MechanicFlag an order for review
Choose an order tag and decide whether variants allowed to continue selling when out of stock should be included.
Use cases / Order operations
Give back-orders a process your team can follow.
An order can need a supplier check, a revised delivery date, or a decision about shipping part of the order. Build a workflow that makes the exception visible and gives your team a clear next step.
Start with a library task. Develop the surrounding workflow.
An order needs review
From a stock exception to an operational decision.
- Identify the exception
Start with a task that flags an order, then adapt the condition to the business’s inventory model.
- Give someone the next step
Design the handoff: who checks the supplier, contacts the customer, or decides what can ship?
- Resolve and record
Define how the team records its decision and when the order can return to the normal process.
Ready-made starting points
Begin with a focused inventory check.
The linked task listens for new orders and adds your chosen tag when a qualifying variant has negative total inventory. It can also tag the customer or affected products. Use this as a starting point for a review process, then decide whether your operation needs different stock rules.
Set it up in Mechanic.
Define the review rule
Decide what requires attention: a stock shortfall, an expected supplier date, a location constraint, or a combination. Give the review queue a clear owner.
Configure the starting task
For a negative-total-inventory check, choose an order tag such as stock-review. If you want to include allowed overselling, turn off Ignore variants marked for oversell. Leave optional customer and product tags blank unless needed.
Test the handoff
Use a development store to inspect a matching order and a nonmatching order. Confirm the tag appears, the responsible person can find it, and your fulfillment process responds as intended.
Decide what a review flag should change.
Write down what happens to mixed orders, how supplier information is checked, and who owns customer communication. If an order needs a real fulfillment hold, implement that explicitly and confirm that downstream systems honor it. Keep the resolution rule separate: replenishment alone may not answer whether a customer still wants the order, a partial shipment was sent, or a replacement was agreed.
An agency example
Product checks in a Shopify Plus project.
In its BTME Group case study, Kubix describes using Mechanic to check products and help label and process back-ordered items. The broader project involved TacTree and MedTree, custom product requirements, and Shopify Plus checkout features.
The public case study does not publish the task code. The library task above is a separate starting point, not a reproduction of Kubix’s implementation.
Before you set it up
Does the starting task put fulfillment on hold?
No. A tag labels the order. A fulfillment hold, warehouse instruction, or customer message needs a separately configured process or custom task.
Does it check the location that will fulfill the order?
The current task uses variant total inventory. A rule based on a particular location or fulfillment assignment needs different logic.
Does it flag inventory at exactly zero?
The published code uses a quantity below zero, although its description says zero or less. This guide follows the code. Test zero separately if that boundary matters to your process.
Will it revisit an order after restocking or an edit?
The linked task runs on order creation. Revisiting existing orders, clearing review markers, and handling later edits or cancellations require additional logic.
What should a developer check for large orders?
The current task requests the first 250 line items. A workflow that must cover larger orders needs pagination. Also decide how to handle custom line items and products without tracked inventory.
Make it work for your store.
Bring the workflow to your in-house team or a Mechanic partner. Start with the linked example, define the business rules, and build and test the pieces your operation needs.
More workflows to explore: