# Manage POS Stock (/how-to/pos/manage-pos-stock)



Stock tracking is optional and set per product (or per variant, for products with sizes or colours). Products without it sell exactly as before.

Prerequisites [#prerequisites]

* The **Point of Sale: Catalog** permission to turn on tracking and change counts. Administrators always have it.

Turn On Stock Tracking [#turn-on-stock-tracking]

1. Open the product from **Dashboard > POS > Products**.
2. For a product without options: under **Stock**, tick **Track stock** and enter a **Starting count**.
3. For a product with options: in the **Variants** table, tick **Track stock** on each variant you want to count and enter its starting count.
4. Click **Save**.

The starting count is recorded in the item's stock history.

How Stock Changes [#how-stock-changes]

| Event                             | What happens                                                                                                                                                      |
| --------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Sale**                          | When an order is fully paid, the units sold are taken off. Orders that are still being paid don't change stock.                                                   |
| **Refund with "Return to stock"** | When you refund returned items and leave **Return to stock** ticked, the units go back. Untick it for damaged items. Only units that a sale took off can go back. |
| **Adjust**                        | You add or remove units by hand, for example a delivery or breakage.                                                                                              |
| **Count**                         | You count the shelf and set the number.                                                                                                                           |

Selling When Stock Shows Zero [#selling-when-stock-shows-zero]

The register shows **N left** or **Out of stock** on tracked products. If staff add an item that shows no stock, the register warns them but still sells it, because they're holding the item and the count is what's wrong. Stock can go below zero; fix it with a count.

Record a Delivery or a Count [#record-a-delivery-or-a-count]

1. Open the product and find the variant (or the **Stock** section for a product without options).
2. Click **Adjust** (or **Adjust or count**).
3. Choose:
   * **Add or remove**: enter the number of units to add, or a negative number to remove (for example `-2` for breakage).
   * **Set the count**: enter the number of units you counted.
4. Optionally add a note, then click **Update stock**.

View Stock History [#view-stock-history]

The same window lists every change: sales (with a link to the order), returns, adjustments and counts, who made them, and the count afterwards.

Low Stock [#low-stock]

Tracked items at or below the **Low stock at** number in **POS > Settings** (5 by default) are flagged:

* On the register, the badge turns amber.
* On the Products page, they get a **Low stock** badge, and the **Low stock** filter lists them.

Stop Tracking [#stop-tracking]

Untick **Track stock** and save. The count is cleared; the history stays.

Related Guides [#related-guides]

* [Create POS Products](/how-to/pos/create-pos-products)
* [Manage POS Orders](/how-to/pos/manage-pos-orders) -- refunds and returns.