What "on hand", "allocated", and "available" mean

Applies to: All tiers  ·  Last reviewed: 2026-06-24

What this is

CanShip tracks four inventory numbers for every SKU. Knowing what each one means is the key to reading your stock and understanding why an order did or did not allocate.

The four numbers

• On hand: the physical units sitting in your warehouse locations. Receiving inventory increases on hand.
• Allocated: units that are committed (reserved) to orders. They are still physically on hand, but they are spoken for.
• On hold: units set aside in a non-sellable state, for example in a quarantine bin.
• Available: what is left to commit to new orders. Available is on hand minus allocated minus on hold.

You can see these totals on the Dashboard's Inventory Summary and per SKU under Inventory.

How allocation works on an order

When you create an order, CanShip allocates stock against available inventory right away and lands the order in one of three inventory states:

• Allocated: available stock covered the whole order. It is ready to move toward picking.
• Partial: some lines or quantities allocated, some did not. CanShip allocates what it can and the rest waits.
• Unallocated: nothing was available to allocate (for example a sold-out SKU). The order is effectively a backorder until you receive more stock.

Allocation consumes available stock in order of creation, so over-ordering a low-stock SKU allocates what is on hand (Partial) and drains it. A later order for that SKU then comes in Unallocated until more is received. The Orders page has Any Inv. / Unallocated / Partial / Allocated filters so you can pull just the backorders or just the ready-to-pick orders.