How do you prevent overselling on marketplaces and in your webshop?

Why does overselling happen?

There are three usual causes. Almost every case you run into is one of them, or a mix.

• Delay. You sell the last pieces in your webshop, but the marketplace still shows the old quantity until the next sync. The longer the interval, the bigger the gap.
• Several channels with their own stock. If your webshop, bol and a second marketplace each keep their own number, the sum is never right. Everyone sells from the same shelf.
• Returns, reservations and corrections. A warehouse count, a damaged item or an order that is not paid yet: stock changes without any channel noticing.

That is why syncing faster alone does not solve it. You also need one place where stock is truly maintained.

The measures, from basics to fine tuning

1. One stock source. Pick the system that is the truth (your WMS, POS, supplier or a central tool) and let every channel read from it. Never type stock into a marketplace by hand.
2. Deduct on order. As soon as an order arrives, stock goes down and the new number goes to every channel. Waiting for the next round is too late.
3. A short sync interval. For channels that do not push orders, a short interval is the only cover you have. See also syncing stock across channels.
4. Safety buffer. You report less stock than you have, for example real stock minus 2. That absorbs the delay that is left.
5. Stop threshold. Below a set quantity you set the product to zero on channels where a cancellation is costly.
6. Allocate stock per channel. You reserve part of the stock for one channel so a busy marketplace cannot drain the rest.

How big should your buffer be? A worked example

The buffer covers the sales that fall between two stock updates. Rule of thumb: sales per hour across all channels together, times the hours a channel runs behind, rounded up. For channels where a cancellation hits your account, add a little more.

A best seller needs a bigger buffer than a slow mover, even with the same stock. Adjust the buffers if you cancel often (raise it) or leave a lot of stock unsold (lower it).

What does StoreLinkr do about it?

StoreLinkr covers the basics of the list above. This is established:

• Stock from your POS, WMS or suppliers is kept for 15 minutes at most, so you never see data older than that.
• Stock from several warehouses is added up to one total, including your own manual warehouses.
• When a new order comes in, StoreLinkr deducts the quantities from the right warehouse and sends the updated stock straight to every connected channel.
• Every stock change is logged per product and warehouse, so you can trace a deviation.

What we do not promise here: a configurable safety buffer per channel. If you need that, ask about it in a demo first. Export filters can drop products based on stock status. Read more on the page about stock management for your webshop.

What if it happens anyway?

No buffer is watertight. Handle an oversold order like this:

1. Check right away whether you can still find pieces somewhere or reorder within a few days.
2. If not, cancel it yourself and quickly, and explain briefly to the customer. That reads better than silence.
3. Find the cause: which channel, how much delay, which correction. Only then change the buffer or interval.

Frequently asked questions