Getting started

Carboy keeps the stock of something you sell in sizes as one pool: one bottle, bag or sack, measured in ml or grams. Every size you sell from it is a variant in Shopify, and Carboy sets each one's stock from the pool: (pool − reserve) ÷ size, rounded down.

For a fragrance sold in 2, 5 and 10 ml, with 63 ml in the bottle and 3 ml kept in reserve, 60 ml is sellable and Shopify shows:

Make your first pool

Open Carboy from Apps in your Shopify admin. On an empty Pools page there are two ways in: Find my sized products sets up many products at once (see Set up many), and Choose one product makes a single pool. For one pool:

1. Choose a product whose sizes come out of one bottle, bag or sack.
2. Check the sizes. Under Sizes we found, each variant's portion is filled in from its name, like 5 ml from Sample / 5ml. Fix anything that's wrong, and untick sizes you sell sealed, such as a full bottle. How sizes are read lists the names that work.
3. Say what's on the shelf. Enter On hand now and pick the unit. Full capacity is optional and only sets the level bar. Keep in reserve holds back an amount for spills and testing: it stays in the pool but is never offered for sale.
4. Pick the stock location if the product is stocked at more than one. A pool belongs to one location, and Carboy writes its sizes' numbers there.
5. Check the preview. Shopify will show lists each variant's number today and after. Nothing changes in Shopify until you press Create pool. Carboy then turns on inventory tracking for those sizes, stocks them at the location if they weren't, and writes the numbers.

After that

Sell as usual. Each order takes its sizes from the pool, refunds and cancellations put them back when you restock, and every size is worked out again and written to Shopify within seconds. See Orders, refunds and cancellations.

On the pool's page you record what Shopify can't know about:

• Receive stock: a new bottle or sack arrived. Enter the amount, and what you paid for it if you want cost and margin.
• Record a loss: a spill, a broken vial, tea brewed for a tasting.
• Counted the shelf?: you measured the bottle or weighed the sack. Enter what's there and press Set amount.

Orders placed before you created the pool are not counted. The amount you entered already reflects them.

One thing to avoid

Don't correct a size's stock in Shopify by hand. Change the pool instead, and every size follows. If someone does edit a size in Shopify, Carboy holds the change and asks you about it: see Hand edits in Shopify.

One pool, several products

Sometimes the same bottle or sack feeds another product too: a sealed full bottle listed on its own, a sample set, a tea taster. Open the pool, choose Add sizes from another product, pick the product and tick its sizes. They take from the same pool as the rest, and every size recounts together.