📖 Merchandising rules place products where you tell them to. They do not check your stock, so a product you pinned stays pinned after it sells out. This article shows you how to move sold-out products down your list, or take them off it, and what each choice affects.
⚠️ The steps in this article are for Boost AI Search & Discovery TURBO. To find out which version your store's current theme is installed with, follow Boost AI Search & Discovery app versions. These settings also exist on earlier versions, but they sit in different places. For those, follow How to customize the display of your filter trees and product list.
Why your sold-out product is still at the top
A merchandising rule positions products using the conditions you set when you built it. Stock is not one of those conditions, so nothing in the rule notices when a product sells out. A pinned product stays pinned, and a boosted product stays boosted, with a Sold out badge on it.
The settings that make your storefront stock-aware sit outside Merchandising, in your Filters and Search settings. Once you turn them on, they take priority over your merchandising rules, so a sold-out product moves even though a rule says otherwise.
💡 Your merchandising rules do not need changing. You are adding a stock rule that sits on top of them, and your rules keep working exactly as before for every product that is in stock.
Search results and collection pages
In your Boost app admin, go to Filters > Display settings.
Open the Product list tab.
Tick Sort available products first.
In Out of stock display options, choose what should happen to your sold-out products.
Click Save settings.
Your choice | What your shoppers see |
Show out of stock products/variants | Products you can still sell come first. Sold-out products move to the bottom of the list but stay on the page, even the ones your merchandising rules pinned. When a product comes back in stock, it returns to the position your rule gives it. |
Hide out of stock products/variants | Sold-out products are removed from your search results and collection pages completely. Shoppers cannot see them at all, and your result count drops accordingly. |
⚠️ Run a manual sync after you save. Boost sorts on the stock levels it has already synced, so until your latest inventory comes across, sold-out products can keep their old position. To run one, follow How to use the Sync features.
⚠️ Hiding sold-out products turns off two other features. Shoppers cannot act on a product they cannot see, so they cannot sign up to be told when it returns, and they cannot pre-order it. If you use either of these, choose Show out of stock products/variants instead.
Instant search widget
Your instant search widget has its own setting, so changing your filter settings does not cover it.
Go to Search > AI Search > Instant Search Widget > Display settings.
Open the ISW with results tab.
Under Product information includes, tick or untick Out of stock products.
Save your settings.
Ticked shows sold-out products in your instant search results, unticked hides them. Hiding them here has the same effect on Back in Stock and Pre-order as hiding them on your collection pages.
💪 Set both to match. If your collection pages hide sold-out products but your instant search widget still shows them, shoppers see one thing as they type and something different on the results page.
Which one should you pick
Showing them keeps demand visible. Shoppers can still find a sold-out product, sign up for a back in stock alert, or pre-order it, and your merchandising rules pick the product back up the moment it returns. This suits most stores.
Hiding them gives a cleaner storefront where every product a shopper sees is one they can buy today. Choose it when you restock rarely or not at all, and when you are not using back in stock alerts or pre-orders.
💡 Both settings apply to your whole store. If you want a sold-out product gone from one collection rather than everywhere, use a Hide merchandising rule with an Inventory condition instead, which leaves the rest of your storefront as it is. See Attributes and metrics for merchandising rules.
Feel free to reach out to our dedicated support team via chat if you have any questions or require additional assistance.