Your quotes and draft orders don't know what's in stock
A draft order in Shopify, a quote in a spreadsheet: neither knows what the warehouse has promised to anyone else. So you quote stock that's already gone, or hold stock for a quote that never comes back. Manifold keeps quotes beside every order, and holds stock the moment a quote is won.
You know this if…
- You promised 40 units on a quote, and by the time they said yes, Shopify had sold 30 of them.
- Draft orders pile up in Shopify and nobody knows which are live.
- Someone “reserved” stock for a quote by adjusting it out, and forgot to put it back.
- A completed draft order turns up as a surprise order the warehouse wasn't expecting.
Why it happens
A quote is a promise about stock that isn't an order yet. Most tools either ignore it, so the stock sells twice, or reserve it for good, so the stock sits idle for quotes that never land.
The fix is to hold nothing while it's a quote, see it beside the real orders, and hold the stock in the same step that makes it an order, so there is never a gap for another channel to sell into.
How Manifold handles it
A quote in Manifold holds nothing, so it never blocks a sale on another channel. Placing it makes it an order and holds its stock in the same step, and every channel, Shopify included, sells from what's left.
Draft at their prices
Draft a quote with the customer's catalog prices; a quote holds no stock while it is open.
Price it, with a reason
Change a line's price while it is a draft, and the reason is recorded beside it.
Issue it
Issuing locks the prices. Send it by email or text from the quote's page.
Place it: one record, stock held
The same record becomes the order, with the same number and lines, and its stock is allocated at once.
What you can check
No double promise
Placing a quote and holding its stock happen together, so no other sale lands in between.
No stale holds
A quote holds nothing, so stock is never tied up by a quote that went quiet.
One record
A placed quote keeps its number and line ids. Payments, edits and refunds all find it.
Quotes, explained →Drafts or quotes, your choice
Turn the quote book off in Settings › Workflow and drafts become draft orders that never leave Manifold.
Questions people ask
- Does a quote reserve stock?
- Not while it's a quote: it holds nothing, so it never blocks a sale. Stock is held the moment it's placed as an order.
- Do Shopify draft orders come in as quotes?
- Soon. It is built and tested, and switches on with the next release of the Manifold app in Shopify: each draft will show as a quote, follow the draft as it changes, and become exactly one order when Shopify completes it. Until then, quote in Manifold.
- What if someone places the quote in Manifold first?
- That order is the sale. Manifold notes that Shopify's order came from a draft already placed, so the two are reconciled rather than shipped twice.
- Can I send the quote to the customer?
- Yes, by email or text from the quote's page. They can accept it on a page in your brand.
See it on your own products.
Nothing changes until you say so.
Connect your Shopify store or bring a spreadsheet, and your own products, stock and orders are in Manifold the same day. Every new business starts read-only: your team can work in it in full while nothing goes out — no stock to your store, no email to customers — until an owner goes live. Free for 60 days.
Other problems we fix
Your wholesale customers order by email, and every order gets retyped
Send a wholesale customer a quote they can open, accept and pay by card on a page in your brand. Accepting places the order and holds the stock.
How to stop overselling across Shopify and wholesale
Stop selling stock you no longer have: one count across Shopify and wholesale, with orders holding units and the store's figure updated within seconds.
Wholesale orders going out wrong: prices, terms and partial shipments
Trade customers charged retail, unpaid orders shipped, half-orders lost: give each customer its own price list and terms, and ship what's there.