Items that dont exist in size/colour matrix appear online as 'out of stock'

[FreshestFishing]

Hello, I have product ranges that use a size/colour matrix (ie small or med or large, red or blue or green).
The issue I have is that on some products, not all colours are available in all sizes. Its not that they are sold out, its that I physically dont have them - they dont exist and I have not created a variation for that matrix option. However my square site in the product selectors lists the variations that dont exist as if they are an available product that is just sold out.

Example - 
In my items for a product I have Size small in red blue and green, size medium in green only & size large in blue only. So only 5 variations in total created/exist in my items.
But online if the customer selects medium or large for the size, the colour drop down still displays all three colours even though only one colour exists for each of those sizes.

I understand that entire items can have visibility completely toggled off if they are sold out (or have all variations sold out), but is there a way I can fix the issue within the option selection/matrix to stop variations that dont actually exists from appearing in the list and just saying 'out of stock'?

I make all my products and intentionally dont make certain options, so I dont want people to 1. think that an option exists but is just sold out, and 2. I think it looks terrible when there are big lists of items saying 'out of stock' simply because one size may have a completely different colour set to another size.

Other than separating the items on the website which is not something I want to do (because its the same item so I want it all in the same place), is there a way around this?

[Laurie_ · Accepted solution]

Hi @FreshestFishing!

It sounds like you've created individual items and applied an Option Set for size and colour (e.g. Small, Medium, Large + Red, Blue, Green) without specifying which combinations actually exist for each item. This is likely contributing to the issue where some options appear as "Out of Stock" - because no variation with inventory or a SKU has been created, the system assumes the variation exists but is unavailable.

If the available size and colour combinations vary across your items, you may be better off manually creating only the specific variations that apply to each item, rather than using a general Option Set that includes every possible option. You can do this within the Variations section of each item's Edit Item page in your Square Dashboard.

You did mention not wanting to separate your items, which has us curious about how your current setup looks. Could you provide a quick breakdown of how you’ve structured one or two of your products?

For example:

Item Name

Category (if applicable)

Variations (if applicable)

That’ll help me get a better sense of what’s happening. If it's easier, you can send through a link to your website!