How often should Shopify stock sync run? Choosing 1x, 3x or 8x daily
One, three or eight sync runs a day: how to pick a sync frequency for a supplier feed based on how fast the supplier's stock moves, your order volume and the cost of an oversold order.
The question behind the question
How long can your store show a product as available after the supplier ran out? That window is your sync interval. With one run a day it can be up to 24 hours; with eight runs, at most three.
Three signals to look at
1. How often the supplier's feed changes
Open the feed twice, an hour apart, and compare a few quantities. If nothing moved, ask the supplier when they regenerate it. Nightly feeds need one run, scheduled after regeneration. Live feeds justify eight.
2. Your order volume
A store taking two orders a day rarely hits a stale item. A store taking two hundred hits it daily. The more orders, the more an interval matters.
3. The cost of an oversold order
Cancelling an order costs the payment fee, the customer's trust and sometimes a review. Fast-fashion sizes and limited stock items are the worst cases; furniture with deep supplier stock is forgiving.
A simple rule
| Supplier feed changes | Orders per day | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Nightly | Any | 1 run, timed after regeneration |
| Several times a day | Under 20 | 3 runs |
| Several times a day | 20 or more | 8 runs |
| Live | Any | 8 runs |
What runs actually cost you
Nothing per run. The reason plans differ is capacity: eight runs a day for every store on a plan is real infrastructure. If you only need fast sync for one of several feeds, note that multi-feed plans give eight runs to every feed.
Timing the run
Runs are spaced from the previous run. If your supplier regenerates the file at 06:00, ask support to align the first run to 06:15 so the store follows the fresh file rather than the old one. Details in sync schedule.
Frequently asked questions
Is more frequent sync always better?
Only if the supplier's feed changes that often. A feed regenerated once a night gains nothing from eight runs; a feed with live stock benefits from every extra run.
Can I change the frequency later?
Yes. Frequency follows the plan; upgrade or downgrade in the app and the schedule adjusts on the next run.
Does a run cost anything per product?
No. Plans are flat monthly prices; the number of products or runs does not change the bill.
Founder, Ondokuzon
Founder of Ondokuzon and the developer behind Product XML Import by ProXI. Has connected supplier feeds from more than 190 domains to Shopify stores since 2024.