Product lifecycle

Every product is in one of three states: concept, active or expired. The state decides whether the product can be used on orders and in inventory transactions. Products are never deleted; a product you no longer sell is expired, so its history on past orders and inventory stays intact.

States

State	Meaning	Can be used on orders and inventory?
Concept	The product has been created but isn't ready for use yet. All new products start here, whether created by hand, by import or through an integration.	No
Active	The product is published and in use.	Yes
Expired	The product is no longer in use.	No

The flow is:

Concept → (Publish) → Active → (Expire) → Expired → (Republish) → Active

Action	From	To
Publish	Concept	Active
Expire	Active	Expired
Republish	Expired	Active

There is no way back from active to concept.

What the state means in practice

Only active products:

• appear in the product lists when you add order lines, choose kit components, adjust inventory or release inventory,
• can be adjusted or released into inventory (other states are refused),
• are found when you search for a product in product selection lists.

When a product is expired, existing orders and inventory that already refer to it are not changed. Inventory of an expired product stays where it is and can still be seen in the inventory overview. To use the product again, republish it.

Before you expire a product

Check whether there is still stock or open orders for it: open the product's Inventory action in the products overview, and look at open orders. Expired products can't be chosen on new order lines or adjusted, so clear out stock first if needed.

Changing the state of one product

You need to be a Boxture admin, a warehouse associate or an account owner of the product's account.

1. Open the product.
2. Open the product menu (top right of the card).
3. Click Publish, Expire or Republish. Only the action that fits the current state is shown.

Changing the state of many products at once

1. Go to Products.
2. Select the products with the checkboxes. Use a filter (for example on State or Category) to narrow the list first.
3. Choose the batch action Publish products, Expire products or Republish products.

Products that aren't in the right state for the action (for example publishing a product that's already active) are skipped.

Changing the state by import or integration

• Import: fill in the Event column with publish, expire or republish. You can create and publish products in the same import. See Creating products.
• API: products can be published, expired and republished through the API. See API.
• Shopify: products are published automatically when the Shopify product is active, and expired when the variant is removed from Shopify. See Shopify.

What you can't change once there is inventory

Some product fields decide how inventory is tracked. Changing them while there is stock would leave existing inventory items inconsistent, so they are locked as soon as the product has inventory that isn't retired:

Field	Why it's locked
Number	Inventory, labels and integrations refer to it.
Serialized	Existing items have (or don't have) serial numbers.
Serialization mode	Decides where serial numbers are required for existing items.
Lot tracked	Existing items have (or don't have) a lot number.
Expirable	Existing items have (or don't have) an expiry date.
Inventoriable	Decides whether stock is kept for the product at all.

Saving a change to one of these fields shows "change not allowed when there is inventory". To change them anyway, first bring the inventory to zero (for example by adjusting it out or shipping it), make the change, and then receive the stock again with the right details.

For kits, components can't be changed while orders for the kit are being processed. See Kits.

Setup complete

Next to the state, a product has a Setup complete flag. It's independent of the state: an active product can still be "not set up complete". When the account setting Inventory › Restrict transactions to setup complete is on, receiving, adjusting, allocating, building, packing and shipping are blocked for products that aren't set up complete. Use it as a final check, for instance until weights and customs data are filled in. See Product details.

A typical lifecycle for a new product in an account that uses this flag:

1. The product is created (concept, not set up complete), for example by a shop integration.
2. Someone fills in the missing data and publishes it (active, not set up complete). It can now be put on orders, but those orders aren't allocated and the warehouse can't receive or ship it yet.
3. Once everything is checked, Setup complete is switched on. From then on it can be received, allocated, picked, packed and shipped.
4. When it's discontinued and the stock is gone, it is expired.