guide to physical inventory counting, see: About stocktakes


Stock didn't change after completing a manufacture

Stock only updates when a manufacture is marked as completed. If your stock didn't change, the manufacture may still be in progress.

  1. Check the manufacture status — go to your Manufactures page and confirm the manufacture shows as "Completed". Manufactures with a status of "Not started" or "In progress" do not affect stock levels.
  2. Check the product is correct — confirm the manufacture is linked to the right product or variation. If you have variations, stock is tracked per variation — a manufacture for "Large / Blue" won't affect "Small / Red".
  3. Check the batch quantity — the stock increase equals the manufacture's actual quantity. If this was set to zero or left blank, no stock will be added.

Stock levels are wrong after a CSV import

If stock levels look incorrect after a CSV import (orders, manufactures, or adjustments), the issue is usually in the imported data.

  1. Check for duplicate imports — if you imported the same CSV twice, quantities will be doubled. Review your import history and delete duplicate entries if needed.
  2. Check the quantity column — confirm the quantities in your CSV are correct. A common mistake is importing negative quantities when positive ones were intended (or vice versa).
  3. Check the date column — stock is calculated chronologically. If imported entries have incorrect dates, they may affect stock calculations for the wrong time period.
  4. Run a stocktake — if the data is too messy to untangle, a stocktake will reset your stock to match your physical count.

Need Help?

Still having trouble with your stock levels? Get in touch and we'll be happy to help you investigate.

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