> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Active Ads on Out-of-Stock SKUs, BigCommerce > Live ad spend pointed at SKUs that can't convert. Pause immediately, direct $/day waste. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Cross-Platform Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Ecommerce Platform](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) > Live ad spend pointed at SKUs that can't convert. Pause immediately, direct \$/day waste. ## At a glance > Live ad spend (Google Ads + Meta Ads) currently driving traffic to BigCommerce SKUs that have `inventoryLevel = 0`. Cross-connector view: ad campaigns × product targets × BC catalogue inventory. **Pause immediately** is the only correct response, every dollar spent is direct waste, the customer arrives, finds OOS, leaves. | | | | ---------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | For each active ad target SKU: `daily_ad_spend WHERE BC.inventoryLevel = 0 AND BC.availability != 'disabled'`. Summed across all paid surfaces (Google Ads Shopping, Meta Ads catalogue / dynamic-product-ads, etc.). | | **VAT / tax treatment** | n/a (ad spend, not revenue). | | **Shipping** | n/a. | | **Discounts** | n/a. | | **Refunds** | n/a. | | **Currency** | Ad spend in account currency, mixed-currency for multi-account stores. The headline is directional. | | **Channels / sources** | Web only by definition (paid ads drive web traffic). | | **`Incomplete` / Declined orders** | n/a, this is a pre-purchase waste view. | | **OOS definition match** | Same as [BC Channel OOS per Channel](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/oos-listings-per-channel), `inventoryLevel = 0 AND availability != 'disabled'`. Items the merchant has hidden don't count; items left visible-but-stocked-out do. | | **Why this is double-burn waste** | Single-burn waste is a paid click that fails at checkout; double-burn waste is a paid click that the merchant is paying for AND can't fulfil regardless. The customer experience also damages brand trust ("they're advertising things they don't have"). | | **Time window** | `RT` (real-time, polled per ad-platform sync; typically every 30-60 minutes) | | **Alert trigger** | `>$0/day spend on OOS SKU`, fires on any positive spend. The alert is intentionally aggressive because the cost is direct dollar bleed with no upside. | | **Sentiment key** | `out_of_stock_count` | | **Roles** | owner, marketing, operations | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your BigCommerce data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading. ## Worked example A US homewares brand on BigCommerce Enterprise. Snapshot at 09:00 UTC on 13 Apr 26. | Active ad campaign | Target SKU | BC inventory | Daily spend | Status | Wasted \$/day | | ----------------------------- | ------------------------- | ---------------------- | ----------- | ---------- | ------------- | | Google Shopping, Bedding | "Linen 4-piece set, King" | **0** (OOS, available) | \$42 | **Wasted** | \$42 | | Google Shopping, Bath | "Towel set 6pk, ivory" | **0** (OOS, available) | \$24 | **Wasted** | \$24 | | Meta DPA, Bedding remarketing | "Linen sheets, Queen" | 38 in stock | \$18 | Working | \$0 | | Meta DPA, Holiday | "Throw cushion 18inch" | **0** (OOS, available) | \$12 | **Wasted** | \$12 | | Google Search, Brand | (n/a, not SKU-targeted) | n/a | \$85 | n/a | \$0 | | **Total active OOS spend** | | | | | **\$78/day** | What's interesting: 1. **$78/day = $2,340/month = \$28,400/year of pure waste.** Not just lost potential revenue, *negative* outcome (the customer arrives, has a bad experience, leaves with worse brand impression than they came with). **The fix is one-click**: pause the OOS-targeting ad set or hide the OOS listing from the catalogue feed. 2. **Google Shopping is the biggest waste category.** Shopping ads target specific SKUs; when the SKU goes OOS, the ad keeps running until either (a) the merchant pauses, (b) Google's automated rules detect the OOS and disapproves the listing, which can take 24-72 hours. **Manual pause is faster than waiting for Google's auto-disapproval.** 3. **Meta Dynamic Product Ads (DPA) auto-update from the merchant feed.** If your Meta product feed is correctly configured to exclude OOS items, this card should show \$0 on Meta. If it's showing positive Meta spend, the feed configuration is wrong, fix that and the Meta wedge collapses. 4. **Brand search is unaffected.** Brand keywords don't target SKUs; they target the merchant name. OOS doesn't affect brand-campaign performance directly, except via the brand-equity erosion of OOS landing experiences. Action priority order: 1. **Pause ad sets targeting OOS SKUs** within 30 minutes. Most ad platforms support per-SKU pausing without taking down the parent campaign. 2. **Set up automated rules** in Google Shopping Merchant Center: "exclude items where availability = out\_of\_stock". This is a one-time configuration that prevents future occurrences. 3. **Audit Meta product feed** for OOS exclusion logic. Most BC-Meta integrations support this; verify it's configured. 4. **Hide the OOS listings** in BC if they don't have known restock dates (avoids future drift). ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why pair it with Ads on OOS | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | [BC Channel OOS per Channel](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/oos-listings-per-channel) | The OOS source-of-truth that this card joins to. | | [Inventory Alerts](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/products-with-zero-negative-stock) | The inventory-side headline. | | [BC Top SKUs](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/top-skus) | If a top SKU is OOS and ad-targeted, that's a five-alarm event. | | [`google_ads.ga_shopping_disapprovals`](/nerve-centre/google_ads/ga_shopping_disapprovals) | Google Shopping's auto-disapproval signal; correlates with this card. | | [`facebook.fb_dpa_feed_health`](/nerve-centre/facebook/fb_dpa_feed_health) | Meta Dynamic Product Ads feed health. | | [BC Stock vs Sales](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/stock-vs-sales-velocity) | Velocity context, OOS items with high pre-OOS velocity are the highest-priority restock targets. | | [BC XC Catalogue Drift](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/catalogue-drift) | Related catalogue-hygiene problem; both flag broken ad surfaces. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in BigCommerce Control Panel:** BigCommerce **does not surface this metric natively.** Cross-connector view: BC catalogue inventory + Google Ads campaign targeting + Meta Ads catalogue feed. To partially diagnose: 1. [Products → View](https://login.bigcommerce.com/deep-links/manage/products) shows current inventory. 2. Google Ads → Campaigns → Shopping shows active product targeting. 3. Meta Ads Manager → Catalogues → Product feed shows DPA targeting. 4. Manually correlate: any SKU with `inventory_level = 0` and an active ad target is in this card. **Why our number may legitimately differ from manual computation:** | Reason | Direction | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------- | | **Sync lag**. BC inventory updates take 5-30 minutes to propagate; ad-platform spend reports lag 2-6 hours. The card may show momentary discrepancies. | Marginal | | **Variant-vs-product semantics**. We count at variant level; some merchants target ads at parent-SKU level. | Matching depends on configuration | | **Auto-pause rules**. Google Shopping's auto-disapproval can pause OOS items within 24-72 hours; we surface them during that window. | Vortex IQ flags transient OOS-spend | | **Currency**. Ad spend in account currency. | Mixed for multi-account stores | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** | Card | Expected relationship | Notes | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------- | | [`google_ads.ga_shopping_disapprovals`](/nerve-centre/google_ads/ga_shopping_disapprovals) | Google's auto-flagged OOS items; should overlap with the Google portion of this card. | Direct correlation. | | [`facebook.fb_dpa_feed_health`](/nerve-centre/facebook/fb_dpa_feed_health) | Meta's catalogue-feed health. | Direct correlation. | | [BC Channel OOS per Channel](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/oos-listings-per-channel) | The OOS-side input. | Direct dependency. | ***
Same-metric documentation cross-reference (for agencies running multiple platforms) * [`shopify.xc_ads_on_oos`](/nerve-centre/shopify/xc_ads_on_oos) (planned) * [`adobe_commerce.xc_ads_on_oos`](/nerve-centre/adobe_commerce/xc_ads_on_oos) (planned)
## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **Why is this card always non-zero, can I ever get it to zero?** Yes, with proper automation. Two configurations end up at zero: (1) Google Shopping Merchant Center auto-rule excluding OOS items from the feed. (2) Meta product feed configured to filter `availability != in stock`. Once both are set, OOS items disappear from ad targeting within hours. **The card going to zero is an achievable, sustainable state**; not a fantasy. **Some OOS items have known restock dates within 7 days; should I keep ads running?** **No.** Even with a 7-day restock, the customer arriving today has a bad experience. Switch the listing to preorder mode (BC supports per-SKU preorder configuration), then the ad becomes "Order now, ships 19 Apr 26", which is honest and converts. Don't run "in stock" ads on items that aren't. **My ads are paused but the card still shows them as wasting spend, why?** Two possibilities: (1) Pause hasn't propagated yet (ad platforms have 1-4 hour ramp-down on paused campaigns). (2) The pause was at the campaign level but individual product targets within the campaign are still active. Pause at the product-target layer for surgical control. **Why doesn't this card include Pinterest / TikTok Ads?** Currently we monitor Google Ads and Meta Ads (the dominant ecommerce paid surfaces). Other surfaces are on the roadmap; if you have meaningful spend there, contact Ask Viq to prioritise. **My BC inventory is wrong, the items aren't actually OOS, why does the card flag them?** The card uses BC-indexed inventory as truth. If BC says zero and your warehouse says ten, fix the inventory sync first; the card surfaces what BC believes. Once BC reflects accurate inventory, the false-positive flags resolve. **Should I disable BC's OOS items entirely or just hide them?** Disable (`availability = disabled`) is the cleanest state, the listing disappears from public view AND from ad targeting. Hidden-but-not-disabled items can still leak into ad feeds depending on configuration. **Disable is preferred for items without near-term restock**; preorder mode is preferred for items with known restock dates. **My Meta DPA budget is auto-allocating to OOS items, what changed?** Meta's algorithm sometimes prioritises items with strong recent engagement; if your top-engagement SKU went OOS, Meta may increase spend on that ad even though it can't convert. Configure your Meta product feed to set `availability = out of stock` so Meta auto-excludes; the budget will reallocate to in-stock items. **Why does Google Shopping take so long to auto-detect OOS?** Google's automated checks run on a 24-72 hour cadence depending on your account history. New accounts get faster checks; established accounts get slower checks. Don't wait for the auto-detect, manual pause is faster. **My OOS-on-ads spend is \$200/day, but the SKU has back-orders pre-paid; is that still wasted?** **Yes**, in the customer-experience sense. The arriving customer doesn't know about back-orders unless your PDP communicates it clearly. They see "out of stock" and bounce. Switch to preorder mode and use BC's preorder UI to communicate the restock date; conversion remains positive and the spend is no longer "wasted". **Multi-currency Amazon variant: do those count?** Channel Manager / Amazon-routed traffic doesn't appear in this card (this is a paid-ads-driven card; Channel Manager isn't paid ads). Amazon's own paid surface (Amazon Sponsored Products) on OOS items is a separate problem; the [`amazon_sp.amazon_sponsored_oos`](/nerve-centre/amazon_sp/amazon_sponsored_oos) card covers that. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Active Ads on Out-of-Stock SKUs* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across BigCommerce and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.