How it works
How Dead Stock Detective decides a SKU is dead, calculates trapped capital, and chooses a recommended action.
What counts as “dead”
A SKU is flagged dead when all of these are true:
- It’s active and has stock on hand (available greater than zero)
- It hasn’t sold within your dormancy threshold (60 days by default)
For products that have sold, dormancy is measured from the last sale. For never-sold products, it’s measured from when the product was created in your store. You can change the threshold in settings; the dashboard re-scores immediately.
Trapped capital
For each dead SKU:
Trapped capital = units on hand × unit cost
summed across your dead SKUs for the headline figure. Where a product has no cost set in Shopify, the app estimates the cost at 50% of the price and marks the figure with a ~. This is your cost basis — the cash you actually spent — not retail value. Add unit costs in Shopify for an exact number.
Inventory ageing
Dead stock is grouped into ageing bands (by default 60–89, 90–119, 120–179, and 180+ days). The band labels follow whatever thresholds you set, so they always match your configuration.
Recommended actions
Each dead SKU gets one suggested next step:
- Mark down — has some sales history; a discount may clear it. Comes with a suggested percentage.
- Bundle — worth pairing with stock that’s still moving.
- Discontinue — old and not selling; stop reordering and clear it out.
- Monitor — borderline; worth keeping an eye on.
The recommendation is based on the SKU’s age and how it’s been selling, and the reasoning is shown when you expand a row.
How the data stays current
- Daily, the app recomputes every store’s dashboard, so the numbers are at most a day old.
- In real time, Shopify webhooks keep raw products, inventory, and orders in sync between recomputes.
- Weekly, a reconciliation re-syncs everything from Shopify as a safety net.