Stock and availability on OTTO: what happens at zero stock?

How does stock work on OTTO?

You manage stock per SKU, i.e. per variation. In the OTTO Market API this is the available quantity: a whole number that can be 0 or higher. According to the documentation, you can update it at any time, up to 200 SKUs per request. Alternatively, you manage stock in OTTO Partner Connect or through your ERP.

Important for new products: in its API use cases, OTTO recommends sending quantities only for SKUs that already have a MOIN in the marketplace status – this reduces error messages.

What happens at zero stock?

With an available quantity of 0, customers can't buy your variation – there's simply nothing available. How exactly otto.de displays such a product in search and on the product page, and whether it loses position, OTTO doesn't disclose; the ranking algorithm isn't public.

The commercial effect is clear: every day without stock is a day without sales. If other sellers offer the same variation ("Wettbewerb am Artikel"), customers can buy from them in the meantime.

How is the delivery time on otto.de calculated?

The delivery promise comes from your shipping profiles. According to OTTO, they consist of four building blocks:

• Processing time: the time you need to get an order ready for shipping (1 to 99 days). According to the documentation, one day counts as same-day shipping until the cut-off time.
• Cut-off time: the time by which an order must arrive for processing to start the same day; given in CET.
• Working days: the weekdays on which you process orders.
• Transit time: the carrier's time from pickup to the first delivery attempt (1 to 99 days).

You can set the processing time per SKU, overriding the profile. Note: according to the documentation, a value set this way is not reset if you later change the shipping profile.

The 72-day limit

The API documentation on shipping profiles names a hard limit: if the processing time or the transit time exceeds 72 days – or both together add up to more than 72 days – the product is marked as sold out on otto.de and can't be ordered. So work out long lead times for pre-orders or made-to-order products before you set them.

Keeping stock and delivery times in sync

1. Sync automatically: connect your ERP and OTTO through the API or a tool so stock doesn't have to be updated by hand – see Connecting to the OTTO marketplace.
2. Mind multichannel stock: if you sell the same goods elsewhere, every sale must lower your OTTO stock immediately – otherwise you sell what you no longer have.
3. Realistic delivery times: only promise what you can keep at peak times. Broken delivery promises lead to complaints and bad reviews.
4. Plan for peaks: top up stock and check profiles before sales events – see Black Friday on OTTO.

Availability and visibility: what you can measure

OTTO doesn't publish whether stock or delivery time feed directly into the otto.de ranking. What you can measure is what happens to your position: note when a product was out of stock or when you changed the delivery time, and compare its position for your key search terms before and after. A rank tracker like MarktRank shows these trends week by week.

If a product drops, first separate causes you set yourself (zero stock, longer delivery time) from normal movement – see Ranking fluctuations on OTTO.

Checklist against stock-outs

• Sync stock per SKU automatically.
• Set a reorder point.
• Keep processing and transit times realistic and under 72 days.
• Check SKU-specific processing times after profile changes.
• Set the cut-off to match your carrier's pickup.
• Check the position of key products after every stock-out.

Frequently asked questions