Products show as sold out or unavailable on the live store

Products look in stock in the Shopify editor but show as sold out on your live store? Fix it via Markets, shipping zones, locations, and variants.

Your products look available in the Shopify theme editor but show as "sold out" or "unavailable" on the live storefront. This is Shopify platform behavior, not a theme bug — it comes down to Markets, shipping zones, fulfillment locations, or how your variants are set up.

Why the editor and the live store differ

The theme editor runs in design mode (request.design_mode). Shopify intentionally bypasses geolocation and shipping-zone checks there so you can preview your layout freely. Your live storefront does apply those checks — so availability can differ between the two.

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Cause 1: Markets & shipping zones

On the live site Shopify geolocates each visitor. If their region falls outside your active markets or shipping zones, products are marked unavailable — even with stock. If you're browsing from an uncovered region, the whole catalog can read as sold out.

1. Go to Shopify Admin → Settings → Shipping and delivery and confirm your zones cover the countries you sell to.

1. Go to Shopify Admin → Settings → Markets and confirm your target markets are active.

Example: The same product can show differently depending on the visitor's location.

Hong Kong SAR → "Machine Only — Unavailable", Sold out button

United States → "Machine Only", Add to bag button

Tip: Use the View as selector at the bottom of the theme editor to preview a different market without changing your location.

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Cause 2: Fulfillment locations

If your stock sits at a location that isn't set to fulfill online orders, products also read as sold out.

1. Go to Shopify Admin → Settings → Locations.
2. Open your active location and confirm Use inventory at this location to fulfill online orders is checked.
3. Confirm your inventory is assigned to a location mapped to the Online Store sales channel.

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Cause 3: The variant combination doesn't exist

"Unavailable" on a specific variant does not mean sold out — it means that exact combination of options isn't set up on the product.

1. Go to Shopify Admin → Products → [your product] → Variants.
2. Check that every option combination you want to sell is listed.
3. Make sure each variant has inventory assigned and is active.

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How to confirm the cause

Open your live store in an incognito window using a VPN set to your primary market (e.g. United States). If products appear in stock, the issue is region/market coverage, not inventory.

Note: You can also use the View as selector at the bottom of the theme editor to preview a different market without a VPN.