Shopify Inventory Transfers Between Locations: A Practical Guide
How to move stock between Shopify locations with transfers: statuses, receiving, transfers vs adjustments, and the multi-location mistakes to avoid before peak season.
In this guide
The short answer: to move stock from one Shopify location to another, use a transfer, not two manual adjustments. A transfer records where the units left, where they are going and whether they arrived, and it moves them through Shopify’s inventory states for you. Two adjustments only change two numbers, with nothing linking them.
This guide covers how transfers work in Shopify admin as of October 2026, how to receive them, when an adjustment is the better tool, and common multi-location mistakes.
One thing to settle first: a transfer moves stock between locations of one store. Separate Shopify stores do not share locations or inventory, so moving units from one store to another is a different job. For that, see how to keep inventory in sync across multiple Shopify stores.
What a transfer is
Shopify describes transfers as a way to move and track inventory between your store locations, or between a location and an external one such as a supplier. When you process a transfer, shipments are created and managed for you (Shopify Help Center).
A few facts worth knowing before you start:
- Transfers live under Products > Transfers in Shopify admin.
- You can transfer between any of your locations, including ones that are not active for fulfillment.
- The origin or the destination can be left blank. That is how you record stock arriving from a supplier, or leaving for a place Shopify does not track.
- Transfers created by third-party apps also appear on the Transfers page, with their source shown.
- Since Stocky was retired on August 31, 2026, Shopify points former Stocky users to the Transfers page for this job (transitioning from Stocky).
Location limits depend on your plan. Shopify lists 2 active locations on Starter, 10 on Basic, Grow and Advanced, and 200 on Shopify Plus. Deactivated locations do not count toward the limit (location setup).
Transfer statuses and what they do to stock
Every transfer has one of five statuses. The important part is what each one does to the inventory states at the origin and the destination (creating and processing transfers).
| Status | What it means | Effect on inventory |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Saved, not processed | Nothing is committed. You can still edit or delete it |
| Ready to ship | Optional step before sending | Stock is committed at the origin |
| In progress | Sent with Move to in transit | Stock is incoming at the destination, ready to receive |
| Transferred | Everything received | Stock is available at the destination |
| Canceled | Stopped before it shipped | Committed items return to Available at the origin |
If committed and incoming are new to you, Shopify’s inventory states page explains them. In short: committed units are set aside and cannot be sold, and incoming units are not sellable until they are received.
That is the main reason to use Ready to ship. While boxes are being packed, the units are committed at the origin, so your online store stops selling stock that is about to leave the building.
How to create and send a transfer
- Go to Products > Transfers and click Create transfer.
- Choose an origin and a destination.
- Click Search products, select the products and click Add.
- Enter a quantity for each item in the Move column. Shopify shows the resulting change at both locations, which is your preview: read it.
- Add a reference name, note or tags if you use them. A reference that matches your packing slip saves time at receiving.
- Click Save. The transfer is now a Draft.
- When you are ready, open the transfer and either:
- choose Mark as ready to ship from the menu to commit the stock while you pack, or
- click Move to in transit when it leaves, or
- choose Mark as transferred if the goods have already been moved physically and you only need to record it.
For large transfers you can import products from a CSV file. Importing a variant already on the transfer overwrites its quantity.
Once a transfer has been processed, you cannot change its origin or destination. If you picked the wrong location, cancel it (if it is still Draft or Ready to ship) or duplicate it to a new Draft with the right locations.
Shipments and tracking
A transfer starts with one shipment. After Move to in transit you can add a tracking number, carrier, expected arrival date, a barcode staff can scan to open the receiving page, and a shipment cost such as freight or duties.
If you send goods in batches, a transfer can hold several shipments, each with its own ID (such as T289-1), tracking and receiving.
How to receive a transfer
Receiving is where the numbers either become right or quietly go wrong. Shopify’s steps (receiving and managing transfers):
- Open the transfer under Products > Transfers and click Receive items.
- For each item, choose a receive action and enter the quantity:
- Accept: the units become available at the destination.
- Reject: the units are recorded on the transfer but do not change inventory at any location.
- Cancel: for items that never left the origin. For a transfer between two of your locations, they return to the origin as available.
- To split one line, for example 18 good and 2 damaged, add a row with the plus icon and record each action separately. Add a comment to explain it.
- Click Save.
- If a product is not stocked at the destination, choose Stock and fulfill to make it sellable there, or Not now to record the quantity only.
A transfer stays In progress until every item has been received. If you made a mistake, use Manage received items on that shipment to correct it.
Two points that catch people out:
- Rejected units leave Shopify’s count. Rejecting does not put them back at the origin. If rejected stock physically exists somewhere, record it there yourself, for example with an adjustment into an unavailable state such as Damaged.
- Transferring to a location is not the same as selling from it. Shopify records the quantity, but the product is only sellable there if it is stocked at that location. Check step 5 every time a new product arrives at a shop or warehouse.
Transfers vs adjustments
Both change quantities at a location. They answer different questions.
| Situation | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Stock moving between two of your locations | Transfer | Origin and destination stay linked, with committed and incoming states on the way |
| Delivery from a supplier | Transfer with a blank origin, or a purchase order | Gives you a receiving step and a record of what arrived |
| A count shows a different number | Adjustment, Set to, reason Count | You know the exact number on the shelf |
| Damaged or lost units | Adjustment, Adjust by, reason Damaged or Theft or loss | Nothing is moving anywhere |
| Holding back safety stock | Adjustment into an unavailable state | Units stay on hand but stop being sold |
Shopify’s adjustment page lists the reasons you can choose on desktop: Correction, Count, Damaged, Promotion or donation, Received, Return restock, and Theft or loss. Set to sets an exact number; Adjust by adds or subtracts and needs an origin and a destination (adjusting inventory quantities).
The case for transfers is the audit trail. Minus 20 here and plus 20 there looks like two unrelated corrections; a transfer shows one movement, and you can find them later: Shopify’s Inventory adjustment changes report includes transfer changes, and a custom report can filter adjustments to transfers only (inventory reports, inventory adjustment reports).
Avoid the bulk editor for movements: Shopify notes it does not track inventory movements.
Multi-location pitfalls
| Pitfall | What happens | Prevention |
|---|---|---|
| Skipping Ready to ship | Units sell online while they are being packed to leave | Mark ready to ship when picking starts |
| Accepting the whole shipment without counting | Shortages become phantom stock at the destination | Count first, then accept what arrived and record the rest |
| Rejecting damaged units and forgetting them | They vanish from Shopify while still on a shelf | Adjust them into Damaged at the right location |
| Product not stocked at the destination | Quantity recorded but not sellable | Choose Stock and fulfill when receiving |
| Wrong location picked | Can’t be changed after processing | Check origin and destination in the Draft |
| Setting counts while a transfer is in transit | The count and the incoming units collide | Receive open transfers before a stocktake |
Shopify also notes that you cannot remove all stock from a location that has pending orders or transfers, and deactivating a location prompts you to move its inventory, orders and transfers elsewhere. Close out open transfers before you retire a location.
A routine before BFCM 2026
Black Friday is November 27, 2026 and Cyber Monday November 30. Transfers are a good way to put stock where it will sell, but late transfers are a common source of confusion in peak week.
- Decide where promoted stock should sit at least two weeks before the sale.
- Send transfers early and give each a reference you can match to the delivery.
- Receive everything before the freeze. Filter the Transfers list by status and clear anything still In progress or Ready to ship.
- Count the destination after receiving on your top sellers, and fix differences with a Count adjustment.
- Freeze non-urgent transfers over the peak weekend. Our guide to a change freeze for Shopify stores around Black Friday covers how.
The full list is in our BFCM 2026 checklist for multiple Shopify stores. If stock at one location is likely to run low during the sale, set up alerts beforehand: see low-stock alerts and reorder points across several stores. Moving stock closer to customers also shortens handling time, which feeds straight into your holiday shipping cutoff dates. And if you add wholesale, remember that a blended B2B store sells trade and retail orders from the same locations; see selling wholesale on Shopify.
If you run several stores
Transfers end at the edge of a store: each store has its own locations and counts.
Storefleet Store Ops does not create transfers or sync stock between stores. What it does is handle stock changes across stores: in its web dashboard, each store’s inventory change is previewed with its values before and after, approved for that store from one Approvals list, read back from Shopify after writing and rolled back where Shopify allows. For the routine, see how to manage multiple Shopify stores’ inventory without risky bulk edits.
FAQ
Can I transfer inventory between two separate Shopify stores?
No. Transfers move stock between locations of one store. Separate stores have their own locations and inventory, so you reduce stock in one and add it in the other, ideally with a record of both changes. See keeping inventory in sync across stores.
What happens to inventory when I mark a transfer ready to ship?
The units are committed at the origin, so they can no longer be sold from that location. When you move the transfer to in transit, they show as incoming at the destination until they are received.
Can I delete a transfer?
Only while it is a Draft. Once it is ready to ship, you cancel it instead, and committed items return to available at the origin. You can cancel transfers in Draft or Ready to ship status, and canceled transfers stay visible and can be duplicated.
What does rejecting an item on a transfer do?
The item is recorded on the transfer but does not change inventory at any location. If the rejected units still exist, record them at the right location yourself, for example as Damaged.
Should I use a transfer or an adjustment to fix a wrong count?
An adjustment, with Set to and the reason Count. Transfers are for stock that is physically moving. Use an adjustment when nothing moved and the number was simply wrong.