🔧 Quick Info: This tool updates inventory across many products at once from a spreadsheet. Upload a file with SKU and inventory settings (stock level, low stock threshold, tracking, visibility, availability, order limits), and we’ll apply the changes to your products or variants.
What It Does
Update Inventory lets you update stock and related inventory settings across many products at once by uploading a single file. You list your products by SKU and the values you want, and the tool finds each matching product (or variant) in BigCommerce and applies the changes. You can update stock level, low stock warning threshold, inventory tracking method, product visibility, availability status (available, disabled, or preorder), minimum order quantity, and maximum order quantity. The tool matches rows by SKU – it first looks for a matching product, and if it doesn’t find one there it checks your product variants, so both simple products and variant-level SKUs are covered. SKUs that can’t be found are skipped and reported back so you know exactly what didn’t update.
When Should You Use This?
Use this tool whenever you need to update inventory and related settings in bulk. Common scenarios include doing a stock count and needing to push updated quantities into BigCommerce, receiving fresh inventory numbers from a warehouse or supplier feed on a regular basis, wanting to hide out-of-stock items or flip products to preorder in bulk, or needing to set or adjust low-stock warning levels or order quantity limits across many products.
Before You Get Started
- Make sure the products you want to update already exist in BigCommerce. This tool updates existing products matched by SKU.
- Have your file ready as a CSV or Excel spreadsheet where the first row contains column headers.
- Every row needs a SKU. Include at least one of the optional inventory columns for the update to do anything.
- For text-style fields (tracking, visibility, purchasability), use the accepted values listed in the reference table.
- This is a paid add-on. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you’ll be prompted to subscribe before you can run an update.
How to Use It
1 Open the Tool
Navigate to the Update Inventory tool in your Your Store Wizards dashboard for your BigCommerce store.
2 Upload Your File
On the Upload Inventory step, upload your CSV or Excel file. The first row must contain your column headers, including SKU and at least one of the optional inventory columns.
3 Map Your Columns
Once the file is uploaded, the tool shows the column mapping area. Match each column in your file to the matching field. At minimum, you need to map SKU.
4 Confirm Email Address
On the Email Delivery step, confirm your email address. It’s filled in by default so you’ll be notified when the import finishes. Change it if you’d like.
5 Start the Update
Start the import. The work runs in the background, so you don’t need to keep the page open. When it’s done, you’ll get an email confirming the import has completed. If any rows couldn’t be updated, an error report is included so you can review them.
File and Field Reference
Your file’s first row must be headers. During upload you map each of your columns to the fields below. SKU is required; include at least one of the optional columns. Each value replaces the current value for that field on the matched product or variant. Leave a cell blank (or omit the column) to leave that setting untouched. Note that some settings apply only to products (not individual variants): inventory tracking, visibility, purchasability, and minimum/maximum order quantity. Stock level and low stock level can be updated on both products and variants.
| Column Name | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Inventory Stock Level | No | The new stock quantity. Must be a number. Applies to products and variants. |
| Low Stock Level | No | The warning threshold for low stock. Must be a number. Applies to products and variants. |
| Maximum Order Quantity | No | Largest quantity a customer can order. Must be a whole number. Product-level only. |
| Minimum Order Quantity | No | Smallest quantity a customer can order. Must be a whole number. Product-level only. |
| Product Is Visible | No | Whether the product shows in your storefront. Accepts yes (or y/true/1) or no (or n/false/0). Product-level only. |
| Purchasability | No | Availability state. Accepts available (or a/in stock), disabled (or d/out of stock), or preorder (or p/pre-order). Product-level only. |
| Sku | Yes | Identifies the product or variant to update. Must match a SKU already in BigCommerce. Matching is not case-sensitive. |
| Track Inventory | No | How inventory is tracked. Accepts product (or p), variant (or v), or none (or n/no). Product-level only. |
Troubleshooting
Some SKUs say “not found in BigCommerce”
That SKU wasn’t matched to any product or variant in your store, so it was skipped. Check the SKU matches exactly what’s in BigCommerce and that the product still exists.
My tracking/visibility/purchasability values didn’t take
These fields only accept specific values (see the reference table). Anything else is ignored for that row. Also remember these particular settings apply to products, not individual variants.
I set a variant’s stock but a product setting didn’t change
Stock level and low stock level work on both products and variants, but tracking, visibility, purchasability, and order quantity limits are product-level only.
The button says “Subscribe To Update Inventory”
This is a paid add-on and your subscription isn’t active yet. Subscribe to enable the importer.
I got an API permission error
This usually means the tool needs to be reconnected or re-authorized with your store. Check out our guide on resolving API permission errors.
Nothing happened after I clicked start
The import runs in the background and emails you when it’s complete. Give it a few minutes, then check the inbox for the address shown on the Email Delivery step.