How to handle products that are out of stock

In Onsight you can display the stock level for each product. With each product ordered, the stock level can decrease, if you have automatic stock tracking enabled (See: How to configure orders to automatically decrease stock levels) or if your Onsight account is connected to QuickBooks, Xero, MYOB, Zoho, Alegra, Sage 50, NetSuite, SAP B1, or any other system that reduces your stock count in Onsight automatically.

When a product runs out of stock, there are three common ways to handle it in Onsight:

  • Option 1: Hide/remove products that are out of stock
  • Option 2: Label products as “Out of stock” but still allow ordering
  • Option 3: Prevent ordering more than the available stock (overselling prevention)

The information below explains these three options in more detail.

Option 1 – Hide/remove products that are out of stock

A product that is out of stock can automatically become “Inactive”. Inactive products do not display. When the product has stock, it will become active and display again.

Here is an example of how this works:

  • Log in to the Onsight web console and set the ‘Stock’ for a product to 100.
  • Log in to the app and create an order for 100 items of this product.
  • The order will sync to the web console.
  • The stock on hand of the product will reduce to ‘zero’ in the web console and the status of the product is automatically set to ‘Inactive’.
  • In the app, tap on the burger menu (represented by the three horizontal lines) found at the top right-hand side of the screen.
  • Tap on ‘Sync Data’.
  • The product will no longer display in the app due to it being inactive.
  • When the product has stock again, the product is automatically made ‘Active’ again and will display.

Note, if you choose this option, then it is not possible to have inactive products that are in stock. They will automatically become active again due to their “in stock” status.

Products will only become inactive after the stock level reaches zero (or becomes negative). If you have 1 item in stock, the sales rep or customer will still be able to order 2 or more items. If you want to prevent this, rather consider the overselling prevention option below.

Option 2 – Label products as ‘Out of stock’

A product with no stock can still display in Onsight but you can choose to add the words ‘Out of stock’ at the end of the product name. The benefit of this is that the product still appears in your catalogue for your reps to see. However, you need to be aware that this means that reps can still order this item even if it is out of stock.

Here is an example of how this works:

  • Log in to the Onsight web console and set the ‘Stock’ for a product to 100.
  • Log in to the app and create an order for 100 items of this product.
  • The order will sync to the web console.
  • The stock on hand of the product will reduce to ‘zero’ in the web console.
  • In the app, tap on the burger menu (represented by the three horizontal lines) found at the top right-hand side of the screen.
  • Tap on ‘Sync Data’
  • The product displays the words ‘Out of stock’ at the end of the name.
  • When you add more stock of the item, the words ‘Out of stock’ will be removed from the name of the product again.

Products will only be flagged after the stock level reaches zero (or becomes negative).

Option 3 – Prevent ordering more than the available stock (overselling prevention)

Overselling prevention helps stop reps and/or customers from ordering more stock than you have available. When enabled, Onsight checks stock while the user builds an order or quote. If the stock is zero, Onsight shows an alert and the product cannot be added to the draft order/quote. If stock is greater than zero but less than the quantity requested, Onsight automatically reduces the quantity to what is available and shows an alert. This option is useful if you want products to stay visible, but you want to prevent overselling while orders/quotes are being created.

Here is an example of how this works:

  • Log in to the Onsight web console and set the ‘Stock’ for a product to 10.
  • Log in to the app and create a new draft order.
  • Add the product to the order and set the quantity to 12 (using the + button or by typing 12).
  • Because there are only 10 in stock, Onsight will show an alert and automatically adjust the quantity to 10.
  • Submit the order.
  • Create another new draft order and try to add the same product again.
  • Onsight will show an alert that there is no stock for this product and the item will not be added to the draft order.

How to activate these features

To have one of these options configured on your account you can email us at [email protected] and tell us which option you want to proceed with.

 
Related articles:
How to configure orders to automatically decrease stock levels
How to update and display stock levels in the app
How to bulk-update your stock levels

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