Available stock vs on-hand inventory: what can you promise?

The quantity on the shelf is not always available to sell

For a wholesale order, the useful question is how many units remain after existing commitments. In Wholety, physical stock is the quantity physically held in a warehouse record. Occupied stock is the quantity reserved by confirmed sales orders that have not shipped. Available stock is what remains for another order.

Available stock = physical stock − occupied stock − locked stock. Locked quantities stay outside a new allocation or a partial shelf move. “On hand” is often used for physical stock, but confirm what a report means before using its total to promise a delivery. The example below has no locked units.

If your warehouse shows 100 units on hand but only 65 available, the missing 35 may already be committed to confirmed orders. Check reservations and locks before treating the difference as lost stock. For a step-by-step order example, see how to prevent B2B overselling.

Work through one SKU

Start with 100 units physically received and 35 units reserved for existing orders. The quantity available for another customer is 65 units. The example follows one stock record; real inventory can be split across warehouses, expiry dates, source purchases and shelves.

The successful order-product save changes the commitment before it changes the shelf quantity. At dispatch, both physical stock and the reservation decrease by the shipped quantity. That is why dispatching an already reserved order does not, by itself, create extra stock to promise.

Follow the order event, not just the total

In the documented Wholety sales workflow, selecting warehouse batches and successfully saving order products validates and reserves stock. An empty draft does not reserve stock. Submission, approval and confirmation check the selection again without reserving it twice. Warehouse stock-out then reduces physical stock and releases that order's reservation.

Purchase stock-in creates physical stock when goods are received. An expected arrival or a container's arrival milestone is not the same as recorded warehouse receiving. For a partial delivery, inspect the actual stock-in records rather than counting the full ordered quantity as available.

Investigate a mismatch in this order

1. Confirm the SKU and the warehouse you are inspecting.
2. Review the expiry, source purchase and shelf dimensions of the stock records.
3. Compare physical quantities with confirmed orders that reserve stock.
4. Check whether warehouse stock-out has been recorded for goods already shipped.
5. Inspect stock movement logs, receiving records, returns and transfers before making an adjustment.

A transfer changes the distribution of stock between locations. A warehouse-wide total can look correct while the shelf or batch required for a particular order has a different quantity. On receipt, the departure quantity and expiry stay fixed; you can select the receiving shelf. Wholety keeps both the planned shelf and the actual receipt location so an Agent can trace where the shipment arrived.

Between dispatch and receipt, the shipment is in transit. It has left the source's physical stock and has not entered the target's physical stock. Wholety records the actual departure's batch status, expiry and unit costs. A later change to the remaining source batch does not rewrite that shipment. Receipt uses the saved evidence and stops if an occupied receiving batch has different stock flags. An empty receiving shelf keeps the batches separate. See the interactive shipment example below.

Use the same definitions with an Agent

When asking a connected Agent whether you can fulfill an order, specify the SKU, warehouse and required quantity, and ask for available stock plus the existing commitments. A physical-stock summary alone does not answer that question. See the Agent connection guide for account-scoped access.

Test an AI stock answer against your own records

Start a free month, add one representative SKU and warehouse, and connect your Agent using the connection steps. Ask it to show physical, occupied, locked and available quantities, the warehouse scope and the source records. Compare its answer with the interface before using it to promise a delivery.

For the next step, follow the worked AI inventory and purchase-draft guide. It checks stock and outstanding purchases before preparing a draft at a reviewed supplier price. Receiving goods remains a separate action. The one-month trial requires no credit card; your own Agent's model-provider charges are separate.

Putaway moves a free quantity within the warehouse

For a partial putaway or shelf split, use the source batch's free quantity. Wholety shows physical, reserved, locked and movable quantities separately in putaway. With 2.00 cases on the source shelf, 1.00 reserved for sales and 0.25 locked, only 0.75 cases are free to move. A request beyond that amount is rejected before either batch changes.

Moving 0.50 cases reduces the source by 0.50 and increases the target by 0.50. Reservations and locked quantities remain on the source; the warehouse's physical total stays the same. When the target batch already contains stock, unit goods and freight costs are weighted by physical quantity. An unrecorded cost remains unknown, while a recorded zero is a valid cost.

Putaway does not create new stock or dispatch goods. Keep expiry dates explicit when changing them, review the exact source batch and target shelf, then confirm the move. An Agent should read the latest movable quantity and obtain authorization before making the change.

For the exact Wholety definitions, read physical, occupied and available stock. The warehouse manual covers stock movements; the sales manual explains confirmation and reservation. To evaluate the product workflow, see warehouse inventory for B2B distributors.

Explore a complete example before entering your own data

Start your free month without a credit card or an inventory import. New owner workspaces open with a clearly labeled, fictional wholesale business: three products, supplier purchases, partial receiving, stock reservations, customer sales and recorded payments. You can trace the same SKU across the workflow instead of filling an empty system before seeing how it works.

Continue the homepage’s Harbor Market example with the same three SKUs. Over 90 days the customer ordered 120 cases of HBT-24 oolong tea, 90 of GNG-12 ginger drink and 60 of SPK-24 sparkling water. Available stock is 60, 18 and 72 cases respectively. Requesting another 48 of each leaves a 30-case shortfall in ginger drink. The original 12-case tea batch ends at A2 with 9 cases and B3 with 3, just as the warehouse animation shows. The example is read-only and separate from your business records. Choose Close example and start using Wholety before entering your own data. For self-service buyer ordering, see the B2B ordering portal; for the next Agent task, use the stock-check and purchase-draft walkthrough.