Cart API Returns 422 "Product Sold Out" Despite Inventory Tracking Disabled

GraphQL Admin API Troubleshooting
1

I’m experiencing a persistent 422 error when trying to add a specific product to cart via the Cart API, even though all product settings are configured correctly.

Error Details

Request: POST /cart/add
Response: 422 Unprocessable Content
Error Message: "Het product 'Babulino Tandjesroller' is al uitverkocht" (Dutch: “Product is sold out”)

json

{
  "status": 422,
  "message": "Het product 'Babulino Tandjesroller' is al uitverkocht.",
  "description": "Het product 'Babulino Tandjesroller' is al uitverkocht."
}

Product Configuration (All Correct)

  • Product Status: Active
  • Variant Status: Active
  • Track Quantity: DISABLED
  • Inventory Management: Not tracked by Shopify
  • Continue Selling When Out of Stock: Enabled
  • Available for Sale: :white_check_mark: Yes

Product Details

  • Store: babulino.nl
  • Product ID: 15071731745112
  • Variant ID: 55066889617752
  • Product Handle: babulino-tandjesroller

What I Need Help With

Shopify Support suggested testing with the Storefront API GraphQL to determine if this is a server-side inventory validation issue vs. a theme/app conflict.

Could someone help me:

  1. Write the correct GraphQL mutation to test adding this variant to cart
  2. Verify if this 422 error reproduces via Storefront API
  3. Identify potential server-side inventory conflicts when tracking is disabled

Expected vs Actual Behavior

Expected: Product should add to cart successfully since inventory tracking is disabled

Actual: Cart API blocks the product with “sold out” error despite correct settings

Additional Context

  • Issue affects only this specific product
  • Other products work fine
  • Problem persists across all browsers/devices
  • No recent changes to product settings
  • Checked for duplicate handles/IDs (none found)

Any guidance on the proper GraphQL test or insights into Shopify’s inventory validation logic would be greatly appreciated!

2

Have you any catalogs activated, other than the default?

3

I also experienced this issue today on a development store created for testing purposes, and the issue was immediately resolved by navigating to my default location settings (https://admin.shopify.com/store/your-store-name/settings/locations/) and set “Local delivery” to On.

If your default fulfillment location doesn’t have any shipping options set up, it would be worth trying to enable some to see if that does the trick like in my case.

4

The problem was indeed correlated to the location settings in the shipping options.
I‘ve solved it today with an developer.

Was pretty concerned and thought at the beginning it would be an code issue but thankfully we could solve it that simple and quick!

Thanks for the replies, have a great week and stay crushing!

1 Like
5

Also, for reference, regarding the GraphQL testing. You can see some examples here: Mock.shop: A mock store API for easy prototyping