Use ShipStation’s internal inventory tools to track stock levels and keep your shipping operations organized. This article will guide you through how to set up inventory warehouses, link them to Ship From Locations, and manage your product stock within ShipStation.
ShipStation Inventory includes a variety of features to help you tailor your shipping and inventory workflow, such as:
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Inventory Locations on Packing Slips - Make it easier to locate items during picking and packing.
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Lot Tracking - Track expiration dates and automatically allocate lots to orders using FIFO allocation.
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Inventory Sync - Keep stock levels up to date across select order sources.
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Reorder Thresholds - Get alerts when stock drops below a set level.
Set up internal inventory in ShipStation and start tracking your stock levels.
For ShipStation to track your stock levels, you need to create at least one Inventory Warehouse and link it as an Inventory source to one of your Ship From Locations. Think of this as the physical location where you store your inventory.
You can also configure your Inventory Warehouse to mirror your actual warehouse layout (for example, if your warehouse is separated into aisles, rows, and bins). By adding Locations, you can have ShipStation show specifically where each item is located (for example, Toy A is located in B-24-7).
Ship From Location Requirement
To link a Ship From Location, you’ll first need to create a Ship From Location.
A Ship From Location includes:
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The shipment origin address
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The return address
This information is required to receive accurate rates from shipping carriers.
To link the Inventory Warehouse as the Inventory Source to a Ship From Location:
There are two ways to confirm that your Shipped From Location is linked.
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Go to Settings > Inventory Management > Inventory Warehouses, and look for a checkmark in the Linked to Ship From column. This checkmark indicates that the warehouse is linked to a Ship From Location.
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Go to Settings > Inventory Management > Inventory Warehouses. Click the Actions menu next to the warehouse, then click Edit. You’ll see a list of all Linked Ship From Locations that use this Inventory Warehouse as an inventory source.
Once your internal inventory is set up, ShipStation provides tools to help you track, organize, and maintain accurate stock levels. This section covers how to enable key features, update stock counts, and optimize your warehouse layout to support efficient order fulfillment.
Before ShipStation can track inventory as you ship, you’ll need to set your initial stock counts. The best way to do this is by uploading a CSV file formatted with your stock levels and inventory locations.
To learn more, visit Set Your Initial Stock Counts.
To have ShipStation automatically deduct stock as you ship orders, you’ll need to enable inventory tracking for your products. You can turn this setting on either before or after entering your initial stock levels.
To enable Inventory Tracking:
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Click Edit in Configurations.
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Click the Allow Inventory Tracking toggle to turn on inventory tracking.
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Click Save Changes.
Disable Inventory Tracking: To pause inventory tracking and clear any allocated orders, toggle off Allow Inventory Tracking. You can turn it back on at any time when you're ready to resume.
Inventory Sync helps keep your stock levels accurate across connected platforms by automatically updating inventory as orders are shipped or restocked.
To learn more, visit Enable Inventory Sync.
You can view your inventory stock levels at the product level, the order level, and in the shipping sidebar.
To learn more, visit View Internal Inventory Stock Counts.
To create Inventory Warehouse Locations:
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Go to Settings > Inventory Management > Inventory Warehouses.
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Click the Actions menu for the warehouse and then select Manage Locations.
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Click Add Location in the Inventory Warehouse window.
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Enter all of this warehouse’s Inventory Locations in the boxes when they appear.
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Repeat this process for all the locations you need to add.
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Click Save for each location you create.
To adjust the Inventory Warehouse layout:
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Click the Actions menu (three dots) and select Manage Locations from the drop-down menu for the Inventory Warehouse you just created.
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Click the Warehouse Layout drop-down in the top right of the pop-up window.
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Configure how detailed you want your inventory locations to be for each warehouse.
The options are Area, Unit, Shelf, and Bin.
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Check as many options from the Warehouse Layout drop-down (Area, Unit, Shelf, and Bin) as apply to your warehouse.