When stock is changed in Shopify by hand

Carboy writes the stock of every pooled size in Shopify, and it keeps track of what Shopify should show: its last number, plus the moves Shopify made itself for orders and refunds Carboy has recorded. When Shopify shows something else, the number was changed outside Carboy: a hand edit, an import, another app.

What happens, step by step

1. Noted. Shopify tells Carboy a size's stock changed at the pool's location. If Carboy can't explain the new number, it notes that size and stops writing to it.
2. First look, about 3 minutes later. A sale sometimes reaches Shopify's stock a moment before its order reaches Carboy. So Carboy first reads recent orders from Shopify and takes in any it hadn't seen, then compares again. If the number is explained now, that's the end of it.
3. Second look, about 3 minutes after that. Still unexplained? Carboy replays recent orders once more and looks again. Only a change that is unexplained twice in a row is treated as a hand edit.
4. Held. The Pools page marks the pool Changed outside Carboy, and the pool's page shows a Changed in Shopify by hand banner with each size and its units, for example “5 ml +3. Taken into the pool, that is +15 ml.” Carboy leaves those sizes alone until you decide. The pool's other sizes keep updating.

Held changes are also listed in the daily email.

Your two choices

• Add … to the pool, for example Add +15 ml to the pool: the edit was real, say a delivery someone typed into Shopify. The pool changes by units × size, and every size is worked out again from the new amount.
• Keep the pool: the edit was a mistake. The pool stays as it was, and Carboy writes its own numbers back to Shopify.

If adding the change would take the pool below zero, Carboy won't do it and asks you to count the shelf and use Set amount instead.

Let Carboy take changes on its own

In Settings, under When Shopify disagrees, choose Treat it as a delivery or a loss. After the same two looks, the change goes straight into the pool: +3 on the 5 ml size adds 15 ml, −2 on the 10 ml size takes 20 ml. Nothing is held, unless taking the change would take the pool below zero; then Carboy holds it and asks anyway.

Ask me first is the default, and the safer choice when several people edit stock.

Good to know

• Only the pool's own location is watched. Changes at your other locations are ignored.
• To add stock, use Receive stock on the pool rather than editing a size in Shopify. The pool gets the right amount at once, with nothing to approve.
• The nightly check compares every size with its pool and gives anything unexplained the same two looks.