> ## 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. # Complaints on Out-of-Stock SKUs, Intercom > Cross-channel table joining Intercom complaint conversations to commerce SKUs that are currently out of stock. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Card class:** [Hero](/nerve-centre/overview#card-classes-explained) • **Category:** [Cross-Channel: Revenue at Risk](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) > Out-of-stock SKUs that are also generating support complaints — where lost availability is turning into lost goodwill. ## At a glance > **Complaints on Out-of-Stock SKUs** is a cross-channel revenue-at-risk metric that joins your Intercom conversations to your commerce catalogue's inventory. It lists the SKUs that are currently out of stock *and* attracting refund, stock, or availability complaints — the items where a stockout has crossed over from a missed sale into an actively annoyed customer. For a sports retailer like Blitz, that is the popular boot in the wrong size, or the team kit that sold through before a fixture. The card only renders when an ecommerce-platform or marketplace sibling connector is connected, because the inventory side of the join lives there. | | | | --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | **What it counts** | A table of SKUs where on-hand inventory is at or below zero in the commerce sibling, joined to Intercom conversations tagged `refund`, `stock`, or `availability` in the window. Each row pairs a SKU with its complaint count and links to the conversations. | | **Sample type** | Derived. Intercom `conversations` filtered by tag, joined to `commerce_sibling.inventory` on SKU where `on_hand <= 0`. Refreshed on the standard data refresh. | | **Why it matters** | An out-of-stock item is a known revenue gap, but most stockouts pass quietly. A stockout that generates complaints is different: demand is high enough that shoppers are chasing it, and every complaint is a customer you can still recover with a back-in-stock date or an alternative. It tells the buying team *which* gaps to prioritise restocking and the support team where to deploy a saved reply. | | **Reading the value** | Read it as a priority list, not a single number. The SKU at the top — highest complaint count while out of stock — is your biggest recoverable demand. A long table after a big drop or a sold-out launch is normal; a short table with one runaway SKU points at a single replenishment failure. | | **Currency** | mixed (SKU label, complaint count, links) | | **Time window** | `30D` | | **Alert trigger** | `>0 OOS SKUs with complaint conversations` | | **Sentiment key** | — | | **Roles** | owner, operations | ## Calculation The card pulls SKUs from the connected commerce sibling where current `on_hand` inventory is at or below zero, then joins them to Intercom conversations created in the trailing 30 days that carry a `refund`, `stock`, or `availability` tag and reference that SKU (via the conversation's linked order, mentioned product, or matched contact). Each output row is one out-of-stock SKU with its associated complaint count and links to the underlying conversations. The `only_when` gate keeps the card hidden unless an ecommerce-platform or marketplace sibling is connected, since the inventory side of the join cannot otherwise be resolved. ## Worked example *A representative reading of **Complaints on Out-of-Stock SKUs** for Blitz, the sports retailer.* The table shows five rows. At the top: `BOOT-PRED-UK9` — Predator boots, UK size 9 — out of stock, with 11 complaint conversations in 30 days, mostly "when is this back?" and "you let me add it to basket". Below it, a club jersey at 6 complaints and three long-tail items at 1-2 each. The support lead reads this as two distinct jobs. The runaway SKU at the top is a buying problem: the founder forwards it to the merchandising team to expedite a reorder and turns on a back-in-stock notify. The long tail is a content problem: the product pages should not be letting shoppers add unavailable sizes to basket. Without the join, these 20-odd complaints would have been scattered, untriaged "where's my size" tickets. To see the revenue gap behind the top SKU, cross-reference the commerce sibling's out-of-stock or lost-sales card; for natural-language exploration, ask Ask Viq "which sold-out SKUs are getting the most complaints". ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why merchants reach for it | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`ic_top_tags`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/intercom/top-topics-tags) | Conversation Intelligence sibling: confirm `stock` / `availability` tags are rising in the overall topic mix. | | [`ic_negative_ratings`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/intercom/negative-rated-conversations) | Customer Satisfaction sibling: stockout complaints often carry the worst CSAT — check the overlap. | | [`ic_xc_support_load_per_100_orders`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/intercom/support-contacts-per-100-orders) | Cross-channel sibling: a wave of stock complaints lifts contacts-per-100-orders. | | [`ic_xc_high_value_waiting`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/intercom/high-value-customer-waiting) | Cross-channel sibling: are any complainants high-LTV customers waiting past SLA? | | [`ic_volume_trend`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/intercom/conversation-volume-trend) | Conversation Intelligence sibling: tie a complaint surge back to a volume inflection. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in Intercom's own dashboard:** Intercom can show you the complaint side but not the inventory side. In Reports → Conversations, filter by the `refund`, `stock`, and `availability` tags to see the volume of availability-related conversations, or build a saved Inbox view on those tags. Intercom has no concept of which SKU is out of stock, so it cannot rank by SKU or join to on-hand inventory — that linkage is what Vortex IQ adds by pulling the catalogue from the commerce sibling. **Why the Vortex IQ value may legitimately differ:** | Reason | Direction | What to do | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Tag completeness.** The join only sees conversations agents tagged `refund` / `stock` / `availability`. Untagged complaints are missed. | Vortex IQ lower | Tighten tagging discipline or rely on auto-tag rules. | | **Inventory snapshot timing.** A SKU restocked since the last inventory sync may still show complaints from when it was out. | Variable | Confirm the inventory refresh time against the complaint dates. | | **SKU resolution.** A complaint that never named a product or order cannot be tied to a SKU and will not appear. | Vortex IQ lower | Encourage agents to link orders to conversations. | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** reconcile the inventory side against the commerce sibling's out-of-stock / inventory card — if it reports a SKU in stock that this card shows as complained-about, the sync windows are out of step. For divergence investigations, use Vortex Mind. ## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **Q: How often does Complaints on Out-of-Stock SKUs update?** The card refreshes on the standard data refresh (typically every 30-60 minutes for live integrations). Inventory and conversation data are both re-pulled on that cycle; force a manual refresh after a known restock. **Q: Why is the card empty when I have stockouts?** Either no out-of-stock SKU has attracted a tagged complaint in the last 30 days (a quiet, well-managed stockout), or the commerce sibling is not connected — the card is gated by `only_when` and needs an ecommerce-platform or marketplace connector for the inventory join. **Q: A SKU is back in stock but still shows here. Why?** The complaint conversations are dated within the 30-day window, so they can persist after a restock until they age out. Check the inventory snapshot timestamp against the conversation dates. **Q: Can I customise the alert threshold?** Yes. The default alert fires whenever any out-of-stock SKU has complaints; sensitivity is configurable per profile in the Sensitivity tab if you want to surface only SKUs above a complaint count. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Complaints on Out-of-Stock SKUs* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Intercom 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.