Stock Availability
The field showing how many units of a product can currently be sold. It is revalidated on the server side when the order is created, and requests containing more units than are in stock are rejected. In terms of the Distance Contracts Regulation, the goods being out of stock is not considered impossibility of performance.
The stock field serves two purposes: on the product page it shows purchasability, and at the moment of ordering it feeds the server-side check that prevents overselling. Since the value seen on the client side may lag by a few minutes depending on caching, the binding check is always performed at the moment the order is created.
- If stock is sufficient, the order record is opened and the quantity is deducted.
- If stock is insufficient, the request is rejected; no partial order is created.
- If the order is cancelled or a return is completed, the quantity goes back into stock.
The legal side matters: the seller cannot automatically escape the obligation to perform by claiming that the goods have run out. The Regulation does not treat being out of stock as a case of impossibility; where performance has genuinely become impossible, the seller has an obligation to inform the consumer and refund the amount collected. For custom-made or made-to-order items, read the preparation time note on the product page; these items proceed by production-queue logic rather than stock logic.
Context in which this term is used: contact page