Is this still in stock? How to answer product DMs for your online store

The questions your store gets all day

If you run an online store, most of your DMs and website chats are the same handful of questions, asked over and over, often late at night:

• Is this still in stock?
• Do you have it in a medium? In the green?
• How much is it? Is that the sale price?
• How much is shipping, and how long does it take?
• Can I return it if it doesn't fit?
• Where's my order?

Why fast, accurate answers sell

Someone asking "is this in stock?" is already close to buying. They picked the product. They want to know if they can have it. If the answer comes the next afternoon, they may have bought something else or forgotten why they asked.

A wrong answer is worse than a slow one. Say yes to a color you sold out of last week and you get a refund to process, an unhappy customer and a public comment you didn't need. Speed matters, but only when the answer is true.

Write it down once

Most wrong answers happen because the facts live in someone's head. Write the answers you repeat into one document your whole team uses:

• Shipping: rates, how long it takes, and where you ship.
• Returns: the window, the condition items must be in, and which items are final sale.
• Sizing and fit notes for anything customers ask about.
• Care instructions, materials and what's included.
• How checkout works and which payment methods you take.

Answer from real stock, never from memory

Take Lamp Street Cups, a demo business run by Nina. The Big Sip tumbler is $38. Lilac is sold out. Sage, Sunset and Midnight are in stock.

A customer asks, "is the lilac one still available?" The tempting answer is a quick "yes!" from memory. The right answer checks stock first: "Lilac is sold out right now. Sage, Sunset and Midnight are in stock, $38 each. Want one of those?"

That reply does three things. It tells the truth. It offers what you do have. And it ends with a question, so the conversation keeps moving toward a sale.

• Check stock before every availability, size or price answer.
• Never promise a restock date you don't actually know.
• Offer the closest thing you have in stock instead of stopping at no.
• Don't offer to hold an item unless holds are part of your written rules.

Send a link, not just an answer

Every price you name should come with a link the customer can tap. Once you know the size and color, skip the product page and send a link straight to a cart with that exact item in it. Shopify supports cart links that load a specific variant, so the customer lands one step from paying.

When the Lamp Street Cups customer says "sage", the best reply is the cart: The Big Sip tumbler in Sage, $38.00 before tax, ready to check out on the store's own checkout. No searching, no picking the color again.

Know what goes to a person

Some messages should never get a scripted answer. Hand these to someone on your team:

• Complaints of any kind.
• Damaged or wrong items, like "my last one showed up with a crack in it."
• Order problems, including "where's my order?"
• Return or refund requests that go past your written policy.
• Anyone who asks to talk to a person.

What DM DESK can and can't do on Shopify

DM DESK is an AI front desk that answers your Instagram DMs and website chat 24/7. On a Shopify store, it looks up your real products, sizes, colors, prices and current stock during the chat, with read only access. It never offers a sold out variant. When the customer decides, it builds a cart with the exact items and quantities and sends them to your own Shopify checkout, where your store takes the payment.

It answers shipping and return questions from the policies you give it. It never approves a return itself; it states your policy and says your team confirms it. It replies in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Arabic or Tagalog, and its first reply says it is an automated assistant.

Complaints, sensitive topics and "talk to a person" go to you, with an alert by email and in the app. For "where's my order?", it tells the customer your team will check and sends the chat to you. It does not ask for an order number. On website chat it can ask once for a name and a phone number or email. On Instagram it asks for nothing, and you reply in the same DM. You or your staff can take over any chat.

What it doesn't do: it doesn't look up order status or tracking, process returns or refunds, make up discounts or take payments. You can set it up yourself from your DM DESK dashboard, or with us on a free 30 minute setup call.

If your store runs on WordPress

DM DESK works on WordPress stores through a plugin that adds the chat to your site. It answers product, price, shipping and return questions from the details you give it, collects leads with a name plus phone or email, and hands anything sensitive to you.

It doesn't see live stock or fill a cart on a WordPress store. So keep those details current, and let stock questions it can't answer go to your team.