A stock question sounds simple, but the honest answer isn't always the raw inventory number. A product can show plenty of units in your admin and still be something a shopper genuinely can't buy right now, because of how it ships, whether it's published, or a dozen other quiet reasons. Arbyn checks availability the same way your storefront itself decides whether to show an "Add to cart" button, so its answer always matches what a shopper actually experiences on your site.
What it does
When a shopper asks whether something is in stock, Arbyn checks your storefront's own, buyer-facing view of that product, the same signal your product page and its "Add to cart" button rely on, rather than only reading a raw inventory count. If the storefront would actually let someone buy it, Arbyn says it's available. If the storefront wouldn't, Arbyn says it's currently unavailable, even if your admin technically shows units on hand.
Where to find it
There's nothing to set up. This is simply how Arbyn answers any stock or availability question, in chat or by email, in whichever language the shopper is writing in.
How it works
Your Shopify admin and your live storefront don't always agree on whether a product can actually be bought. A product can have inventory sitting in your admin and still be unbuyable on your storefront for reasons that have nothing to do with the number of units left, most commonly because it's fulfilled by a third party without a valid shipping rate set up for the shopper's location, or because it isn't currently published to your Online Store. If Arbyn only checked the admin inventory count, it could confidently tell a customer something is "in stock" when they'd hit a wall trying to actually buy it.
So instead, Arbyn checks the exact same availability signal your storefront itself uses to decide whether to show a working "Add to cart" button. That's the buyer's real experience, so it's the one honest source for a stock claim. This also works down to the specific variant a shopper is asking about; a product can be in stock in one size or color and sold out in another, and Arbyn's answer reflects that variant, not just the product as a whole.
What a shopper actually sees. If it's genuinely available, Arbyn confirms it and offers to add it to the cart right in the conversation. If it's sold out, Arbyn says so plainly and suggests a couple of similar in-stock products, so the conversation keeps moving toward something the shopper can actually buy, rather than ending on a dead end. If availability genuinely can't be confirmed in the moment, Arbyn says it needs to check rather than guessing either way; it never invents a stock status just to give a confident-sounding answer.
Every language. A stock question is understood and answered correctly no matter which of Arbyn's supported languages a shopper is writing in. Someone asking "est-ce que c'est en stock ?" or "ist das verfügbar?" gets a real availability answer in their own language, not a request for an order number or a generic "let me check."
Staying current. Arbyn checks live availability at the moment a shopper asks, rather than relying only on a cached number from earlier, so the answer reflects what's true right now, not what was true a few hours ago.
Good to know
A product can look in-stock in your admin and still be correctly reported as unavailable by Arbyn. This isn't a bug; it means the storefront itself wouldn't let a shopper buy it either, most often because of how the item is fulfilled or because it isn't published.
The check happens per variant, not just per product. A shopper asking about a specific size or color gets an answer about that exact option, not the product as a whole.
When Arbyn genuinely can't confirm availability, it says so. It never fills that gap with a confident guess in either direction.
A sold-out answer always tries to keep the conversation moving, by suggesting real, in-stock alternatives rather than simply ending on "no."
FAQ
Why did Arbyn say something was sold out when my admin shows inventory? Your storefront and your admin can disagree about whether something is actually buyable, most commonly with third-party-fulfilled items or unpublished products. Arbyn answers based on what your storefront would actually let a shopper do, since that's what the customer experiences.
Does this work for a specific size or color, not just the product overall? Yes. Availability is checked at the variant level, so the answer reflects the exact option the shopper is asking about.
What happens if Arbyn can't check availability at that moment? It tells the shopper it will check, rather than guessing either way. It never states a stock status it hasn't actually confirmed.
Does this work in languages other than English? Yes, in every language Arbyn supports. A shopper gets a real availability answer in their own language, not a fallback request for order details.
Can I trust Arbyn's stock answers as much as my storefront's own "Add to cart" button? That's exactly the point. Arbyn checks the same signal your storefront button relies on, so its answer and your storefront's actual behavior always agree.