Inventory how-to

How to tell if a product is dead stock

A product is dead stock when it has not sold for a long stretch relative to how long you have had it, and there is no reason to expect that to change.

Short answer: A product is dead stock when it has not sold for a long stretch relative to how long you have had it, and there is no reason to expect that to change. The clearest signal is units on hand with zero or near-zero sales over 60 to 90 days, combined with no planned promotion, restock, or seasonal bump coming up.

Start with days of stock, not gut feel

Pull on-hand quantity and recent daily sales for each variant. Days of stock = on hand divided by daily sales. If a variant shows hundreds of days of stock and that number has been climbing for months rather than falling, it is a strong dead stock candidate. A high days-of-stock number alone is not proof, since a new product with low sales history can look the same. Check how long you have actually held the stock before deciding.

Separate slow movers from dead stock

Slow movers still sell occasionally and the sales trend is flat or mildly down. Dead stock means the sales trend has gone to zero and stayed there, usually for two to three months or more depending on how fast the product normally turns. Look at the last sale date per variant, not just the last 28 days, since a single old sale can hide a product that actually stopped moving a while ago.

Check for seasonality before writing it off

Some products sell only in certain months. If a SKU has about 13 months of sales history, compare this period to the same period last year before calling it dead. A product with zero sales in March that always sells well in November is not dead, it is just out of season.

Rule out external causes

Before marking something dead stock, check if the listing is still live, in stock on the storefront, priced correctly, and showing up in search or collections on your site. Sometimes a product looks dead because it is effectively invisible to customers, not because demand disappeared.

Step by step

  1. List every variant with on-hand quantity, last sale date, and daily sales rate.
  2. Calculate days of stock for each: on hand divided by daily sales.
  3. Flag variants with no sales in the last 60 to 90 days and on hand still above zero.
  4. For flagged variants with over a year of history, compare against the same period last year to rule out seasonality.
  5. Confirm the product page is live, visible, and priced correctly on your storefront.
  6. For anything confirmed dead, decide on discount, bundle-out, or write-off, and stop reordering it.
  7. Set a recurring check, monthly or quarterly, so dead stock does not silently build up again.

Worked example

A store has 240 units of a phone case variant on hand. Daily sales have averaged 0.2 units a day over the last 90 days, giving 240 / 0.2 = 1,200 days of stock. The last actual sale was 71 days ago. There is no seasonal pattern in last year's data for this SKU and the listing is live and in stock. This is dead stock: it should be marked down, bundled out, or written off, and it should come off the reorder list.

How SteadyShelf helps

SteadyShelf forecasts future sales and tells you when to reorder, so a SKU with no demand simply stops generating reorder suggestions, which is an indirect signal something has gone dead. It does not run a dedicated dead stock report or markdown workflow, so you still need to pull on-hand and last-sale-date per variant yourself and make the write-off or discount call manually.

$29/month flat, unlimited products and suppliers, 30-day free trial. Run the numbers now with the free reorder point calculator.

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FAQ

How many days of no sales before I call something dead stock?

There is no single number that fits every store. A fast-turning product with 60 days of no sales is a stronger warning sign than a slow, expensive item that naturally sells a few times a year. Compare the gap to the product's normal selling pattern and its lead time, not to a fixed rule.

Should I just discount dead stock immediately?

Check seasonality and listing visibility first, since a quick fix might bring sales back without a discount. If the product is genuinely dead, a markdown or bundling it out is usually better than letting it sit, since holding dead inventory ties up cash and shelf space with no return.

Let SteadyShelf do this math for every SKU

Order-by dates per supplier, seasonal forecasts and draft POs for your Shopify store. $29/month after a 30-day free trial.

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