Why is coreFORCE showing this product as out of stock when the distributor has it in stock?

There are a number of reasons why a product may be showing out of stock when a distributor has it in stock.  These issues can be broken down into the categories of configuration issues, import problems, and distributor account issues.

Front end configuration issues

If the product has inventory in the back end of your coreFORCE site but showing as out of stock to customers, check the following:

1. Does the product have the product tag OUT_OF_STOCK?

This special product tag forces all products that are tagged to be out of stock regardless of inventory level.

2. Does the product have the custom field "Force out of stock"?

This custom field forces all products that are tagged to be out of stock regardless of inventory level.  This can be seen on the Data tab in Products Maintenance.

3. Does the product have the product tag LOCAL_INVENTORY_ONLY?

This special product tag makes the system ignore distributor inventory for that product.

Distributor Configuration issues

1. Is there an out of stock threshold set for the distributor?

An Out of Stock Threshold causes coreFORCE to ignore any inventory from that distributor where the quantity is less than or equal to the threshold.  This is useful to avoid getting orders for products that are already out of stock at distributors, but can cause unexpected results if the threshold is set too high.

To check the out of stock threshold, go to Products > Settings > Locations and click on the distributor location.

2. Is the distributor marked as "cannot sell" in the product's department?

To check this, go to Products > Taxonomy > Departments, click on the department name and click the Restrictions tab.  Inventory for products in that department from any of the checked distributors will be ignored.

3. Is the distributor marked as "cannot sell" in the product's category?

To check this, go to Products > Taxonomy > Categories, click on the category name and click the Restrictions tab.  Inventory for products in that category from any of the checked distributors will be ignored.

4. Is the distributor marked as "cannot sell" in the product's manufacturer?

To check this, go to Products > Taxonomy > Manufacturers, click on the manufacturer name and click the Distributors tab.  Inventory for products from that manufacturer from any of the checked distributors will be ignored.

Import problems

1. Are the distributor credentials incorrect?

To test this, go to Products > Settings > Distributor Credentials and click on the distributor in question.  Click "Test Credentials" to verify whether your credentials are correct.

2. Is a large number of products missing?

To test this, go to Orders > Reports > Distributor Availability.  Click Create Report.  This report will show the number of products available from each distributor.  If the number of products for the distributor in question appears to be very low, submit a ticket to the Coreware help desk to help troubleshoot distributor import problems.

Distributor account issues

If none of the above suggestions resolves the issue, you may need to contact the distributor to make sure that the product you are looking for is actually in your product feed.  Distributors maintain lists of manufacturer approvals for each dealer, so if you are not listed as an approved dealer for the manufacturer, the product may not be sent to your feed.

If none of these suggestions resolve the issue, feel free to submit a support ticket at help.coreware.com.