If you store the same product in more than one warehouse, Warehouse Priority decides which warehouse the stock is taken from first when an order comes in. Only when that warehouse runs out does the system move on to the next one.
ℹ️ This is only relevant if you have the Multi-Warehouse feature enabled. 👉 Learn more about Multi-Warehouse
The short version
Each warehouse has a priority number.
The lower the number, the higher the priority. The lowest number is used first.
Stock is pulled from the highest priority warehouse until it reaches zero, then from the next warehouse down the list.
Your sales channels always see the combined quantity across all warehouses, not the quantity of a single one.
Where to see it
Open a product in the Products Catalog, click Edit Inventory, and look at the Inventory Settings window.
With Inventory Type set to Warehouse, you will see a row for every warehouse the product is stored in, showing its Priority, On Hand, Available, Reserved and Bin Location.
The Total Inventory row at the bottom is the number that gets synced out to your channels.
Example: two warehouses
Say a product is stored in two warehouses:
Priority | Warehouse | On Hand |
4 | Lake_Mary_Florida | 10 |
13 | Raymond_New_Hampshire | 20 |
| Total Inventory | 30 |
Lake Mary has priority 4, Raymond has priority 13. Lake Mary is the lower number, so it is used first. The channel shows 30 units in stock.
Order for 4 units
All 4 come out of Lake Mary. Lake Mary drops to 6, Raymond stays at 20. The channel is updated to 26.
Order for 10 units
All 10 come out of Lake Mary, which is now empty. Raymond is untouched at 20. The channel is updated to 20.
Order for 15 units
Lake Mary only holds 10, so it is emptied first and the remaining 5 come out of Raymond. Lake Mary goes to 0, Raymond goes to 15. The channel is updated to 15.
Order for 3 units once Lake Mary is empty
Lake Mary has nothing left, so it is skipped and all 3 come out of Raymond. A warehouse with 0 stock is simply passed over.
Priority numbers do not need to be 1, 2, 3
You will often see numbers like 4 and 13. That is normal. Only the order matters, not the specific values. A warehouse with priority 4 is used before a warehouse with priority 13, exactly the same as if they were numbered 1 and 2.
Setting a different priority per channel
Priority is not only a global setting. You can give each sales channel its own warehouse order from Products → Inventory Management → Warehouses.
This is useful when your channels sell into different regions. For example:
On your US eBay account, the Florida warehouse is first so US orders ship domestically.
On your UK eBay account, a European warehouse is first, and Florida is only used as a backup once the European stock runs out.
Same product, same total stock, different fulfillment order depending on which channel the order came from.
Good to know
Available vs On Hand. On Hand is the physical count. Available is what is left after reserved units are deducted. Reserved units are held for orders that have not shipped yet.
The Inventory Log shows which warehouse changed. Inside Inventory Settings, the log lists the date, event, user, warehouse, and old and new quantities, so you can confirm which location the stock came out of.
Bin Location is separate. Bin Location is a shelf or bin reference inside a warehouse. It does not affect priority.
Changing priority does not move stock. It only changes which warehouse is drawn from next. Quantities stay where they are.
Bundles and Kits work differently. If Inventory Type is set to Bundles & Kits, stock is calculated from the component products, so warehouse priority does not apply in the same way.
Common questions
Why did an order come out of the wrong warehouse?
Check the priority numbers on the product, and check whether the channel that received the order has its own warehouse order set on the Warehouses screen. A channel level order overrides what you might expect from the global list.
My channel shows more stock than one warehouse holds
That is expected. Channels receive the total across all warehouses for that product.
Can two warehouses have the same priority?
Give each warehouse a distinct position so the order is unambiguous. If two are tied, you cannot reliably predict which one is used first.