# Stock items

A stock item keeps the inventory of an [SKU](/core-api-reference/skus.md) in a given [stock location](/core-api-reference/stock_locations.md).

{% hint style="info" %}
The actual availability of an item may vary depending on active [stock reservations](/core-api-reference/stock_reservations.md). If active stock reservations are associated with a stock item, the *available* quantity equals the stock item quantity minus the [reserved stock](/core-api-reference/reserved_stocks.md) quantity.
{% endhint %}

When you place an [order](/core-api-reference/orders.md) the related stock is reserved. As soon as the order is approved the related stock is released and the stock item quantities get decremented. When a [return](/core-api-reference/returns.md) is approved and the associated items are restocked, the stock item quantities get incremented.

{% hint style="warning" %}
When updating stock items quantities via [imports](/core/importing-resources.md), existing records may be updated inconsistently: this occurs when the quantity of a stock item is less than the existing reserved stock, which is probably an overselling symptom. To avoid this scenario, we recommend passing the `_validate` trigger attribute for each of the imported inputs, as shown in [this example](/core/importing-resources.md#importing-a-list-of-stock-items-csv).
{% endhint %}


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