Bulk editor allows changes to “Track quantity” on app-owned products – breaking app functionality

[Gabrielle_Rea]

TL;DR the bulk editor in Shopify admin can edit a property (Track Quantity) that should be only editable by the owner of the product.

Our app creates a parent bundle product that must have “Track quantity”: false to function properly. This product is owned and managed by our app via productConfigurationOwner.

Our understanding is only the configuration owner should be able to update settings like track_quantity . However, we’ve found that:

Merchants (or other apps) can bypass this restriction using the Shopify bulk editor in the admin.

This is causing the track_quantity field to be unintentionally enabled, which results in our bundles appearing sold out, even when the components are in stock.

We are now detecting and auto-correcting this state in our app, but the fact that it can be overridden in the admin UI contradicts the intended behavior of configuration ownership and creates support friction with merchants who didn’t knowingly change anything.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Create a product using an app with productConfigurationOwner set and track_quantity = false.
2. Go to Shopify admin → Products → Bulk editor.
3. Select the bundle product.
4. Enable “Track quantity”.
5. Save changes.
6. The product is now incorrectly set to track_quantity: true despite being owned by the app.

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Expected Behavior:

Shopify should block updates to configuration-managed fields like track_quantity if the user or app is not the productConfigurationOwner.

Bulk editor screenshot

Screenshot of the bundle product

Thanks
Gabbie

[Liam-Shopify]

Hi Gabbie,

Setting the combinedListingRole to PARENT (or CHILD) does not prevent other apps from changing the “track quantity” (inventory tracking) setting (and it’s not intended to). The combinedListingRole only determines whether the product is a parent or child in a combined listing structure, which is used for grouping products together for combined listings (like multi-variant or multi-country listings).

It doesn’t look like there is a native way to restrict other apps’ access to this field at the product or variant level. Will dig into this and see what the best approach would be.

[Gabrielle_Rea]

Hey Liam,

Thanks for the reply. Just to confirm I’m referring to bundle products not a combined listing. The bundle product variant has requires components: true and is created and owned by our app.

Our expectation is if the merchant can’t update the track quantity value on the product page in their store admin, they also shouldn’t be able to bulk edit this value.

Let me know if you need anymore details from me.

Thanks
Gabbie

[Gabrielle_Rea]

Hi Liam,

Just a little bump on this one thanks

[Liam-Shopify]

Hi Gabbie - I believe it would still be the same case, that “Track quantity” option cannot currently be blocked from being changed on the bulk editor. However I’ll connect with the relevant teams internally to see if this should be changed.

[Gabrielle_Rea]

Hi @Liam-Shopify, thanks so much for getting back to me.

We are also finding this is the case with other apps setting the track quantity of our app owned product using the API on merchants stores.

Am I mistaken in believing for “app-owned” custom bundles, only the owning app (the app that created the bundle) is allowed to update or manage the bundle’s configuration?

I can only find information about this ruling on fixed bundles in the documentation: Add a variant fixed bundle

I’ve recorded a video showing myself successfully setting the “track quantity” field on an app-owned bundle using the GraphiQL app. You can view it here:

Setting track quantity true on an app owned bundle product

Our expectation would be for this API call to return an error stating you don’t have permission to set inventory tracking on this product.

Fixed bundles
I’ve confirmed the track quantity is blocked on the bulk edit page for fixed bundles using the Shopify bundles app (please see screenshots below). However I was also able edit their track quantity value via API in GraphiQL in video linked below (not expected behaviour)

Screenshot of Shopify fixed bundle variant

Screenshot of Shopify fixed bundle in bulk editor

Summary
There seems to be a mismatch in what is exposed to the merchant across the different surfaces (settings page vs bulk editor), and in what is possible with the API.

If settings are blocked to the merchant on the settings page, these settings should also be blocked in the bulk editor.

Similarly, if a variant is owned by an app, another app should not be able to edit the fields that are blocked to the merchant.

Let me know if my understanding of the app owned permissions is incorrect for custom bundles or if this should be getting blocked by app owned permissions.

Thanks
Gabbie