Stock management is key as a seller on Etsy. However, we’re not always able to have everything in stock at the same time. The issue with having Sold Out items in your store is that Etsy doesn’t show them. The items no longer appear in search and it’s removed from user’s favourites lists.
However, there is ONE way to mark a listing as “Sold Out” whilst still keeping it live on Etsy.
How do you mark something as sold out on Etsy? It is currently only possible to mark product variants as “Sold out” on Etsy. To do this Edit the product in the seller admin, and set the stock value for the variant to 0. If all the variants are marked as “Sold out”, or if the product has no variants then the listing will not show on Etsy.
How to mark an item out of stock on Etsy
It is not currently possible to set a single item as “sold out” on Etsy. Once a listing’s stock hits zero it is removed from the store, and will no longer be shown in search. The only solution to this is to set the product as “Made to order” and set your processing time to the time it takes you to make the item.
To do this you need to:
- Go to Etsy.com and sign in to your store account
- Go to Etsy.com/your/listings
- Find the listing you want to update and select Edit from the dropdown menu on the item
- Find the About this listing* section and open the 3rd dropdown select Made to order
- Finally scroll down to the Delivery section and select Edit on the delivery profile – if you have multiple products under this profile it might be best to select Duplicate in order to not affect your other listings
- Once you are editing the listings profile update the Processing time dropdown to reflect the time it takes to restock the item
- Scroll to bottom of the profile and select Save profile
- Select Publish to make the changes live
By doing this you will still allow your product to be searchable and purchasable, but it will have the processing time set so you can create the listing in time for dispatch.
This may not work for all stores, or for all products, but this solution should be considered if you really want to keep your listing live, whilst also keeping the customer informed.
How to mark a variation as out of stock on Etsy
It is possible to keep a product live on Etsy even if one variant is Sold Out. To set this up you need to:
- Go to Etsy.com and sign in to your store account
- Go to Etsy.com/your/listings
- Find the listing you want to update and select Edit from the dropdown menu on the item
- Scroll down to the Variations section
- Select Edit variations
- Ensure Quantities vary for each size is checked. this will allow you to set stock levels for each variation
- Select Update
- Set the Quantity to zero for the out of stock variant. Be sure the Visible switch is set to On
- Select Publish to make the changes live
By doing this, not only will the listing still show, but so will the out of stock variant in the dropdown. When you open the variant selector you will the the variant greyed out with the text Sold Out next to it.
Can you show sold out items on Etsy?
No, once an item runs out of stock the listing is removed from the Etsy store. It will not show on either the store’s homepage, or the Etsy search feature.
It is important to be clear with customers, so they can have realistic expectations set. It is recommended that you allow Etsy to hide the Out of stock items, and these work arounds should be used as a last resort.
Conclusion
Keeping products live on Etsy is key. You can’t be found if the product isn’t showing in search. Ideally all items will be in stock – but there are ways to keep your listings live.
By setting them as “Made to order” and setting your processing times you can keep the customer informed about when they will likely get the item.
Of course things are much simpler with products with variants, simply set the stock to zero and the other variant will stay in place.
