Why Linnworks stock levels look wrong (and how to work out which number to trust)

Short answer: Linnworks stock figures come from several places that update at different speeds. Nine times out of ten the number is not wrong — it is answering a slightly different question than the one you asked.

1. Indexing delay on reports

Linnworks indexes processed orders and some stock reports on a delay of up to 12–24 hours. A report showing yesterday's picture is expected behaviour, not a fault. The live item view is the fresher number.

2. Available vs in-stock

Available deducts stock allocated to open orders; in-stock does not. If your POS shows less than the shelf, you are almost certainly looking at available — which is usually the number you actually want when selling.

3. Multiple locations

A SKU held across locations shows different totals depending on which location the view is scoped to. Check the location selector before concluding anything is wrong.

4. Unprocessed counter sales

Goods that walked out the door but whose order sits unprocessed still count as stock. This is exactly why auto-processing counter sales matters for trade counters.

5. Genuine drift

If none of the above explains it, you have real discrepancy — breakages, unrecorded samples, mispicks. Cycle-count the affected SKUs rather than the whole catalogue, and look for a pattern by location or picker.

Tools that read Linnworks live — like Trade Order POS — report exactly what the API reports. If the API and the shelf disagree, the shelf is the thing to investigate.

Questions, or want a tool we don't have yet? Email hello@grafto.co.uk — a real person replies.