Stock holds (reserved stock)

When a customer orders on your website or gets a payment link, LiteShop holds (reserves) those items for them. Held items stay in your stock, but nobody else can buy them: not another customer online, not another payment link, and not the register — so you never take money for an item you no longer have.

Stock holds work on every plan. Shops that don't sell online or with payment links see no change.

#How holds work

• Available = in stock − held. The website, the marketplace and the register all use the same number. The app shows it as "12 in stock · 3 held".
• Holds are served first come, first served: the customer who started first keeps the item. If stock goes down later (a count, a transfer, an offline sale), the newest holds lose their items first; when stock comes back, the oldest waiting holds get it first.
• A hold never changes your stock count. Stock goes down only when the sale is made (the order is rung up, the payment link is confirmed).
• Items sold by weight are held in exact weight (for example 0.750 kg) on payment links. Digital items with codes hold a code from the pool the same way.

#Website checkout

1. When a customer opens checkout, the items in the cart are held for a short time (15 minutes by default) — the page says so.
2. If an item has just sold out, the customer is told before paying ("Sorry, this just sold out — remove it to continue").
3. Placing the order turns the checkout hold into the order's hold, with the same place in the queue.

If the customer waits too long, the hold ends and the items are free again; LiteShop tries to hold them again as soon as the customer continues.

#Website orders

• A new order keeps its items while it waits for payment — 48 hours by default.
• As soon as the customer sends the payment, or you accept the order, the items stay held until you ring it up, complete or cancel it.
• An order paid by QR (or by a method that asks for a screenshot) that is not paid in time is cancelled automatically ("not paid in time"); a manager can Reopen it. Cash on delivery and pay-at-pickup orders are not cancelled — they only lose the hold.
• Ring up an order as usual: the sale uses the order's held items first.

If the order's items are sold or counted away, the order shows Stock for this order was sold or counted away. The customer can't pay until you have the stock again.

#Payment links

• Send to customer holds the cart's items for the customer until the link expires (24 hours by default). When the customer chooses cash on delivery or sends a payment, the items stay held until you confirm or cancel the link.
• If an item isn't free (sold or held for someone else), the link can't be sent. An owner or manager can send it as a pre-order with a reason (and an optional expected date): the customer can pay now, new stock is held for the pre-order first, and you get an alert when it can be prepared. See Pre-orders.
• Cancel link gives the items back. Edit only needs the extra items to be free.

#Selling held items at the register

If the cart needs items that are held for an online order or a payment link, the sale stops and shows who holds them ("Held for online order ABCDE-12345").

• Cashiers: ask a manager.
• Owners and managers: tap Sell anyway and give a reason. The sale is made, the order or link that lost its items is marked, and you get an alert.

Sales made while the register is offline are always kept (the customer already paid). If they used held items, the sale is flagged and the affected orders show the problem.

#Items in a register's cart

What a register puts in its cart is held too, so another register, a website customer or a payment link can't sell the same last items while you ring them up.

• Adding to the cart always works. If an item isn't free (another register's cart, a website checkout or a payment link holds it), the line says Only 1 free — 2 held elsewhere. Charging more than is free stops with the "held" message; an owner or manager can Sell anyway.
• While the register is in use the cart keeps its items. After 30 minutes without anyone using the register (closed browser, register switched off), they go back on sale.
• A saved (open) ticket keeps its items for 2 hours. After that the ticket says Stock no longer reserved — check before charging: when you open it, LiteShop holds what is still free.
• Clearing the cart, removing a line or deleting the ticket gives the items back at once. Charging the sale uses the held items. Send to customer moves them to the payment link.
• Offline, the register can't hold items: the cart works as usual and shows Offline: stock not reserved. Back online, the cart's items are held again.

#Release a hold

An owner or manager can Release hold on an online order or a payment link (with a reason) to let other customers and the register have the items. The order or link stays open: if the customer pays later and the items are still free, they are held again; otherwise the customer is told the items are no longer available.

Hold again tries to take the items back for an order or link whose hold ended.

#When stock changes

• Stock counts, adjustments and damage are always allowed — they record what is really on the shelf. If they leave less than is held, the newest holds lose their items and you get an alert.
• Transfers to another shop ask a manager before moving held items.
• Receiving stock and refunds with restock give items to the oldest waiting holds first; their alerts close by themselves.
• A batch that expires no longer covers holds.

#Alerts

You find them in Alerts and in your notifications.

#Settings

Owners and managers can change, for the whole company:

• Checkout hold — how long a website checkout keeps the cart (5–60 minutes, default 15).
• Unpaid order hold — how long a new, unpaid website order keeps its items (1–168 hours, default 48).
• Most per item online — the most units of one item a customer can order on the website (default 20), so nobody can hold all your stock.
• Reserve stock in carts — on by default. Switch it off if your registers should not hold what is in their carts.