It is one of the most confusing moments in day-to-day fulfilment: the warehouse reports 120 units, the shop shows "unavailable". Both are correct. Because between "physically on the shelf" and "sellable" lies a category nobody talks about much: blocked stock. Goods in quarantine, expired batches, deactivated storage locations, new stock not yet released. It counts towards inventory, ties up capital, takes up space and sells precisely nothing.
The blocked-stock report from byrdAI answers the four questions that matter in that moment: how much is blocked? Why? What is it costing? And how do I free it up?
The problem: blocked usually means invisible too
The gap between stock and availability.
Only what is physically present and released is sellable (in the jargon: Available to Promise). If you only know the stock figure, you plan with goods that, for the business, do not currently exist, and then wonder about "inexplicable" sell-outs in the shop.
Every block has a different way out.
Quarantine needs an inspection, expired batches a disposal decision, a deactivated storage location a relocation, and new stock before its dispatch window needs nothing at all, just patience. Without knowing the reason, you cannot act.
Frozen capital ages badly.
Blocked goods are tied-up capital in a holding pattern. The longer nobody decides, the more likely the quarantine pallet becomes a write-off.
How to build the blocked-stock report with byrdAI
Once connected, this is all it takes in Claude or ChatGPT:
"Which stock is currently non-sellable, and why?"
byrdAI returns every blocked item with product, warehouse, quantity, block reason, and where available, batch and expiry date. With the ready-made dashboard prompt from the byrdAI page, that becomes a live dashboard whose centrepiece is an availability bar: your physical stock as a bar, split into "sellable" and "blocked", with the frozen stock value alongside. Beneath it, the breakdown by reason, warehouse or product.
Which decisions to draw from it
The report sorts your blocks by reason, and every reason has its own to-do:
Quarantine: decide rather than leave lying.
Goods in QA inspection are normal; goods that sit in QA for 40 days are a process problem. The report shows the dwell time per item so you can escalate in a targeted way.
Expired batches: clear them decisively.
They will never be sellable again and still cost storage space every month. Dispose or donate, write off, free up space. So it does not come to that, there is the batch report as an early warning.
Deactivated batches and storage locations: get to the bottom of it.
There is often a maintenance or coordination issue behind these. A quick clarification with your dedicated account manager frees these items up entirely in many cases, the fastest win in the whole report.
New stock before its dispatch window: wait deliberately.
This stock releases itself. The only thing that matters is not treating it as a problem by mistake, or reordering it twice.
From report to routine
The weekly check.
"Every Friday, summarise blocked stock: units, stock value, reasons, change versus the previous week." Five lines in Slack, and nothing freezes unnoticed.
The ratio alarm.
"Let me know if the blocked share rises above 10% of my physical stock." The threshold turns a creeping problem into an event with a timestamp.
The quarantine escalation.
"Every Monday, list all items in quarantine for more than 30 days, with quantity and stock value." The list is short, concrete and the perfect basis for the clarification with your account manager.
The write-off template.
"Each quarter, create a table of all permanently blocked items with stock value as a decision template for accounting." The most unpleasant list of the quarter writes itself.
Turn frozen stock back into goods
As a byrd customer, you connect byrdAI to Claude or ChatGPT in around 5 minutes and copy the prompt from our byrdAI page or right here below this block. Not a byrd customer yet? byrdAI comes only with byrd fulfilment, as the first European 3PL with an MCP server. Talk to us.
Example prompt for your blocked-stock report (adjust it however you like).
Frequently asked questions about the blocked-stock report with byrdAI
Why does my shop show less stock than the warehouse?
Because the shop only sees sellable stock: physical stock minus blocked and reserved units (Available to Promise). The report shows you exactly that difference and its reasons.
What block reasons are there?
The most common: quarantine or QA inspection, expired batches, batches outside the dispatch window, deactivated batches or storage locations, and new stock not yet released for dispatch.
How is the frozen stock value calculated?
At warehouse level, exactly, from the purchase prices maintained in byrd; in the breakdown by reason, as a solid estimate. The overall view of your warehouse capital comes from the stock value report.
What does byrdAI cost?
During the beta, byrdAI is included free in your account for byrd customers.