Out-of-Stock Product Pages: How to Handle Them the Right Way

What’s the first thing you do when a product goes out of stock — delete the page and move on?

Sold-out products are an unavoidable part of ecommerce. But how you handle those pages makes all the difference. Most store owners either delete them or leave them as dead ends — and in doing so, they’re quietly losing both sales and SEO value without even realizing it.

The truth is, an out-of-stock page is an opportunity. Every product page on the site — stocked or not — has the potential to rank on Google, engage visitors, and guide shoppers toward a purchase.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to find your out-of-stock pages, why turning them into 404 errors is a costly mistake, and proven ways to turn them into a tool for retaining customers and recovering lost sales.

A quick way to find out-of-stock products

Before fixing your out-of-stock pages, you need to know which ones they are. Here are a few ways to find them quickly:

Check your inventory management system

• Start with your inventory system — it should give you an up-to-date list of products with zero stock.
• If your store runs on a CMS, check the backend for any built-in stock status or product availability filters.
• For Magento 2 stores, you can retrieve stock information programmatically. Check out How to Get Product Stock Information in Magento 2 for a step-by-step guide.

Crawl your website

• Use tools like Ahrefs Site Audit to scan your pages and flag those containing out-of-stock messages.
• Once crawled, search the HTML for phrases like “out of stock” or “currently unavailable” to quickly identify problem pages.

Once you have a clear picture of which pages need attention, the next step is knowing how to handle them — and that starts with understanding their relationship with SEO.

Out-of-stock pages and their relationship with SEO

Turning out-of-stock pages into “404” errors removes valuable backlinks, harms SEO, and makes it harder to restore the page later. Instead, manage these pages based on product availability: keep temporarily out-of-stock pages live, use 301 redirects for discontinued items with good backlinks, or repurpose the URL for a new category. Turning pages into 404 errors should always be the last resort.

8 ways to deal with out of stock products in Magento 2

Out-of-stock product pages can be tricky to handle. While you don’t want to remove them, you also need to ensure that they aren’t too visible. After all, there’s no sense in drawing exces customer attention to products that you can’t currently provide. Instead of redirecting your customers or showing a message with a broken link, you can repurpose these pages to keep your shoppers’ attention.

In this section, we will look at six ways to deal with out-of-stock product pages to encourage the buyer to return. This will both boost your chances of closing a sale, and increase their lifetime value with your business as they will be encouraged to keep returning. These tips will improve your users’ experience with your site.

1. Clearly display stock status on product pages

Your product page should clearly indicate whether an item is permanently discontinued or temporarily out of stock, so customers know whether to expect it to return.

Beyond just stating availability, you can also display the status of each size or variant separately — this saves customers time and reduces frustration.

Some sites take it further by allowing shoppers to save out-of-stock products to wishlists or sign up for restock notifications, turning a dead-end page into an engagement opportunity. Magento 2 Multiple Wishlists enables customers to easily manage their desired items and encourages them to return once the product is back in stock.

Keeping the page live also preserves its SEO value while giving customers a reason to come back.

2. Display “Out of Stock” badges directly on category pages

Rather than letting customers click through to a product page only to find it unavailable, mark out-of-stock items directly on the category or search results page.

This helps shoppers quickly identify what’s available and naturally steers them toward products they can actually buy, improving their browsing experience and reducing bounce rate. For products with multiple variants, you can also indicate which specific sizes or colors are unavailable — so customers can make informed decisions without any unnecessary extra clicks.

The key is making these labels visually distinct — a grayed-out badge or a bold “Out of Stock” tag does the job. If you’re on Magento 2, Product Labels lets you set up and customize these badges automatically based on stock status, no manual tagging needed.

3. Give alternative recommendations

You can also use the product page to offer alternatives to your users based on their preferences and customer behaviors. Since you already know what the shopper is interested in, segmenting and showing relevant products is a great way to drive purchases.

To do this, you can create recommended alternative product groups that are shown when one of the products is unavailable. These automated product groups can help you avoid losing out on a sale and keep the users interested in your brand.

It is usually not a good practice to redirect the users from your product page back to the home page. This increases the bounce rate as it adds in unnecessary additional steps for customers to take. It’s best to keep your shoppers moving forward by showing them more products to browse.

Take a look at what beauty brand Sephora has done with its out-of-stock product page (above). The page offers links to different product categories. Sephora knows it has a chance to highlight its bestsellers and broad range of brands, and takes full advantage of that opportunity. It’s a smart trick that encourages the users to explore the site further.

Another option that can work well is to use customer service chatbots to answer customer questions about stock availability and recommend alternatives based on customer needs. Sephora also utilizes chatbots to recommend products to great effect:

If customers can find other products that meet their needs quickly and easily, they’re far more likely to push through with a purchase.

4. Collect emails & automate “Back in stock” notifications

When a product is temporarily out of stock, don’t let the customer walk away for good — use the page to stay connected.

A simple “Notify Me” button leading to an email sign-up is all it takes. When the item is back, you can reach out instantly to shoppers who are already interested and ready to buy.

This does more than just recover a potential sale. Over time, it helps you grow your marketing list and build a direct channel with customers who genuinely care about your products.

According to a study on the effect of out-of-stock pages, 58% of disappointed shoppers lost sales, which means they bought from another seller or did not buy the item at all. Email marketing helps you counteract this trend as it gives you a way to reach out to potential customers when the unavailable product is back in stock.

Some retailers go even further - Retailer Bellroy (above) also takes this approach to capture its visitors’ email addresses and notify them when the product becomes available. However, Bellroy goes a step further by including a link to the retailer page, allowing customers to find the product from another stockist so the company doesn’t lose the sale. Giving these alternatives helps the user move along the customer journey and keeps them from adding to the website’s bounce rate.

5. Move out-of-stock items to the category pages’ bottom

When shoppers browse your category pages, seeing too many out-of-stock items upfront can be frustrating and may push them to leave without buying anything.

A simple fix is to push unavailable products to the bottom of the page. This keeps in-stock items front and center, reducing disappointment and improving the overall browsing experience.

Keeping track of this manually can be tricky, especially if you have a large catalog. That’s where inventory management tools come in, which can automatically reorder listings based on stock levels, so you don’t have to do it by hand.

6. Take pre-orders for items that aren’t yet in stock

You want to buy something, but it’s sold out everywhere. The disappointing news is that you don’t have to give up on the sale or send the customer somewhere else. You could instead talk to them about pre-ordering. Take the example of a customer who wants a product and has the chance to pre-order it. It’s like saving a spot in line, making sure they’ll be the first ones to get the thing when it comes back in stock.

Offering a pre-order option is one of the most effective ways of securing the sale immediately. As long as you are up-front about the product availability, your customers may be willing to wait a bit longer than usual. Here’s an example from tech retailer Scan:

Communicating when a product is out of stock is, of course, very important. People need to know exactly when their item will arrive. So, it’s important to send an email confirming the order as soon as the transaction is complete and to keep people up to date on when the package should arrive. Customers will feel cared for and told this way, even if the product isn’t in stock.

If this is the choice you make, make sure you give customers all the facts they need to choose wisely. Keep an eye on how well your product’s orders are being filled, and make sure you give customers an accurate estimate of when their orders will arrive.

7. Create an exclusive Waitlist to build a sense of scarcity

A waitlist turns unavailability into exclusivity. Instead of losing the customer, you invite them to “claim their spot” for when the item comes back, creating a sense of urgency and desire around the product.

This works especially well for limited-edition or high-demand items. Knowing that others are waiting for the same product makes shoppers more committed — they’re less likely to forget about it or turn to a competitor.

To make it feel more exclusive, consider showing the number of people on the waitlist, or sending waitlist members early access before the product goes live again. Small touches like these can turn a frustrating out-of-stock moment into a memorable brand experience.

By using this approach, you not only solve the instant problem of not having enough of a product, but you also set up a direct line of contact with interested customers, which can lead to long-term growth and connection.

8. Explain clearly what sizes, and colors are available

Clearly display the status of each size and color variant. If you sell the same product in multiple sizes and colors, simply displaying a generic “out of stock” message is not enough. Customers might leave thinking the entire product is unavailable, while in reality, the specific size or color they need is still in stock.

The solution is to display the detailed status of each variant directly on the product page:

• Out-of-stock variants: Display with a strikethrough or faded effect so customers know they cannot be selected.

• In-stock variants: Display clearly and prominently for easy selection.

• Coming soon variants: Use a “Coming Soon” label so customers can consider waiting.

Take a look at how retailer Dorothy Perkins does this — customers can see immediately which sizes are available without having to click any additional buttons. This approach not only saves time for the customer but also directly reduces bounce rates and increases the chances of closing a sale during that visit.

In Closing

Out-of-stock doesn’t have to mean opportunity lost. With the right approach, these pages can continue to rank on Google, engage your customers, and even drive sales — all while the product sits waiting to be restocked.

Start small: pick two or three strategies from this guide and test them on your highest-traffic out-of-stock pages. Track what works, iterate, and build from there. The stores that treat out-of-stock pages as an asset — not a dead end — are the ones that come out ahead.