What is Virtual Inventory for Shopify?

Virtual Inventory lets eligible products stay purchasable online using inventory held at approved Shopify locations, even when your designated fulfillment warehouse is at zero.

Does FC Collects move Shopify inventory to the warehouse before an order is placed?

No. Inventory stays assigned to the Shopify location that physically holds it until it is transferred, received, adjusted, or sold. FC Collects only calculates how much eligible inventory can support online demand.

Can I choose which products participate in Virtual Inventory?

Yes. Inventory is excluded by default and you opt in through locations, collections, individual products, or specific variants.

Can I enable individual Shopify variants?

Yes. Eligibility can be set down to a single size, color, or SKU without enabling the rest of the product.

How does FC Collects protect store inventory?

You can hold back a minimum number of units at each location and protect the last unit on the shelf, so only the remaining eligible units support online demand.

What is Virtual Inventory Opportunity?

Virtual Inventory Opportunity analyzes inventory across your Shopify locations and identifies eligible inventory that is not currently participating in Virtual Inventory — how many units, which locations, which products and variants, and the potential retail value. It is an opportunity analysis, not guaranteed revenue, and it never enables inventory on its own.

When does FC Collects create an auto transfer?

An auto transfer is created for each enabled Virtual Inventory item when a qualifying paid online order creates a shortage at the designated fulfillment location. FC Collects selects the source location, commits the required units, and creates the transfer to the fulfillment location.

Shopify Virtual Inventory

Turn Selected Store Inventory Into Online Availability

When your designated fulfillment warehouse runs out, eligible products can stay purchasable online using inventory held at approved locations. Inventory remains assigned to its actual physical Shopify location until it is transferred, received, adjusted, or sold — nothing is represented as sitting in the warehouse before it moves.

Start excluded: enable exactly what should participate
Protect minimum store inventory and the last unit on the shelf
Reservations prevent the same unit being promised twice
Source-location rules and priority decide where units come from

See Your Virtual Inventory Opportunity Explore inventory allocation

See the Opportunity Before You Enable It

FC Collects can analyze inventory across participating Shopify locations and identify eligible inventory that is not currently enabled for Virtual Inventory. This gives you visibility into what could support online availability before you decide what to activate.

Inventory Not Enabled

Eligible units that are not currently participating in Virtual Inventory.

Potential Revenue Opportunity

Retail value of eligible inventory that could potentially become available online. Potential, not guaranteed.

Virtual Inventory Coverage

The percentage of eligible inventory value currently participating in Virtual Inventory.

Opportunity by location

See which locations hold eligible inventory that is not supporting online availability.

Opportunity by product

See products, variants, available quantities, protected quantities, eligible quantities, status, online price, and potential value.

Decide what's next

Review the opportunity and answer the practical question: which inventory should I enable next?

Opportunity identifies what could participate. You decide what actually participates.

An opt-in model, by design

In FC Collects, inventory is excluded from Virtual Inventory until you enable it. You opt in through collections, individual products, or specific variants, so participation is a deliberate decision rather than an exclusion list you have to maintain. If you want most of your store inventory participating, an exclusion-oriented approach may be simpler; if you want only selected merchandise participating, enabling exactly what you choose is more direct.

Locations

Choose which stores and warehouses may contribute inventory to online availability.

Collections

Opt in a whole collection when a merchandising group should participate.

Products

Enable single products without touching the rest of the catalog.

Variants

Go down to specific sizes, colors, or SKUs.

Minimum store inventory

Hold back a floor of units at each location so the shop floor stays stocked.

Last-unit protection

Never move the final unit off a store shelf.

You Don't Have to Enable the Entire Catalog

In the merchant case study, the sporting goods retailer enabled Virtual Inventory on just 30 selected variants across two retail locations.

30
Selected Variants Participating: 2
Retail Source Locations: 58
Orders Sourced

Opportunity

Surfaces what could participate across your Shopify locations.

Merchant decision

You decide what actually participates — collections, products, or single variants.

Virtual Inventory

Makes the selected eligible inventory available to support online demand.

Auto Transfers

Moves the required units when qualifying orders occur.

Selective by design. Automated when demand occurs.

See how 30 selected variants performed

Results reflect the merchant's actual recorded activity during the September 5–9, 2026 measured active period. Results are not projections or performance guarantees.

A simple example

Warehouse: 0
Retail Location 1: 3
Retail Location 2: 2

The merchant protects one unit at each store, so eligible Virtual Inventory is 3 units. Those 3 units can support online purchases. When an order converts, FC Collects creates an auto transfer for the enabled Virtual Inventory item — selecting the source location, committing the required units, and moving them to the fulfillment warehouse.

Inventory remains assigned to the Shopify location that physically holds it. FC Collects calculates how much eligible inventory can support online demand without representing that inventory as physically sitting in the fulfillment warehouse.

See What Becomes Available

FC Collects calculates eligible Virtual Inventory across participating locations after applying the rules you define.

FC Collects — Virtual Inventory eligibility

Product	Variant	SKU	Physical location	Physical available	Protected	Virtual available	Eligibility
Everyday Knit Crew	Oatmeal / M	EKC-OAT-M	Retail — Downtown	3	1	2	Enabled
Everyday Knit Crew	Oatmeal / M	EKC-OAT-M	Retail — Northside	2	1	1	Enabled
Everyday Knit Crew	Oatmeal / M	EKC-OAT-M	Fulfillment warehouse	0	0	0	Destination
Trail Runner Low	Black / 10	TRL-BLK-10	Retail — Downtown	1	1	0	Last unit protected
Heavyweight Hoodie	Bone / L	HWH-BON-L	Retail — Northside	4	2	2	Enabled
Nylon Coach Jacket	Navy / S	NCJ-NVY-S	Retail — Downtown	6	—	0	Not enabled

Representative FC Collects interface. Physical available is the quantity Shopify holds at that location; virtual available is what remains after your protections are applied. Example values shown for illustration; actual merchant results vary.

From Availability to Inventory Movement

Virtual Inventory determines what can be sold. When a qualifying order creates a shortage, FC Collects creates an auto transfer for each enabled Virtual Inventory item — selecting the source location, committing the required units, and creating the transfer to the designated fulfillment location.

1Virtual availability
2Customer purchases
3Source selected
4Units committed
5Transfer created
6Inventory moves
7Fulfillment location receives

Virtual Inventory makes eligible units available for sale. Auto Transfers turns that availability into an operational inventory movement after demand occurs.

What you can measure

Actual results and potential opportunity are reported separately, and never combined into a single figure.

Actual

Revenue Enabled: Actual merchandise sales generated through Virtual Inventory.
Orders Saved: Paid orders fulfilled using Virtual Inventory.
Units Sourced: Units sourced through Virtual Inventory.
Virtual Inventory Enabled Value (VIEV): Retail value currently made available through Virtual Inventory.
Enabled Inventory Conversion: Revenue Enabled relative to the retail value made available through Virtual Inventory.
VI Units Activated: Units activated through Virtual Inventory against your plan capacity.

Potential — Virtual Inventory Opportunity

Inventory Not Enabled: Eligible inventory that is not currently participating in Virtual Inventory.
Potential Revenue Opportunity: Retail value of eligible inventory that could potentially be made available online. Potential, not guaranteed.
Virtual Inventory Coverage: The percentage of eligible inventory value currently participating in Virtual Inventory. Coverage measures participation, not performance.

Virtual Inventory questions merchants ask

What is Virtual Inventory for Shopify?: Virtual Inventory lets eligible products stay purchasable online using inventory held at approved Shopify locations, even when your designated fulfillment warehouse is at zero.
Does FC Collects move Shopify inventory to the warehouse before an order is placed?: No. Inventory stays assigned to the Shopify location that physically holds it until it is transferred, received, adjusted, or sold. FC Collects only calculates how much eligible inventory can support online demand.
Can I choose which products participate in Virtual Inventory?: Yes. Inventory is excluded by default and you opt in through locations, collections, individual products, or specific variants.
Can I enable individual Shopify variants?: Yes. Eligibility can be set down to a single size, color, or SKU without enabling the rest of the product.
How does FC Collects protect store inventory?: You can hold back a minimum number of units at each location and protect the last unit on the shelf, so only the remaining eligible units support online demand.
What is Virtual Inventory Opportunity?: Virtual Inventory Opportunity analyzes inventory across your Shopify locations and identifies eligible inventory that is not currently participating in Virtual Inventory — how many units, which locations, which products and variants, and the potential retail value. It is an opportunity analysis, not guaranteed revenue, and it never enables inventory on its own.
When does FC Collects create an auto transfer?: An auto transfer is created for each enabled Virtual Inventory item when a qualifying paid online order creates a shortage at the designated fulfillment location. FC Collects selects the source location, commits the required units, and creates the transfer to the fulfillment location.

Find out how much availability your locations could add

Review your eligible inventory and the online availability it could create under your own rules.

See Your Virtual Inventory Opportunity Compare with Shopify Store Transfers

Integrated with Shopify. FC Collects, Inc. is an independent inventory operations platform.