The Reserve Inventory feature allows you to temporarily hold items in Shopify when an exchange is created. This ensures the requested items remain available until the exchange is processed or expires. If the exchange does not go ahead, the reserved inventory is released automatically.
Swap ensures seamless stock management during the exchange process by checking item availability in real-time and reserving stock immediately upon exchange creation if the item is in stock.
Enabling Reserve Inventory
You can enable Reserve Inventory under Returns Settings -> Exchange experience -> Reserve inventory for exchange orders in your Swap Dashboard.
The option is only available when the Exchange API is not in use.
If the Exchange API is enabled, the setting can not be changed.
When enabled, you can define the number of days inventory should be reserved for an exchange request.
Key details
Default value: 1 day
Allowed range: 1 to 100 days
Only whole numbers are supported (no special characters or decimals)
Reservations expire at 23:59 on the final day
How reservations work
Swap dynamically checks stock availability in real-time during the exchange process to determine item eligibility, and safety stock settings may restrict availability even when stock appears sufficient.
When an exchange request (RMA) is submitted:
A draft order is created in Shopify with a reservation period equal to the number of days you configured.
The reserved inventory is held in Shopify until either:
The exchange is processed before the deadline, or
The reservation period expires, at which point Shopify automatically removes the hold.
If the reservation is successful:
A note is added in the RMA showing the draft ID and reservation expiry date.
If the reservation fails:
You will see an error message in the portal.
The return submission will not complete if a draft order cannot be created.
If inventory is unavailable, the RMA will move to Needs review.
Safety stock configurations play a significant role in stock availability during exchanges. If safety stock is set to '1,' items with only one unit remaining in inventory will appear unavailable to prevent overselling.
Processing RMAs with reserved inventory
When the RMA is processed:
The draft order is approved, and the reservation is automatically cancelled.
If no reservation was created, Swap checks stock at the point of processing.
If Reserve Inventory is not enabled, inventory is only checked when processing begins.
In addition, Swap verifies item availability only at this processing stage, which could increase the likelihood of items being out of stock if stock levels fluctuate significantly.