What triggers an automatic inventory transfer?

A qualifying paid online order that creates a shortage at your designated fulfillment location. FC Collects then creates an auto transfer for each enabled Virtual Inventory item, sourcing eligible inventory at approved source locations.

Can FC Collects source inventory from multiple stores?

Yes. When enabled, a single shortage can be covered by several eligible locations if no one store has enough units.

Can I protect minimum inventory at each store?

Yes. You can set a minimum number of units to keep at each location and protect the last available unit on the shelf.

Can I choose which locations supply inventory?

Yes. You choose the eligible source locations and the sourcing priority — location priority, most available stock, or fewest transfers.

Does every retail store have to fulfill online orders?

No. Stores prepare an internal transfer to your fulfillment location instead of picking, packing, and shipping customer orders.

Shopify automated inventory transfers

Automatically Source Inventory When Your Fulfillment Location Is Short

When a qualifying online order creates a shortage at your fulfillment location, FC Collects creates an auto transfer for each enabled Virtual Inventory item — finding eligible stock at approved stores, applying your inventory protection rules, selecting the source location, committing the required units, and automatically creating the inventory transfer back to your designated fulfillment location.

Transfers triggered by real online order demand
Minimum store stock and last-unit protection
Multi-store sourcing when one location isn't enough
Limits, source rules, and sales channels you define

See Your Virtual Inventory Opportunity Explore Virtual Inventory

Where This Sits in the Workflow

Virtual Inventory Opportunity helps identify inventory that could participate. Once the merchant enables selected inventory, Auto Transfers handles what happens when that inventory is actually needed by an order.

Inventory Moves Because an Order Needs It

Auto Transfers can be configured so inventory moves in response to actual online order demand rather than continuously replenishing the warehouse. Your stores don't need to become ecommerce shipping locations — FC Collects can source the inventory required by the order and move it into your existing fulfillment operation.

1Paid online order
2Fulfillment shortage detected
3Search approved locations
4Apply store protections
5Select source location(s)
6Allocate required units
7Commit source inventory
8Create transfer
9Move inventory
10Receive at fulfillment location
11Fulfill order

FC Collects does more than recommend where inventory should come from. For each enabled Virtual Inventory item, it allocates the required units, commits them to the transfer, and creates the transfer needed to move them through your fulfillment operation.

FC doesn't stop at finding the inventory. For each enabled Virtual Inventory item, it commits the units and creates the auto transfer.

Use Store Inventory Without Draining the Store

Making retail inventory available online shouldn't mean sacrificing the units your walk-in customers came for. Two protections decide how much of a store's inventory may ever support online demand.

Minimum store stock

Store inventory: 5
Minimum to keep: 2
Available to source: 3

Set the floor that must remain at each source location before its inventory can support online demand.

Never move the last unit

Store inventory: 1
Last unit protected: Yes
Available to source: 0

Protect the final unit of an eligible product or variant so local customers still have something to buy.

Expand online availability while protecting the shop floor.

One Order. Multiple Stores When Necessary.

When no single store holds enough eligible inventory, FC Collects can source the shortage across several approved locations and route those units toward your designated fulfillment location. Multi-location sourcing can be enabled or disabled to match your operation.

Customer orders 4 units

Fulfillment warehouse: 0
Store A can contribute: 2
Store B can contribute: 1
Store C can contribute: 1
Units sourced: 4

Inventory doesn't have to exist in one location to support the order.

Automation With Guardrails

FC Collects automates inventory sourcing inside the rules your business defines.

Choose what participates

Control eligible locations, collections, products, and individual variants.

Protect store inventory

Maintain minimum store inventory and protect the last available unit.

Control where inventory comes from

Define eligible source locations and sourcing priorities — location priority, most available stock, or fewest transfers.

Source across multiple stores

Allow several eligible locations to contribute when no single store can cover the shortage.

Put limits around automation

Control transfer quantities and other operational limits so automation stays within scale you accept.

Choose which sales channels participate

Determine which supported online sales channels may trigger Auto Transfers, keeping Point of Sale activity separate.

You define the guardrails. FC Collects handles the sourcing workflow inside them.

From Shortage to Transfer

FC Collects doesn't just point at another location. For each enabled Virtual Inventory item, it allocates the units, commits them to the transfer, creates the auto transfer, and tracks that transfer through receiving.

FC Collects — Auto Transfer detail

Order	Variant	Required	Warehouse short	Source location	Units sourced
#1042	Everyday Knit Crew — Oatmeal / M	4	4	Retail — Downtown	2
#1042	Everyday Knit Crew — Oatmeal / M	4	4	Retail — Northside	2

Transfer

#T3503

Retail — Downtown → Fulfillment warehouse

Transfer

#T3504

Retail — Northside → Fulfillment warehouse

Transfer status

Draft
In Progress
Ready to Ship
In Transit
Received

Representative FC Collects interface, generated from a paid online order. Example values shown for illustration; actual merchant results vary.

Inventory Is Protected as Soon as It Is Allocated

Once FC Collects selects inventory for an Auto Transfer, those units are committed to the transfer so the same available inventory is not allocated again to another Virtual Inventory order. The Shopify source inventory becomes committed to the transfer as it is placed into Ready to Ship, which is how the units stop being treated as freely available.

The physical units remain at the source location until they are shipped or otherwise moved. Commitment protects the allocation operationally; it does not falsely represent the inventory as already being at the destination. Physical inventory stays at the source, committed inventory is reserved for the transfer, and transferred inventory is what has actually moved and been received.

How a shortage becomes a fulfilled order

1Online order received
2Check fulfillment location
3Identify shortage
4Search approved locations
5Select source location(s)
6Allocate required units
7Commit source inventory
8Create transfer
9Move inventory
10Receive at warehouse
11Fulfill order

Automation modes and day-to-day operations

Automatic transfer

FC Collects creates the transfer as soon as a qualifying order needs it.

Approval required

You get a recommendation and decide before anything moves.

Manual only

Nothing is created automatically; the shortage is surfaced for your team.

Transfer management

Bulk actions, receiving, and status tracking for the transfers your orders generate.

Transfer exceptions

Cases that cannot be sourced enter a shared exception workflow with the reason recorded.

Packing slips and package labels

Print what the store needs to send units, individually or in bulk.

FC Collects Didn't Just Find the Inventory. It Created the Transfer.

During the measured active period, 58 orders required inventory sourced through Virtual Inventory. FC Collects created 58 Auto Transfers, while the merchant's team created zero transfers manually.

58
Orders Sourced: 58
Auto Transfers Created: 100%
Sourced Orders Automatically Transferred: 0
Manual Transfers Required

The merchant defined the inventory rules. FC Collects handled the sourcing and transfer workflow when qualifying order demand occurred — from shortage detection and source selection through committing the units and creating the transfer to the designated fulfillment location.

The merchant decides what inventory can participate. FC Collects handles what happens when an order needs it.

See how 58 orders resulted in 58 Auto Transfers

Results reflect an anonymized multi-location sporting goods retailer's actual recorded activity during the September 5–9, 2026 measured active period. Results are not projections or performance guarantees.

Auto Transfer questions merchants ask

What triggers an automatic inventory transfer?: A qualifying paid online order that creates a shortage at your designated fulfillment location. FC Collects then creates an auto transfer for each enabled Virtual Inventory item, sourcing eligible inventory at approved source locations.
Can FC Collects source inventory from multiple stores?: Yes. When enabled, a single shortage can be covered by several eligible locations if no one store has enough units.
Can I protect minimum inventory at each store?: Yes. You can set a minimum number of units to keep at each location and protect the last available unit on the shelf.
Can I choose which locations supply inventory?: Yes. You choose the eligible source locations and the sourcing priority — location priority, most available stock, or fewest transfers.
Does every retail store have to fulfill online orders?: No. Stores prepare an internal transfer to your fulfillment location instead of picking, packing, and shipping customer orders.

Automation with guardrails

FC Collects turns distributed Shopify inventory into an executable fulfillment workflow — from online availability to source allocation to inventory transfer, inside the rules you define.