What steps should I take if my update feed does not reflect accurate stock levels?

If your product feed is showing incorrect stock levels, please check the following common causes to troubleshoot the issue:

• Mismatched SKUs: Ensure the SKUs in your store exactly match the SKUs in your feed file. Missing or mismatched identifiers are the most common reason syncs fail.
• Incorrect Column Mapping: Verify that your quantity field is mapped to the correct column. Please note that field and column headers are case-sensitive. Map the quantity field to the stock quantity column—not to an inventory-tracking or boolean field.
• Incorrect Inventory Location: If your store uses multiple locations, make sure the correct Inventory Location is selected in the feed’s Quantity > Smart Settings. An incorrect location will cause updates to appear as if nothing changed. The location must also be enabled for the product or variant in Shopify Admin. If it has not previously been activated, a positive quantity may need to be synced once before the location can subsequently be updated to 0.
• Duplicate SKUs Updating Unexpectedly: If multiple variants share the same SKU, Stock Sync will update all of them with the same quantity. Ensure your feed includes variant-level quantities if you require different stock per variant.
• Missing Products in the Feed: Check if the item actually exists in your feed file. If the supplier omitted the product from the file, syncX: Stock Sync cannot update it by default. If products removed from the feed should be set to 0 or archived, configure the Out of Stock Strategy and enable Remove feed-to archived discontinued products where appropriate. For products that are not in the feed, use the Out of Stock Strategy to set unmatched products to 0, and apply Store Product Filters to avoid affecting unrelated products.
• Quantity Mode Causing Incorrect Levels: If a feed is set to Add/Deduct instead of Overwrite, the quantity will keep accumulating rather than replacing the value. Switch to Overwrite if the feed should always set the exact stock level from the file.
• Multiple feeds providing the same SKU: Check Account > Profile for the option Use highest quantity value when same SKU detected from multiple feeds. If enabled, a duplicate SKU with a higher quantity in another feed can override the zero or lower quantity from the feed you are checking. Disable this option when the feed should be the sole source for that SKU.
• Product Filters or Tag Exclusions: If a product is filtered out by tags or rules in the feed settings, Stock Sync will skip updating it. Review all filters to ensure items are not unintentionally excluded.
• "0 Match" or Bulk Zero Updates: If your inventory is suddenly dropping to zero, verify your Out of Stock Strategy settings. Some suppliers only include in-stock items in their file. If an item is missing, your OOS rule determines if it gets set to zero.
• Halt Threshold Pausing Updates: If more than your configured percentage of products would be set to zero, the syncX: Stock Sync halt threshold can automatically pause the update to protect your store. Check the feed’s Halt slider under feed settings. If the source is expected to contain those zero quantities, review the Preview Sync and Change Log before adjusting the threshold.
• Accidental Bulk Zero Update: If products not included in an update were set to 0, stop or disable the affected feed to prevent further changes. Review the feed’s change log, including the Before Qty values, to identify the previous quantities. If those values are available, a new feed can be created to restore them. Verify the product identifier mapping, especially when some products do not have SKUs; changing the identifier to Barcode may help only when the barcode values are available and correctly match the store.
• File Parsing Issues: In some cases, adjusting the file encoding or switching to column index mapping instead of column names can resolve layout issues.
• Non-Unique Variant Identifiers: If variants share the same SKU or identifier, only one variant will update and others may duplicate quantities. Ensure every variant has a unique identifier by combining fields (e.g., SKU + Option1 + Option2) or adding a new unique column in the feed.

Updated on: 05/08/2026