Stock type is a setting specific to the "Purchase" transaction setting. It determines the interaction between providers and customers regarding inventory levels of listings. It establishes the inventory management limits for providers and the purchase quantity options for customers. This article gives an overview of the Stock types. If you want to read more about how each specific Stock type works and how your users interact with it, read our article on how inventory management works.

There are four different Stock types:

"Finite stock, single item" is designed for listings that feature unique, one-of-a-kind items within the marketplace. Such listings are intended for products that exist only in a single quantity. The provider cannot control the inventory of the listing, and the customer can only buy one unit or item when initiating a transaction from this listing. When a customer initiates a purchase from such a listing, the listing is marked as out of stock automatically, making it unavailable for further purchase and invisible in search results. The inventory automatically adjusts to zero and cannot be modified thereafter. Consequently, the listing becomes permanently closed and cannot be re-opened by the seller.
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This Stock type works well for pre-owned or unique physical products. It is an ideal setting for marketplaces specializing in second-hand baby clothes, one-off art pieces, or vintage collectibles.

"Finite stock, multiple items" applies to listings that have a defined, finite number of units available for sale. The provider can control the inventory of the listing and add more inventory when needed. Customers can purchase multiple items simultaneously up to the amount available in stock or inventory (or up to 100 if the stock exceeds that number). With each transaction, the stock level is automatically reduced. Once all units are sold, the listing is automatically flagged as out of stock and becomes unsearchable within the listing results. Providers can subsequently replenish the inventory to re-open the listing for further sales.

This stock type is particularly effective for professional sellers with physical goods inventory, such as apparel retailers or bookshops that offer multiples of the same item. Some second-hand marketplaces can also use this stock type to their advantage, but in most cases, they would be better served by "Finite stock, single item" instead.

The "Infinite stock, single item" stock type is tailored for listings where a provider may have an unlimited supply of an item but chooses to sell them one at a time. Inventory management is not a concern to the provider in this case, as the stock level is effectively infinite. The customer can only buy one unit when initiating a transaction from this listing. Once the transaction has been initiated, the listing stays open and can be purchased. The listing therefore is always open and never runs out of stock. This listing can always be closed by the provider or marketplace operator.
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This Stock type works well for digital products that are downloadable, where purchasing multiple copies is unnecessary. It's also applicable to marketplaces for other digital goods or services that do not require inventory tracking.

"Infinite stock, multiple items" is designed for listing types where providers can offer multiple copies of the same item and sell multiple copies simultaneously. The provider cannot control inventory since it will be set as infinite, and it will never run out. The customer can buy multiple units when initiating a transaction from this listing. Once the transaction has been initiated, the listing stays open and can be purchased. The listing therefore is always open and never runs out of stock. This listing can always be closed by the provider or marketplace operator.

This Stock type could work well for selling digital but unique items, like offer coupons or license codes. It could work well for selling hourly units of complex services like accounting or software development (and customers choose the number of hours they want to buy). It could work well for selling tickets to a virtual event with unlimited attendees. Essentially, this stock type is suited for any listing where inventory is not a constraint and quantity sold directly influences the listing's pricing.

Changing the Stock type of an existing listing type immediately puts the new stock type into use on any that has already been created with the affected listing type. For example, if you change from Infinite stock, one item to Infinite stock, multiple items, any listing previously created will automatically be updated and introduce the capability for customers to select multiple items for purchase.

One scenario deserves special attention. If you are switching from Infitinite stock to Finite stock, then you or the provider need to update the stock number. A listing created with Infinite stock continues to have infinite stock until its stock number is updated. This is problematic if you are switching directly from Infinite stock to Finite stock, single item since there is no interface for a provider to adjust the stock number from infinite stock to 1 item in stock. Without updating the stock number, the system will continue to believe there are an infinite number of items in stock.

Therefore, you need to first switch your stock type to Finite stock, multiple items and update all affected listings' stock to 1. Then, you can complete the switch by changing to Finite stock, single item.

Each customer can only purchase up to 100 units in a single transaction, even if the stock is infinite or higher than 100. The limitation is currently only present in the No-code version of Sharetribe. If you want to allow your customers to purchase more than 100 units, you would need to customize your marketplace with code. Alternatively, you can suggest that your providers add their listing in a way where each unit is more than 1 item.

The infinite stock model in the backend is modeled via a very, very big number. If you make changes to your stock type from infinite to finite, you and your providers will see this number when trying to manage stock for the first time. You and your providers can change this stock number to the real amount of stock.