Exchange for out of stock items

This guide explains how you, the merchant, can manually create an exchange for a product that is currently out of stock in your Shopify inventory. The Exchange It app allows you to bypass Shopify's "Continue selling when out of stock" limitation, giving you the flexibility to fulfill customer requests in special circumstances.

This process is designed for products where the "Track quantity" setting is enabled and the "Continue selling when out of stock" setting is disabled in your Shopify product admin. Our app will override this setting to create the exchange order.

Step 1: Create a New Return Request

1. From your Shopify Admin, navigate to Apps > Exchange It.

2. In the app, go to the Returns Dashboard tab.

3. Click the "Create New Request" button.

4. Enter the original order number in the pop-up window and click Search.

5. Once the order is found, click "Start Return Request".

Step 2: Select the Out-of-Stock Item for Exchange

1. On the "Create Return" page, choose a "Reason for return."

2. For the resolution method, select "Exchange for any other product" and then click the "Select an exchange item" button.

3. In the product search window, find and select the product variant you wish to send to the customer, even if it shows a negative or zero quantity available.

4. Click Add to confirm your selection.

Step 3: Submit and Approve the Exchange

1. Back on the return creation screen, you will see the out-of-stock item listed under "Exchange Request Items." Click "Submit Request".

2. Return to the Dashboard, find the request you just created, and click on it to open the details.

3. Once you have received the customer's returned item, go to the "Inspection" stage and click "All Received".

4. After verifying the item, click the Approve button to move the request to the final stage.

Step 4: Release Fulfillment and Finalize

1. On the Inspection screen, you will now see an "Exchange Summary" section. Click the "Release Fulfillment" button. This is the key step that creates a new fulfillment request on the original order, bypassing the inventory block.

2. (Optional) Proceed to the "Resolution" stage to manage the returned item's inventory (e.g., Restock or No Restock) and handle any price differences if necessary.

Step 5: Verify the New Exchange Order in Shopify

1. Navigate to the Orders section in your main Shopify Admin.

2. Click on the original order number (e.g., #3932).

3. You will now see the new, out-of-stock exchange item added to the order as an unfulfilled item, ready for you to process and ship to the customer.

For a complete visual guide of this entire process, please watch our interactive SupaDemo:

Exchange for Out-of-Stock Items Demo