How to set reserved stock for inventory items to reduce overselling

Overview

Reserved stock helps reduce the risk of overselling, especially for fast-moving or popular items. This is useful when multiple orders are placed at almost the same time and stock is deducted simultaneously.

When to use reserved stock

You may consider setting reserved stock for items that:

sell very quickly
are popular or best-selling products
are often ordered in large quantities
are sold actively during live selling sessions

How reserved stock helps

When reserved stock is set, part of the stock is kept as backup instead of being fully exposed as sellable stock. This helps reduce the risk of stock conflicts and out-of-stock situations.

Suggested reserved stock amount

For best-selling items or items that customers normally order in big quantities, you can reserve around 30% or more of the stock from sellable stock.

Other ways to reduce overselling

You can also reduce overselling risk by using stock sync percentage for each sales channel.

For example, if your sellable stock is 100 and your Shopee store stock sync percentage is set to 80%, only 80 will be synced to that store.

Overselling may not be completely avoidable in some cases, but you can minimize the risk by using features such as:

reserved stock
stock sync percentage
safety stock

Safety stock

Safety stock is a buffer inventory level used for inventory forecasting and restock planning. When Stock on Hand falls below the defined safety stock quantity, the item is considered low stock.

Safety stock helps you identify which products need replenishment earlier and reduces the risk of stockouts.

Lead time is the number of days needed to replenish stock. In inventory forecasting, lead time is used to project how much stock is needed during that period, while safety stock is the low stock threshold.

How to set Reserved Stock for local inventory

When Shopee campaign reserved stock is enabled, the campaign quantity is deducted from sellable stock and treated as campaign reserved stock. This keeps the campaign quantity separated from other channels and helps reduce overselling.

For example, if total stock is 20 and Shopee campaign reserved stock is 4:

4 units are reserved for the Shopee campaign
16 units remain available as sellable stock for other channels

If Shopee campaign reserved stock is not enabled, Shopee may continue using its campaign quantity while other channels still receive the full sellable stock, which may cause overselling.

Once the Shopee campaign or promotion ends, any remaining campaign reserved stock is released back into sellable stock. If part of the campaign stock was sold during the campaign, only the unsold balance returns. After the campaign ends, the campaign reserved stock amount becomes 0 until a new Shopee campaign reserves stock again.

Updated on: 11/05/2026

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