R3Stack
Admin UI

Currently Held Inventory

The Currently held by Cart Reserve card shows how many units are being held for shoppers right now.

It updates live and counts holds across all active and checking-out sessions.

What the Number Means

The main number is the total of all units currently promised to shoppers — every unit in an active reservation, regardless of how it is protected:

  • Soft holds — units reserved inside Cart Reserve. Other shoppers going through Cart Reserve cannot take them, but they remain visible as available in Shopify.
  • Locked at Shopify — units Cart Reserve has additionally moved from available to reserved directly in Shopify inventory. These are protected even outside Cart Reserve (for example against manual orders or other sales channels).

When some units are locked at Shopify, the card shows a sub-label such as "3 locked at Shopify" under the total.

Variant Breakdown

Below the total, the card lists the most-held variants with a per-variant count and a relative bar. Up to 10 variants are shown; the rest are summarized as "+ N more".

Why a Hold May Not Be Locked at Shopify

Not every held unit can be locked in Shopify inventory. Common reasons:

  • The variant has inventory tracking disabled
  • The variant is part of a bundle requiring component-level reservation

These units still count in the held total — they are protected within Cart Reserve — they just are not additionally locked at Shopify.

"Continue Selling" Variants

Variants set to "Continue selling when out of stock" can oversell by design, so Cart Reserve locks only as many units as the current stock allows and keeps the remainder as a soft hold. Cart Reserve also never blocks reservations on these variants based on stock — a shopper can reserve them even at zero or negative inventory, exactly as Shopify itself would sell them. Only per-cart quantity limits apply.

If stock later drops below the locked amount, the lock is automatically reduced and the difference falls back to a soft hold — the shopper's reservation is never lost.

Troubleshooting

  • Held shows 0 but a shopper has an active timer — the variant most likely cannot be locked at Shopify (see reasons above). The hold is still enforced by Cart Reserve; check the alert center for a "hard reserve ineligible" notice naming the session.
  • Held exceeds available stock — expected for "Continue selling" variants, which Shopify allows to go negative.