What does Inventory Control do?
Inventory Control lets you show a different quantity on eBay than what you actually have in stock. Instead of exposing your real warehouse quantity to buyers, you set a custom "Up to Quantity" that eBay displays — and every time a sale comes in, 3Dsellers automatically restocks the eBay quantity back up to that number.
This keeps your listings looking consistently in-demand, protects your actual stock levels from being visible, and ensures you never accidentally show as out of stock.
So in summary, Inventory Control:
Hides your real inventory.
Displays a custom quantity on eBay.
How does Inventory Control Work?
After a sale, Inventory Control restocks your eBay quantity.
Example:
A listing's
Up to Quantityis set to3and theWarehouseis20.
1is sold, leaving2on eBay.
Inventory Control re-stocks the live quantity back to
3, leaving19in the listing's Warehouse.
Fields in screenshots:
The
Displayed Quantityverifies the stock on eBay.Up to Quantitycontrols the channel's live quantity.The
Warehouseis the actual inventory you have.
If you sync listings with Inventory Control turned OFF,
theUp to Quantitywill equal theWarehouse&Displayed Quantity.
Warehouse Qty vs Up to Quantity — what's the difference?
Warehouse Qty is your real stock level, stored privately in 3Dsellers. It's the source Inventory Control pulls from when restocking after a sale. Buyers never see this number.
Up to Quantity is the quantity displayed publicly on eBay. It caps what buyers see, regardless of how much is in your Warehouse. Inventory Control restocks eBay back up to this number after each sale.
Example: Warehouse = 9999, Up to Quantity = 5 → eBay shows 5. After a sale, eBay goes to 4, then Inventory Control tops it back up to 5 from the Warehouse.
Pro Tip:
Set the Up to Quantity high enough so you don't sell out in a single order.
Why? If the listing sells out of stock, eBay doesn't send the
Order Notification; so the quantity won't be updated.
Don't use Inventory Control at the same time as Bundles or Multichannel Inventory Sync features.
Does Inventory Control update live (with new orders)?
The order data that triggers inventory automation is not technically live. Instead, the system relies on eBay's Order Notification system.
How it works:
eBay sends your 3Dsellers account an
Order Notification.When the
Order Notificationis received, the quantity is restocked from the listing's Warehouse value.This process typically takes a couple of seconds, up to 30 seconds.
What if Inventory Control is not updating the quantity after an order?
Check if the listing is sold out of stock. If it sold out, you'll restock it manually.
Disable Bundles or Multichannel Inventory Sync rules for the item.
Search the Order ID on the Inventory Overview page. Look for any errors from eBay.
Pro Tip:
Enable Inventory Control Alerts to be notified if there is an error. Navigate to:
Listings Manager → Settings → Alerts
How to update Inventory Control
Individual Listings:
If the Inventory Control column is not visible, enable it with the hide/show menu:
Use the Inventory Control slider-buttons to enable or disable Inventory Control:
Multiple listings:
Using the checkboxes, select multiple listings.
Click on the Bulk Actions menu and choose Edit Inventory/Warehouse
In the pop-up, select Up to Quantity and enable or disable Inventory control:
Bulk Edit Inventory/Warehouse — Field Reference
When using Bulk Actions → Edit Inventory/Warehouse, the pop-up offers the following options:
Warehouse Qty
Increase inventory by X units — adds to the current Warehouse value
Set Warehouse inventory to X — overwrites the Warehouse value with a fixed number
Include Variations — when checked, the Warehouse update also applies to all variation child SKUs on the selected listings
Do not update variation if Warehouse and eBay Quantity equals zero — when checked, variations that are already at zero on both Warehouse and eBay are skipped, preventing accidental restocking of discontinued variants
Up to Qty Status
Up to Qty Status toggle — enables or disables Inventory Control (the restock-after-sale behaviour) on all selected listings at once
Set up-to-quantity to X units — sets the quantity displayed on eBay for all selected listings
Use Case: Never go out of stock on eBay
If you sell print-on-demand, dropship, or have effectively unlimited supply, you never want a listing to show as out of stock on eBay — but you also don't want to display an unrealistic quantity like 9999 to buyers.
Here's how to set it up:
Goal: Always show 5 units on eBay. After every sale, automatically restock back to 5. Never run out.
Set Warehouse Qty to 9999 — this is your internal stock level. Setting it high ensures Inventory Control always has stock to pull from when restocking after a sale.
Set Up to Quantity to 5 — this is what buyers see on eBay. It keeps the listing looking in-demand without exposing your real stock level.
Enable Inventory Control (Up to Qty Status → On) — after each sale, 3Dsellers automatically restocks the eBay quantity back up to 5 from the Warehouse.
Check Include Variations — if your listings have size or colour variations, enable this so the Warehouse and Up to Quantity settings apply to all child SKUs, not just the parent.
Optionally check "Do not update variation if Warehouse and eBay Quantity equals zero" — if you have some variations that are intentionally discontinued (zeroed out), this prevents them from being accidentally restocked.
Result: eBay always shows 5 units available. Every time a sale comes in, 3Dsellers deducts 1 from the Warehouse (now 9998) and restocks eBay back to 5 — automatically, within seconds of the order notification arriving.
⚠️ Important: Make sure your Up to Quantity is always lower than a realistic single-order quantity. If a buyer purchases more units than your displayed quantity in one order, eBay won't send an Order Notification and Inventory Control won't trigger. With Up to Quantity set to 5, a single order of 6+ would bypass the restock — so keep the displayed quantity at a level that protects against this.