If you’re an Etsy seller, you may have come across the dreaded “inventory error” message when trying to list a new item in your seller dashboard.
This can be frustrating to try and figure out how to fix, but don’t worry - we’ll show you how in this step-by-step guide!
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If you see the error message “To publish, fix: Inventory” when trying to publish a new listing on Etsy, there are a few things you can check to troubleshoot the issue.
This Etsy error message usually occurs when you haven’t added a variation for an attribute on your listing.
As a primer, an attribute is a characteristic of your product, such as color or size. Attributes can be used to create variations of your product - for example, a listing for a t-shirt might have size and color as attributes, and you could create variations for each combination of those attributes (S, M, L in multiple colors, for example).
For example, if you choose the attribute “I offer more than one” for an item’s Primary Color, but you don’t add a variation for the color attribute, then you can’t publish the listing, and you’ll see the error message To publish, fix: Inventory.
How to fix
To fix this, simply add a variation for the attribute in question and then try to publish your listing again.
To do this, click on the “Add variations” button under the “Variations” section of your listing. Then, select or enter variations for each attribute where you offer more than one type. Once you have added all of the variations that you offer, click “Update.”
Finally, complete the rest of your listing and click “Publish.”
Tip: If you continue to see the error message, be sure to check that you have included variations for all attributes where applicable.
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