thread Re: Stock Management: What does "on hand" mean? in Orders, Menu Items, Catalog & Fulfilment

Stock Management: What does "on hand" mean?

Forginthecraft — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 22:17:38 GMT

Hi All,

I have been off this last week because I was ill, so I thought I would catch up on a little work tonight. I updated some items in my square online items and I noticed by chance really that in the stock section it now says "3 on hand 3 available". What does this mean? What is the difference between on hand and available?

I don't remember seeing a notification telling me about this update - in fact I haven't received any notifications on all the updates that have been happening in Square online for quite some time now, so I keep finding stuff out by chance.
Can anyone enlighten me on this one at least please? Thank you!

Re: Stock Management: What does "on hand" mean?

k_atie — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 16:12:16 GMT

Hey @Forginthecraft, thanks for your post. Great question!

Just to clarify - which products are you seeing this feature on exactly? Can you share a screenshot of what you are seeing? I'm not seeing anything similar on my dummy account so if I could have a visual of what you are seeing, that would be very helpful in my investigation. Thanks!

Re: Stock Management: What does "on hand" mean?

Forginthecraft — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 17:49:20 GMT

Hi @k_atie
Thanks for getting back to me.
Here are 2 screenshots, one for a single item and the other for one that has multiple options.
I can't show you what it was like before because all of my physical items are now like it, with "# on hand (# available)". Last week it would only show the number.

This is in my Square online btw.
And actually, I have just checked the item library, and it's the same. Screenshots below for the same 2 items as the online items screenshots above. I haven't checked my Square terminal, but I can do that if needs be too.

Thanks
Sandrine

Re: Stock Management: What does "on hand" mean?

k_atie — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 10:47:50 GMT

Hey @Forginthecraft, thank you so much for the screenshot and for the additional context! I've looked through my own resources and couldn't find a concrete answer. I've asked another team to see if they'd be able to provide a definition between the two. I'll get back to you on this thread once I know more. 😊

Re: Stock Management: What does "on hand" mean?

Forginthecraft — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 16:03:27 GMT

Thank you very much @k_atie

Re: Stock Management: What does "on hand" mean?

k_atie — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 08:20:05 GMT

No worries, @Forginthecraft. I've actually just heard back from our team just now. 😊

Stock On Hand: The amount of stock you physically have of something. For example, you have 12 gold earrings in your stock room.

Stock Available: The amount you are able to sell. This could be all 12 of those earrings, but it could also be that 2 of those 12 you've already sold online and need to package and send, so you'd only have 10 available. Or, 3 of those could be reserved for a customer who is coming into your shop to pick them up at a later time, so you'd only have 9.

This is a relatively new feature aimed at helping sellers in situations where they may need to invoice a customer for a particular item and want to make sure that they don't sell that item to anyone else before the buyer pays. For example, an invoiced item will no longer be available on your Square Online store if it has been committed to another buyer already.

Hope that clarifies things for ya! Let me know if you have any further questions.

Re: Stock Management: What does "on hand" mean?

Forginthecraft — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 17:32:33 GMT

Thank you very much for this fab explanation 😊

It would just have good to be notified of this new feature but your explanation makes perfect sense.

Many thanks

Sandrine