Every word below names one thing, and only that thing.
Most stock arguments are vocabulary arguments. Two people say "available" and mean two different numbers, and the disagreement survives the whole meeting. This page fixes each word to one meaning.
This page covers:
Every term, A to Z
| Term | What it means | Go deeper |
|---|---|---|
| Allocated | Stock already promised to an order that has not shipped yet. It is subtracted from what you can sell, never from what you physically hold. | When stock actually moves |
| Assemblable | How many finished units you could build right now from the components sitting in stock. Shown beside on hand for any product with a recipe. | The three numbers of a built product |
| Assembled product | A product built from other products, so it carries a bill of materials. Its components are consumed at the moment it is assembled. | Product types and stock modes |
| Available | What you can actually sell. For a plain product it is on hand minus allocated; for an assembled product, on hand plus assemblable minus allocated. | The three numbers of a built product |
| Bill of materials (BOM) | The recipe for an assembled product: which components go in, and how many of each per finished unit. Recipes can nest up to six levels deep. | Build a bill of materials |
| Channel | Somewhere you sell: an online store, a marketplace, a retail till. A product has to be linked to a channel before any stock number reaches it. | How stock reaches your channels |
| Consignee | A retail partner holding your stock in their shop and paying only for what sells. Their stock is counted, but never pushed to a storefront. | What each location type can do |
| Costing | The separate step that decides what a received unit cost you, after the supplier invoice arrives. Deliveries never wait for it. | Cost a receiving |
| Event location | A temporary stall or market that holds stock for a few days. It sells in person only, and is deactivated when the event ends. | What each location type can do |
| Fulfilment | The moment goods leave the building for a customer. It is the only routine event that reduces stock. | When stock actually moves |
| In transit | The state of a transfer that has left one location and has not yet been confirmed at the other. The units belong to neither shelf until then. | Move stock between locations |
| Inventory mode | What happens when stock hits zero: ready stock cannot be sold, on demand is made when ordered, hybrid sells stock first then falls back to making. | Product types and stock modes |
| Inventory type | Whether a product is physical, assembled or a service. It decides whether the product has a recipe and whether it holds stock at all. | Product types and stock modes |
| Ledger | The permanent list of every stock movement ever recorded. Entries are never edited and never deleted, only added to. | The stock ledger |
| Location type | What a place is allowed to do. Six exist: warehouse, retail counter, consignee, event, work-in-progress staging, and production partner. | What each location type can do |
| Moving average cost | The blended cost of one unit, recalculated when you cost a delivery: old stock at its old cost, new stock at the new price, averaged by quantity. | What a unit costs |
| On hand | The physical units at a location right now. If you counted the shelves, this is the number you should get. | The stock ledger |
| Production partner | An outside press or workshop holding raw material that you still own. A supplier can deliver straight to it, and material is consumed there. | Record production output |
| Purchase order | Your written order to a supplier: what you want, how many, at what price. It is a promise, not stock. | Raise a purchase order |
| Receiving | The record of one delivery arriving against a purchase order. Submitting it puts the units on the books immediately. | Receive a delivery |
| Service product | Intangible work bought from a supplier, such as die-cutting or binding. It is ordered on a purchase order and never enters stock. | Product types and stock modes |
| Snapshot | The running stock figure shown on screen. It is calculated from the ledger, not typed in, so it can always be rebuilt from scratch. | The stock ledger |
| Stock count | A physical recount at one location, compared against the app. Approving it writes the difference to the ledger as an adjustment. | Run a stock count |
| Sync | Sending your stock numbers out to a channel. It runs in the background through a queue, so it is quick but never instant. | How stock reaches your channels |
| Transfer | A move of stock from one of your locations to another. It writes two ledger entries: one out, one in. | Move stock between locations |
| Virtual stock | An older name for assemblable. Same number, same meaning; the screens say assemblable. | The three numbers of a built product |
| WIP location | A work-in-progress staging area holding components part-way through assembly. Nothing is sold from it and nothing is synced from it. | What each location type can do |
| Write-off | Removing damaged, expired or lost units from stock on purpose. It is a ledger entry with a reason, not an eraser. | The stock ledger |
Terms that are easy to confuse
These five pairs cause most of the misreadings.
| This | Is not this |
|---|---|
| Allocated — promised to an order, still on your shelf | Deducted — gone, because the order shipped |
| Inventory type — physical, assembled or service, and it drives stock behaviour | Product type — a free-text label shown on your storefront, which drives nothing |
| On hand — what the shelf holds | Available — what you can still sell |
| Assemblable — units you could build from components | On hand — units already built and boxed |
| Received on a purchase order — the whole order arrived | Received on a receiving — this one delivery was recorded |
The full reasoning behind the words this app avoids is on Words we use.
Explore
The words this app deliberately does not use. Why "verify" left the warehouse floor, and why one display field must never drive inventory. Learn more →
What each status means. Every status pill on every list, and what usually comes next. Learn more →
What this app does. The one-page answer, if you have just arrived. Learn more →