A variant shows as unavailable even though it's in stock

If a product variant shows as unavailable on your storefront, or the Add to Cart button is greyed out, even though Shopify admin shows stock on hand, first check Shopify's availability for the exact variant. Bundlex Bundles reads that availability, but it can also disable Add to cart for an incomplete bundle selection or an unavailable required product. This article explains how to distinguish those cases.

Check Shopify availability and the bundle selection

The Bundlex Bundles widget mirrors whatever Shopify reports for a variant. It reads each variant's availableForSale flag and disables the buy option when that flag is false. The app has no permission to write inventory, change locations, or alter publication state, so it does not change Shopify's inventory availability. Its Add to cart checks also consider whether the complete bundle selection can be purchased.

When Bundlex Bundles is installed around the same time the problem appears, the timing can look like cause and effect. Check the exact variant before concluding that it was already unavailable in Shopify.

Bundlex Bundles reads Shopify availability. A disabled Add to cart button also needs the bundle selection checked.

The usual cause: stock at a location that doesn't fulfill online orders

The most common reason Shopify returns a variant as unavailable while you still see stock on hand is that the inventory sits at a location that is not set to fulfill online orders, or the location is inactive for your Online Store.

A surprising part of this: even with "Continue selling when out of stock" turned on (you may also see this labelled "Allow purchase when out of stock"), Shopify can still report the variant as unavailable. That setting only lets you oversell from a location that already fulfills the online channel. If no online-fulfilling location holds the variant, Shopify reports it as out of stock regardless of the quantity on hand or the inventory policy.

Shopify's own Help Center describes the same behaviour: if you have an item at a location that fulfills online orders with an inventory level of zero or below, plus a separate location that holds inventory but doesn't fulfill online orders, that item is still shown as out of stock to customers on your online store.

How to confirm it

You can check what Shopify itself is reporting for the variant, independently of Bundlex Bundles:

1. On your live storefront, open your browser's developer console.
2. Run fetch('/variants/<variant-id>.js').then(r => r.json()).then(console.log), replacing <variant-id> with the affected variant ID.
3. Look at the available field. If it is false, the unavailability is coming from Shopify, not from Bundlex Bundles.

If available is false but the variant shows stock with "Continue selling when out of stock" turned on, check the location-fulfillment settings described above. That result alone does not identify which Shopify setting caused it.

How to fix it (merchant side, in Shopify)

If Shopify reports the variant unavailable because of its location settings, correct those settings in Shopify admin.

1. In Shopify admin, go to Settings > Locations.
2. Open the location that holds the variant's stock.
3. Make sure the location is set to Active.
4. Enable "Fulfill online orders from this location" for that location.
5. Alternatively, move the stock to a location that already fulfills online orders.
6. Return to the storefront product page and re-check that the variant is now orderable.

After the change, re-run the /variants/<variant-id>.js check from the section above. The available field should now read true, and the Bundlex Bundles widget will show the variant as orderable again.

Other things to rule out

If the location settings are already correct, check these related causes before assuming a bug:

• Genuinely out of stock. If "Continue selling when out of stock" is off and the quantity is zero, the variant is correctly unavailable. Restock it, or enable continue-selling at an online-fulfilling location.
• Not published to the Online Store. If the product page itself 404s or has no storefront URL, the product isn't published to the Online Store channel. Publish it from the product's sales channels.

In every one of these cases, the fix is on the Shopify side. Bundlex Bundles will reflect the corrected availability automatically once Shopify reports the variant as available.

If Shopify says the variant is available

Check that every required bundle product and mix-and-match slot has a valid selection. Reload the product page. If the exact variant remains unavailable in the widget or Add to cart stays disabled, send support the product URL, variant, and selected offer.

Hiding unavailable variants instead

Everything above assumes the variant should be orderable and isn't. If it genuinely is out of stock and you simply don't want customers seeing it listed, you can remove it from the selector rather than showing it marked "Unavailable".

1. Open the bundle and go to the Advanced tab.
2. Tick Hide unavailable variants.
3. Save the discount.

Sold-out values are then hidden from the widget's dropdowns and swatches according to the selected option combination. If the whole product is sold out, the options remain visible with unavailable labels instead of leaving an empty selector. This covers the offer's variant selector and the selectors on fixed cross-sells; free gifts, upsells, and add-ons already hide sold-out variants whatever this setting says.

Use it when a variant is intentionally discontinued or out of stock long term. Leave it off when stock comes back quickly, since showing the full range tells customers the option exists and is worth waiting for.