# What exactly does "quantity" in inventory changes mean?

**URL:** <https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/what-exactly-does-quantity-in-inventory-changes-mean/228>\
**Category:** Questions\
**Tags:** inventory-api\
**Created:** [May 11, 2020, 10:50pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/what-exactly-does-quantity-in-inventory-changes-mean/228 "2020-05-11T22:50:05Z")\
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**Author:** ![franklyn-faire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/45deac/32.png) [@franklyn-faire](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/franklyn-faire)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2020, 11:04pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/what-exactly-does-quantity-in-inventory-changes-mean/228/3 "2020-05-11T23:04:27Z")

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does that mean PHYSICAL\_COUNT “resets” the inventory to the number (AKA quantity is an absolute number), whereas adjustments are relative to the current count?

furthermore, whether an adjustment increments or decrements the inventory count would need to be inferred from the TO\_STATE and FROM\_STATE.

For instance, going from in stock -\> sold is decrement, whereas going from none -\> in stock is an increment.

Other states include:

- `RETURNED_BY_CUSTOMER`
- `RESERVED_FOR_SALE`
- `SOLD_ONLINE`

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