- Short answer
- Usually a setup gap, not a bug: check Point of Sale publishing, the device location's inventory, Track quantity, then the first-login sync.
- Shopify's list
- Four causes, published as the usual ones; the page does not call them exhaustive.
- Zero stock
- A tracked product at zero stays sellable in POS; staff get a warning, not a hidden product.
- Locations
- Stock can sit at a location the product cannot sell from; it must be active there.
- First login
- Up to 1 hour on first login; Shopify's launch checklist says 1 hour or more at 20,000 products or more.
- POS Pro or Plus
- Retail markets can map a separate catalog to a location; needs POS app 10.3.0 or higher.
Is the product published to the Point of Sale channel?
Point of Sale is a sales channel like any other, so the product must be published to it. Shopify's POS troubleshooting page names four usual causes and puts this one first: "Products aren't assigned to the Point of Sale sales channel." Publishing is separate from status: all sales channels are selected by default, but Point of Sale can be cleared on an Active product.
Check the Publishing section on the product page and set product availability to include Point of Sale; the bulk editor updates many products at the same time.
Can the location or Track quantity hide a product?
Next comes the device's location. Adding a retail location does not stock or activate existing products there; Shopify's second cause is "Inventory isn't allocated to the new location."
A product is only sellable and fulfillable from locations where it's active.
Your location setup shows this as a dash in the Available column for that location.
Tracking matters; the number does not. Shopify lists "Inventory tracking isn't activated" as a cause. But a tracked product at zero does not vanish from POS: Continue selling when out of stock does not apply to orders placed from Shopify POS, so staff see a warning and can still sell below zero.
Both causes are fixed on the product itself: stock it at the device's location, and switch Track quantity on.
What if the product still is not showing in POS?
Give the sync time: "Large catalogs can take up to 1 hour to sync on first login." Shopify's own pages disagree on the ceiling: its POS launch checklist puts the same first-login sync at 1 hour or more at 20,000 products or more. To force the sync, open the connectivity icon in POS, tap Shopify, then tap Refresh in the Products and inventory section.
One niche cause sits elsewhere: with POS Pro or on the Shopify Plus plan, Retail markets can map a separate catalog to a location, and that needs POS app 10.3.0 or higher.
This article was written entirely by AI under human editorial direction. The editor sets the topic and structure, runs multi-stage validation on facts, links, and interactive elements, and verifies the output is useful from a business perspective. All claims are checked against official Shopify sources. Details may change — always confirm critical data at shopify.com.
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