Set up the sort
In MDPositions, create a sort and pick the Out-of-stock last preset. It contains one criterion:
- Stock Availability, descending, weight 10.
How the penalty works
Stock Availability is not a simple 0 or 1. Out-of-stock products get a negative score, so they stay below in-stock products even when you combine this criterion with others such as sales or freshness.
A product counts as out of stock when Shopify tracks its inventory and the total across all variants is 0 or less.
Combine with your main sort
Most stores add Stock Availability to an existing sort rather than using it alone. For example: Stock Availability weight 7, Recent Sales weight 5, Creation Date weight 2. That is the Smart merchandising preset.
Keep it automatic
Activate the sort so it runs every 24 hours on Starter or every 6 hours on Pro. Restocked products come back up on their own.
Frequently asked questions
Are products that don't track inventory treated as out of stock?
No. If Shopify doesn't track a product's inventory, MDPositions considers it available. Only tracked products with a total stock of 0 or less are treated as out of stock.
What is the difference with Inventory Quantity?
Stock Availability only separates in stock from out of stock. Inventory Quantity ranks products by how many units they have, so a product with 500 units goes before one with 5. For pushing sold-out items down, Stock Availability is the right choice.
When does a restocked product come back up?
At the next run of the sort: within 24 hours on Starter, 6 hours on Pro, or right away if you run it manually.