📦 Understanding Free Stock (Physical Inventory)
Free Stock, often referred to as Physical Inventory or Available-to-Sell stock, is the exact quantity of a product currently in your warehouse that is available to be sold to a new customer.
Optiply uses this specific metric to determine purchasing needs because it ignores stock that is already promised to existing orders.
How Free Stock is Calculated
Free Stock is calculated by taking your total physical stock and subtracting any quantity that has been sold but not yet shipped (reserved stock).
Free Stock = Stock in Warehouse - Reserved Stock (Products Sold)
Term | Definition | Why It Matters |
Stock in Warehouse | The total physical count of the product currently located in your warehouse. | This is the starting point pulled from your WMS/ERP. |
Reserved Stock (Products Sold) | The quantity of stock that has been sold through an existing order but has not yet been shipped. | This stock is reserved for a customer and cannot be sold again. |
Note: The Reserved Stock may also include stock that has been put aside for internal transfers or kitting processes, depending on your WMS configuration.
Why Optiply Relies on Free Stock
Optiply's purchasing advice relies on Free Stock because it provides the most accurate picture of your immediate inventory risk.
If you rely only on Stock in Warehouse (the total count), you risk thinking you have stock available when it's already reserved for fulfilling orders, leading to potential over-selling and customer disappointment.
By focusing on Free Stock, Optiply ensures that all purchase advice is designed to meet future demand, guaranteeing you have products available for new sales.
Locating Free Stock
This critical metric is available in various locations across Optiply:
Products Page: Visible as a primary column in your product overview table.
Product Details: Displayed clearly in the inventory statistics section of any individual product page.
Purchase Orders: Used as the baseline stock position when calculating the required quantity for new orders.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is Free Stock updated in real-time?
The update frequency of Free Stock depends on the synchronisation settings with your connected WMS/ERP system. While Optiply strives for continuous synchronisation, it is typically updated on a very frequent schedule (e.g., every 5 to 60 minutes).
What if a product is reserved but the customer cancels the order?
If a customer order is cancelled, the quantity previously marked as Reserved Stock will immediately be moved back into the Free Stock category, making it available for a new sale, typically after the data syncs from your WMS/ERP.
Should I use Free Stock or Total Stock for my physical inventory count?
For internal reporting and physical counts, you should use the Total Stock in Warehouse. However, for purchasing decisions and e-commerce availability, you must rely on Free Stock to prevent selling inventory that is already promised.