Every business that carries physical stock will face backorders eventually. A customer orders something you don’t have in stock, or stock runs out mid-order. How you handle that moment — whether you communicate clearly, follow through reliably, and fulfil the order the moment stock arrives — determines whether you keep that customer or lose them.
Many businesses handle backorders informally: a sticky note, a mental note, a separate spreadsheet. The problem is that informal systems fail. Stock arrives, the note gets lost, the customer is never called, and the order is never completed. iMagic Inventory’s backorder system gives you a formal, trackable way to manage unfulfilled demand.
What a Backorder Is (and Isn’t)
A backorder in iMagic Inventory is a recorded commitment to fulfil a sale that couldn’t be completed because the required stock wasn’t available. It’s not an estimate or a vague promise — it’s a tracked record in iMagic Inventory that sits in your backorder list until it is fulfilled or cancelled.
This distinction matters. When a backorder is in iMagic Inventory, it won’t be forgotten. When you receive new stock, your backorder list tells you exactly who needs to be contacted and what they ordered.
Creating a Backorder
When you’re processing an invoice and realise you don’t have enough stock to fulfil the full order, iMagic Inventory gives you the option to create a backorder for the shortfall. The invoiced quantity that you can fulfil is processed normally and reduces your stock. iMagic Inventory holds the backorder portion separately, waiting for stock to arrive.
The backorder is linked to the customer’s record and the original invoice, so the full history of the transaction is connected and traceable.
Monitoring Outstanding Backorders
Go to View > Backorders to see every unfulfilled backorder in iMagic Inventory. You’ll see who ordered what, in what quantity, and when the original order was placed. This list is your daily action item: when stock arrives, check this list first to see who’s been waiting the longest.
Prioritising customers who have been waiting is both good customer service and good business sense. A customer who has been waiting a week and gets their order completed promptly is far more likely to order again than one who discovers their backorder was quietly forgotten.
Fulfilling Backorders When Stock Arrives
When your new stock is received and entered into iMagic Inventory, you can return to View > Backorders, find the relevant items, and process the fulfilment. iMagic Inventory updates your stock levels and marks the backorder as completed.
This is also a good moment to contact the customer directly — proactive communication that their long-awaited item has arrived and is on its way turns a potentially negative experience into a positive one.
How to Manage Backorders in iMagic Inventory
- When creating a New Invoice and stock is insufficient, iMagic Inventory lets you create a backorder for the shortfall quantity.
- Confirm the backorder is saved and linked to the customer’s record in iMagic Inventory.
- Go to View > Backorders regularly — at least daily if backorders are common in your business.
- When new stock arrives and is entered into iMagic Inventory via a vendor receipt, return to View > Backorders.
- Find the backorder items that can now be fulfilled and process the completion.
- Contact the customer to arrange delivery or collection.
- For backorders that can no longer be fulfilled (discontinued products, cancelled orders), mark them as cancelled in iMagic Inventory to keep your backorder list clean.
Preventing Backorders with Better Reorder Management
The best backorder is one that never happens. Pair your backorder management with solid reorder points (see our post on reorder points) to reduce how often you run out of stock in the first place. Use your backorder history as data — if the same product appears in your backorder list repeatedly, its reorder point is set too low.
Backorders handled well keep customers. Backorders ignored lose them for good.
Download iMagic Inventory free for 30 days and take control of your backorders today.