How It Works

A deeper look at the the Inventory API.

Inventory API process flow

Inventory unit counts are calculated by applying all the adjustments received since the last recorded physical count. If no physical count has been recorded, the adjustments are applied with an assumed starting unit quantity of zero.

Inventory changes (including changes due to sales transactions) can be sent to Square out of order. As a result, adjustments and physical count updates require a client-specified RFC 3339 timestamp (occurred_at) so the inventory history can be ordered correctly.

Consider a situation where the Square Point of Sale application processes transactions in offline mode while a custom inventory management solution makes inventory adjustments through the API.

Assume the related item variation starts with 100 IN_STOCK units.

Reconciliation with InventoryPhysicalCount

InventoryPhysicalCount should only be used to reconcile the inventory count computed by Square with the results of performing a physical count or syncing with a trusted external system. Do not use InventoryPhysicalCount to apply sequential adjustments to CatalogItemVariation quantities. Retrieving an InventoryCount from the server, modifying the count based on recent changes, and pushing the updated inventory count as an InventoryPhysicalCount forces Square to ignore changes that might have occurred in the interim and results in inaccurate tracking.

Consider the case where the Square Point of Sale application captures a sale after the InventoryCount request but before the InventoryPhysicalCount update.

Assume an application knows that 3 units were sold through a non-Square channel. The application calls the Inventory API and the InventoryCount result indicates 10 units in the IN_STOCK state. At the same time, the Square Point of Sale application captures a sale of 2 units and moves those 2 units from IN_STOCK to SOLD. There are now 8 units in the IN_STOCK state.

Based on the InventoryCount result, the application incorrectly believes there are currently 10 units in the IN_STOCK state. If the application uses InventoryPhysicalCount to reduce the IN_STOCK quantity by 3, the final quantity of IN_STOCK units is forced to be 7 units (10 IN_STOCK units − 3 units sold externally) when it should be 5 units (10 IN_STOCK units − 2 units sold through the Square Point of Sale application − 3 units sold externally).

The correct way to track sales through a non-Square system is to push an InventoryAdjustment that moves units from IN_STOCK to SOLD. Inventory adjustments force Square systems to apply inventory changes in the correct order rather than explicitly overwriting the count. For example, by subtracting the 3 units sold externally after subtracting the 2 units sold through the Square Point of Sale application.

Batched state transitions

Square servers record inventory operations based on timestamps provided by the communicating client and batched updates succeed or fail as atomic operations. For example, consider the case where a single request batches the following changes for a single item variation:

• 100 units move from the NONE state to the IN_STOCK state.

• 5 units move from the IN_STOCK state to the WASTE state.

• Record a physical count of 90 units.

Individual changes in a batched state are recorded based on their individual client timestamps, but they are applied (all or nothing) as a single request. Assuming that the inventory count for the targeted catalog item variation starts at zero:

If all three changes succeed, the new calculated inventory count for IN_STOCK units is 90. However, if any of the individual changes fail, the entire update fails and the calculated inventory count remains unchanged at zero.

Inventory quantities are also affected by Square payment APIs and Point of Sale applications. In the previous example, when the Square Point of Sale application records a transaction, it moves 3 units from the IN_STOCK state to the SOLD state. Assuming that the transaction timestamp places it after the batch update succeeds, the new calculated inventory count for IN_STOCK units is 87 units.

Special InventoryState values

NONE

The NONE state is not a true inventory state. NONE is a from_state placeholder to represent the fact that a given CatalogItemVariation was introduced as new inventory. Inventory quantities can be transitioned from the NONE state, but cannot be transitioned to the NONE state.

IN_STOCK

The IN_STOCK state does not represent a pool of available items decremented over time. Item variation quantities move into, and out of, the IN_STOCK state as they do with other states. In general, when quantities move between states, the total quantity for that item variation across all states does not change. For example, consider the item variation "Small Leather Collar" with a total of 100 units. Initially all 100 units are in the IN_STOCK state. If 3 units become damaged, there are still 100 units at the end of the day: 97 units in the IN_STOCK state and 3 in the WASTE state. The IN_STOCK state is only special in that the Square Point of Sale application and Seller Dashboard use the quantity of item variations with the IN_STOCK state to determine the number of units currently available for sale.

SOLD

SOLD is a terminal state. When inventory items move to the SOLD state, the units are no longer explicitly tracked. Transferring quantities from SOLD to some other state introduces a new quantity into inventory rather than changing the quantity in the SOLD state. For example, consider the case where "Small Leather Collar" has 100 units in the IN_STOCK state. If 5 units are sold online and 3 units are sold in the store, there are 92 units tracked. If a customer returns 2 units to the store, there are 94 units tracked: 92 units with the IN_STOCK state and 2 units with the RETURNED_BY_CUSTOMER state.

Supported state transitions

Inventory state transitions represent real world changes to inventory quantities. As a result, some state changes are permitted (such as, IN_STOCK to SOLD) while others are not (such as, WASTE to RETURNED_BY_CUSTOMER). Square supports the following inventory state transitions:

In addition to the support state transitions, the Inventory API might return additional read-only states as part of the change history for a given item variation. Transitions to or from read-only states can only be triggered from within Square products.

Automatic IN_STOCK adjustments

If inventory tracking is enabled in the Square Seller Dashboard, completing an itemized transaction with Square products automatically moves the quantity sold from the IN_STOCK state to the SOLD state.

For example, consider a Payment API request that references an Order object containing three catalog line items: a small leather dog collar, a 5-foot retractable leash, and Chewy chicken trainer treats.

When the Charge endpoint processes the transaction, Square automatically adjusts the IN_STOCK quantities by moving 1 unit of the small leather dog collar from IN_STOCK to SOLD, 1 unit of the 5-foot retractable leash from IN_STOCK to SOLD, and 2 units of Chewy chicken trainer treats from IN_STOCK to SOLD.

ignore_unchanged_counts flag

Requests to the BatchChangeInventory endpoint include an ignore_unchanged_counts flag. The ignore_unchanged_counts flag tells Square to skip updates for the CatalogItemVariation if nothing has changed. When the new physical count for a CatalogItemVariation is the same as the previous physical count and no InventoryAdjustment requests have been received between the two physical counts, the physical count update is skipped. The ignore_unchanged_counts flag lets third-party systems push potentially redundant inventory counts to Square without polluting the Seller Dashboard with unnecessary adjustments.

ignore_unchanged_counts is enabled by default so developers do not inadvertently spam Square servers with redundant InventoryPhysicalCount requests. Do not disable the ignore_unchanged_counts flag unless the associated InventoryPhysicalCount request represents a true reconciliation, such as an actual physical count by a person.