Live Sold-Out Updates
Live menu data and sold-out updates is an optional POS Cafe setting that keeps a live list of the items sold out at each location, including modifiers. The POS Cafe online ordering menu uses this list to stop selling items that have run out, and brings them back once they’re restocked. It’s off by default.
Turn it on or off
Section titled “Turn it on or off”- Go to Settings → General Online Ordering Settings.
- Find the Live menu data and sold-out updates card.
- Select Turn on. The card’s badge changes from Off to On.
To turn it off, select Turn off on the same card. Turning it off removes the sold-out list.
The same card also appears on the Cloudshelf page (Settings → Integrations → Cloudshelf). It’s a single setting, so turning it on or off in either place changes it for both online ordering and Cloudshelf kiosks. See Cloudshelf Kiosks.
How quickly it updates
Section titled “How quickly it updates”| Event | What happens |
|---|---|
| An item sells out at a location | It’s removed from sale there within seconds. |
| The item is back in stock | It’s added back within about 15 minutes. |
| You publish your menu | The whole list is rebuilt. |
| Regular maintenance | The whole list is also rebuilt automatically every day or two. |
While the setting is on, the card shows how many items are currently sold out across your locations (for example, “3 items are currently sold out across your locations”, or “Nothing is currently sold out.”).
Which items count as sold out
Section titled “Which items count as sold out”- Tracked, stop-selling items: an item only counts as sold out when Shopify tracks its stock and it’s set to stop selling when out of stock.
- Items not stocked at a location: these count as sold out at that location.
- Continue-selling items: items set to keep selling when out of stock are never marked sold out.
Whether a sold-out product is hidden or shown as unavailable depends on the location’s Show out of stock / sold out items setting. See Locations: Hours, Order Types & Pickup.
How it works with local pickup
Section titled “How it works with local pickup”The online ordering menu picks the most up-to-date source of sold-out information available for each location:
- Live per-location stock: if the location has Shopify local pickup enabled, the menu reads real-time availability for that location directly from your store.
- The live sold-out list: if live per-location stock isn’t available (for example, local pickup is off), and this setting is on, the menu uses the live sold-out list.
- The last published list: otherwise, the menu uses the sold-out items captured the last time your menu was published, which can go out of date between publishes.
So this setting matters most for locations without local pickup. For how to enable local pickup, see Locations: Hours, Order Types & Pickup.
If a warning appears
Section titled “If a warning appears”- “Saved, but instant sold-out updates could not be set up”: the setting was saved, but instant updates couldn’t be set up. Sold-out lists still refresh when menus publish and during regular checks, and POS Cafe retries automatically.
- “Turned off. The sold-out list couldn’t be removed straight away”: the list will be removed when your menu next publishes, within a few minutes.
- “The setting could not be changed.”: try again. If it keeps happening, contact support.