Instant AI checks product availability directly through your Shopify API integration before including any product in an abandonment email.
We look at every variant’s stock level and availability status in Shopify's inventory manager, not what’s shown on your website theme.
That means your Shopify inventory needs to accurately reflect what you do and don’t want to send.If a product appears sold out on your site but Shopify still marks it as available for sale, Instant AI will treat it as in stock.
Common Reasons why Shopify might still say “available”
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“Continue selling when out of stock” is enabled
Shopify keeps the product available even when inventory reaches 0 if the product is flagged to allow selling while out of stock. To accurately use your stock levels, ensure that this is not enabled. Alternatively, if you wish to keep it enabled, we are still able to continue including this product in emails however we will assume it is always available and won't be skipping if it is out of stock.
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Inventory tracking is turned off
If tracking is disabled, Shopify assumes the item is always in stock and won't send any stock information to Instant through the API. Ensure that inventory tracking is enabled for us to accurately read stock levels.
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Multiple inventory locations
Shopify treats a product as available if any connected location has stock assigned to the Online Store channel. Check if you have multiple locations connected, and you may accidentally have more than one of them connected to your online store availability. Sometimes unused or test locations are still linked to your online store and will cause it to falsely show as available.
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Hidden or unpublished variants
Shopify marks the whole product as available if any variant can still be sold — even one you’ve hidden on your site. Check to see if you have different variants available on your site that may mean the customer could purchase an alternative variant. If this is the case, it's still valid for Instant AI to send an email promoting the product if it has stock of variant.
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Theme or app customisation
You might have a theme or app that hides the Add to Cart button when an item sells out (for example, a “Notify Me” or “Pre-order” app).
These only change how the site looks. Shopify will still consider the product available in the backend unless that has also been changed. Check your product inventory settings and make sure it also displays as unavailable in the backend and not just on your website.
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Subscription or bundle products
If a product is purchasable as part of a subscription or bundle, Shopify still flags it as available, even if the one-time purchase is sold out. Check if you have any variants such as subscriptions or bundles available that include this product, but the subscription or bundle sku is still available.