When Out-of-Stock has been enabled, a listing's behavior depends on whether it has been applied to a single-SKU or a multiple-SKU listing.
Single-SKU listings
When Item.Quantity reaches zero for a single-SKU listing, the listing no longer appears in the Search Results page.
If a user already has the Item ID for the item, they can still access the View Item page directly, but its Buy It Now and Add to cart buttons are disabled and a label is displayed indicating that the item is Out of Stock.
Multiple-SKU listings
When Item.Quantity reaches zero for one or more variations of a multiple-SKU listing, but at least one variation in the listing still has stock, the listing will continue to be displayed on the Search Results page. However, those variations with zero stock quantity will be shown as Out of Stock on the View Item page.
If/when all variations for the item have zero quantity, the item will not be displayed on the Search Results page. However, if a user alread has the Item ID for one (or more) of the variations, they can still access the View Item page(s) directly, and those variations with zero inventory will be grayed out, their respective Buy It Now and Add to cart buttons will be disabled, and a label indicating that the item is Out of Stock is displayed.
Reducing the stock quantity for a variation to zero for multiple-SKU listings yields varying results depending on whether Out-of-Stock is enabled or disabled. For example, consider an item with the following three variations and stock quantities:
- Variation A |
Item.Quantity= 5 - Variation B |
Item.Quantity= 3 - Variation C |
Item.Quantity= 1
Because there have been no sales for any of these variations, the seller has decided to remove them by reducing each of their stock quantities to zero. However, depending on whether Out-of-Stock is enabled or disabled, the variations may or may not be deleted. Refer to the following table for a comparison of what happens when each of the variations' stock quantities are systematically reduced to 0.
| Variation |
Out-of-Stock Disabled |
Out-of-Stock Enabled |
|---|---|---|
| A | Variation A is deleted. |
Variation A is retained. Because both Variation B and Variation C each continue to have stock, Variation A will be included on the Search Results page, but on the View Item page, it will be shown as being Out of Stock. |
| B | Variation B is deleted. |
Variation B is retained. Because Variation C continues to have stock, both Variation A and Variation B will be included on the Search Results page, but on the View Item page, both will be shown as being Out of Stock. |
| C | An error is displayed. Since Variation C is the last variation with any stock, it cannot have its Item.Quantity reduced to 0. |
Variation C is retained Since there are no variations that currently have stock, the item will not be included on the Search Results page. However, if a buyer already has the Item ID for the item, they can still access the View Item page directly, and all three variations will be shown as being Out of Stock. |
In order to delete a variation for a multiple-SKU item for which the Out-of-Stock feature is enabled, set Item.Variations.Variation.Delete to true.