Quick answers to common questions about Stock Sentry.
General
What is Stock Sentry?
Stock Sentry is an intelligent inventory monitoring system for Shopify merchants. Unlike simple low-stock alerts, Stock Sentry predicts when products will run out based on sales velocity, giving you advance warning to reorder before stockouts occur.
How is Stock Sentry different from Shopify's low-stock alerts?
Feature
Stock Sentry
Shopify Low-Stock
Alert trigger
Days until stockout
Fixed quantity threshold
Sales analysis
Velocity-based predictions
Manual threshold only
Multiple channels
Email, Dashboard, Slack
Email only
Stock Sentry gives you advance warning based on actual sales patterns, not just a number threshold.
How much does Stock Sentry cost?
Stock Sentry pricing varies by plan. Check the [Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/stock-sentry) for current pricing or contact our sales team for enterprise pricing.
What permissions does Stock Sentry need?
-**Read products** - To analyze inventory levels
-**Read orders** - To calculate sales velocity
-**Read inventory** - To track stock changes
-**Write inventory** (optional) - For future auto-reorder features
We never modify your products without explicit action from you.
Setup & Configuration
How long does setup take?
1.Install from Shopify App Store (1 min)
2.Configure alert thresholds (2 min)
3.Set up notifications (2 min)
4.Review first alerts (immediate)
Do I need to connect my suppliers?
No, Stock Sentry works entirely within Shopify. You don't need to integrate with suppliers, though we recommend configuring alert thresholds based on your suppliers' lead times.
Can I customize alert thresholds per product?
-Setting conservative thresholds for all products
-Snoozing alerts for products with different needs
-Using lookback period adjustments for specific product types
How often is inventory checked?
Stock Sentry updates in real-time through Shopify webhooks and recalculates all alerts daily at 2:00 AM UTC. You can also manually refresh alerts from the dashboard.
Alerts & Predictions
Why am I getting alerts for products that just restocked?
Alerts are based on predicted stockout dates, not just current stock levels. If you restocked but sales velocity is high, the product may still run out soon. Check the "Days Remaining" column to see the prediction.
What does "Insufficient Data" mean?
-Wait for more sales data
-Increase lookback period to 30 or 90 days
-Use Shopify's fixed low-stock alerts for these products
Can I adjust the lookback period?
-7 days (trending products)
-14 days (default, most products)
-30 days (seasonal products)
-90 days (long-term patterns)
How accurate are the predictions?
-**80-95% accurate** for products with steady sales patterns
-**70-80% accurate** for products with moderate variability
-**50-70% accurate** for highly seasonal or promotional products
Check the "Confidence" indicator on each alert for reliability.
What happens when inventory is restocked?
1.Stock Sentry detects change via webhook (instant)
2.Alert is recalculated with new inventory level
3.If days remaining > threshold, alert is marked "Resolved"
4.Resolved alerts move to alert history
Notifications
I'm not receiving email notifications. Why?
1.**Spam folder** - Check your junk mail
2.**Wrong email** - Verify email address in Settings
3.**Notifications disabled** - Check Settings to confirm email notifications are enabled
4.**Daily limit** - Stock Sentry limits emails to 50/day
5.**Email provider blocks** - Add `alerts@stocksentry.retailforge.app` to safe senders
Can I get notifications via SMS?
How do I stop getting so many notifications?
1.**Increase thresholds** - Higher warning threshold = fewer alerts
2.**Use digest mode** - Switch from immediate to hourly or daily
3.**Filter by severity** - Disable Warning alerts, keep only Urgent/Critical
4.**Snooze products** - Temporarily pause alerts for specific products
5.**Adjust lookback** - Longer lookback = more stable predictions = fewer fluctuations
Can my team receive notifications?
1.Install Stock Sentry in your Shopify store (shared access)
2.Configure their own notification preferences in Settings
3.For team channels, set up Slack notifications
Billing & Account
Can I try Stock Sentry for free?
Yes, Stock Sentry offers a 14-day free trial. No credit card required to start.
What happens if I cancel?
-Alert monitoring stops immediately
-No further notifications sent
-Historical data retained for 90 days (for re-installation)
-No cancellation fees
Can I pause my subscription?
-Snooze all alerts to stop notifications
-Uninstall and reinstall later (data retained 90 days)
-Contact support for special circumstances
Do you offer refunds?
Refunds follow Shopify's app billing policies. Contact support@stocksentry.retailforge.app within 7 days of charge for refund requests.
Data Privacy
What data does Stock Sentry collect?
-Product inventory levels and SKUs
-Historical sales velocity data
-Store configuration and alert preferences
-Contact information for notifications
We never access customer personal information, payment data, or other sensitive business data.
Do you share my data with third parties?
-Notification services (for email and Slack alerts)
-Infrastructure providers (Cloudflare for hosting)
-Anonymized usage data for analytics (to improve the app)
All third-party services are vetted and bound by data processing agreements.
How long do you retain my data?
-Historical sales velocity data is kept for up to 24 months for seasonal analysis on active accounts
-All data is deleted within 30 days of app removal
You can request data deletion at any time through our support team.
Security
How is my data protected?
-All data encrypted in transit using TLS 1.3 and at rest using AES-256
-Infrastructure hosted on Cloudflare's secure global network with automatic DDoS protection
-Regular security audits and vulnerability assessments
-Access to production systems is restricted and logged with multi-factor authentication required for all team members
What happens if there's a security breach?
-Affected users notified within 72 hours
-Clear details provided about what data was impacted
-Immediate steps taken to contain and resolve the issue
-All security incidents documented and reviewed to improve our practices
Compliance
Are you GDPR and CCPA compliant?
Yes. We comply with major data protection regulations including GDPR (EU), CCPA/CPRA (California), and PIPEDA (Canada). You have the right to access, correct, delete, or export your data at any time. We provide tools within the app to manage these rights, and our support team is available to assist with any data privacy requests.
Do you use subprocessors?
-Cloudflare (infrastructure hosting)
-Resend (email delivery)
-Shopify (app platform)
We maintain an up-to-date list of subprocessors in our privacy policy and notify customers of any changes.
Technical
Does Stock Sentry slow down my store?
No. Stock Sentry runs entirely in Cloudflare Workers with sub-100ms response times. It doesn't add any JavaScript to your storefront and operates independently of your store's performance.
Can I export my data?
-Alert history (CSV)
-Velocity calculations (CSV)
-Notification logs (CSV)
Integration
Does Stock Sentry work with other apps?
-[Supported] **Slack** - Send alerts to channels
-[Supported] **Email providers** - Standard email delivery
-[Coming Soon] **Shopify Flow** - Automate workflows
-[Coming Soon] **Zapier** - Connect to other apps
Can I use Stock Sentry with dropshipping?
1.Set thresholds based on supplier lead times
2.Monitor for supplier inventory changes
3.Consider longer lookback periods (30 days) for supplier variability
Does Stock Sentry support multiple warehouses?
-Track locations manually in Shopify
-Use Shopify's location-specific low-stock alerts
-Contact support for enterprise multi-warehouse solutions
Troubleshooting
Alerts aren't updating after sales
1.**Shopify webhook delay** - Allow up to 5 minutes for propagation
2.**Sync issue** - Try manual refresh from dashboard
3.**Insufficient data** - Need minimum 3 sales in lookback period
Fix: Click "Refresh Alerts" button in dashboard.
Dashboard shows "Application Error"
1.**Browser cache** - Clear cache and reload
2.**Ad blocker** - Disable for Shopify admin
3.**Shopify session expired** - Log out and back into Shopify
Fix: Refresh page. If error persists, contact support with error code.
Predictions seem inaccurate
1.**Verify lookback period** - Match to your sales cycle
2.**Check confidence level** - Low confidence = unreliable prediction
3.**Review sales data** - Ensure Shopify orders are correct
4.**Consider seasonality** - Enable seasonal learning in Settings
5.**Adjust for promotions** - Change thresholds during campaigns
Feature Requests
How do I request a feature?
1.Email: support@stocksentry.retailforge.app
2.In-app: **Settings** then "Feature Request"
3.Community: Join our Slack community (link in app)
All requests are reviewed and prioritized based on merchant feedback.
Still Have Questions?
-Email Support: support@stocksentry.retailforge.app
-Help Center: Full documentation at [/app/help](/app/help)
-Email: Within 24 hours (business days)
-Critical issues: Within 2 hours
-Feature requests: Within 1 week
Support Hours:
Monday-Friday, 9 AM - 6 PM EST