---
title: How to find out what you need to reorder
url: https://tideswell.xyz/docs/inventory/find-what-to-reorder
description: Read days of cover and the suggested reorder quantity, check what is already incoming, and take the list to a purchase order.
---

> Documentation index: fetch https://tideswell.xyz/llms.txt to discover every page before exploring further.

# How to find out what you need to reorder



This is the job most people open **Store › Inventory** for. Pick a low-stock view, read two
columns, and you have the order. See <Ref to="inventory/choose-a-view-and-window" /> for
getting to the right view first.

## Which view and window? [#which-view-and-window]

**Top 100 by units** with a **90 day** ranking window is the sensible weekly default. It
ranks the things you actually sell that are running low, over a stretch long enough to
survive one odd week.

Filter by vendor if you are writing one supplier's order. That turns the screen into exactly
the list that order needs.

## What are the two columns that matter? [#what-are-the-two-columns-that-matter]

**Days of cover** and **suggested reorder quantity**.

**Days of cover** is roughly how long the current shippable stock lasts at the recent sales
rate. Compare it against how long your supplier takes to deliver: cover shorter than the lead
time means you are already late, whatever the stock level says.

**Suggested reorder quantity** is enough to cover demand across that lead time plus a safety
buffer, minus what is on hand and what is already on the way.

Because it subtracts incoming, it will not tell you to buy something twice. That is the
column that makes this faster than a spreadsheet.

## Where does the lead time come from? [#where-does-the-lead-time-come-from]

From the vendor's own profile when one has been recorded there. Without it, the maths assumes
a fourteen-day lead time and a seven-day safety buffer.

Recording real lead times is the single highest-value thing you can do to make these
suggestions match reality, and it takes a minute per supplier. See
<Ref to="purchasing/add-a-supplier" />.

A supplier who genuinely takes ninety days will be under-ordered every week until their lead
time is on their profile.

## What is the summary line at the top? [#what-is-the-summary-line-at-the-top]

How many items need restocking, roughly what it costs to fill them, and roughly how much in
sales is at risk if you do not.

That third figure is the one to quote when somebody asks whether an order can wait. It turns
a stock question into a money question.

## What does incoming mean? [#what-does-incoming-mean]

Units already on an open purchase order. It is what stops you ordering the same thing twice
and what makes days of cover honest about the near future.

If incoming looks wrong, the purchase order behind it is where to check. See
<Ref to="purchasing/move-a-purchase-order" />.

## How do you check one product quickly? [#how-do-you-check-one-product-quickly]

Rest on its thumbnail. A larger picture opens with its status, stock, cover, incoming,
suggested reorder, price and vendor together.

That is faster than opening anything, and it is usually enough to decide.

## How do you turn the list into an order? [#how-do-you-turn-the-list-into-an-order]

Move to **Store › Purchase orders** and write one, using the vendor filter you already had
here to keep the list straight.

Writing the order, adding products and choosing your columns is
<Ref to="purchasing/write-a-purchase-order" />.

## Why does a row have no cover or reorder figure? [#why-does-a-row-have-no-cover-or-reorder-figure]

Because its status reads **Not tracked**, meaning Shopify is not counting stock for that item.
With no stock figure there is nothing to compute cover from.

Turning stock tracking on in Shopify for that product fixes it. Until then Tideswell shows
nothing rather than guessing, which is the same rule as everywhere else.

## Should I trust these numbers on a variant stocked everywhere? [#should-i-trust-these-numbers-on-a-variant-stocked-everywhere]

Be careful with products stocked across many locations. A variant held in more than about ten
locations can under-report its total and look lower than it is.

If a product you know is well stocked appears in a low list, that is worth checking in
Shopify before ordering.