The important number in a preorder is usually units, not orders. A batch with 30 loaves and 20 cookie boxes needs two stock counters. A single customer might take three loaves and one box; that is one order and four committed units across two products.
Enter one stock total per product
Start from the bakery batch. On Orders, set “Sourdough” to 30 loaves and “Cinnamon rolls” to 20 boxes. The page shows each product's total, committed, and available units. When a customer requests two loaves and one box, the available counts become 28 and 19.
The order only succeeds if every requested item has enough stock. If the rolls are gone, the order does not reserve the loaves while failing on the rolls. Two requests for the last loaf cannot both succeed: the stock change is atomic. The customer should retry with an available combination after an insufficient-stock response.
Understand a pending request
On Starter and Pro, owner approval can be turned on. Pending approval still commits the requested units, so the same items are not promised to someone else while you review. Confirming keeps that reservation. Rejecting it, or a customer cancelling while the order is pending or confirmed, releases the units. Preparing and Ready orders cannot be cancelled from the customer status page; the owner controls those later stages.
On Free, a new order is confirmed immediately and the customer gets an on-screen private status link. There is no Free confirmation email. A downgrade does not strand orders that were already pending approval.
Keep physical stock separate from account usage
One accepted order uses one monthly account signup, whether it contains one item or ten. The allowance resets at the start of each UTC month. A physical product's stock does not reset with that account allowance. Uncovered operational admissions use the account's one-time grace period or pause; that is separate from an item selling out.
If you need different stock for morning and afternoon, create separate batches. Pickup choices on one batch share each product's stock. See organizing pickup batches for a day-of plan.