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How to sell out slow-moving inventory with Clearance offers

Clearance offers turn low-inventory variants into upsells. ShopBrain watches your inventory, adds the variants that fall under your low-stock threshold, and offers them at a small discount. The discount steps up only when a variant is shown but doesn't sell, and it never goes past your maximum discount or margin floor.


  • Where: Offers → Create Offer → Offers tab → Automatic → Clearance
  • Fastest start: Strategies → Sell out inventory
  • Tracking: each Clearance offer has its own analytics page with On clearance now and Cleared lists



Clearance offer setup in UpsellPlus: discount ladder of 10%, 15% and 20%, a 25% maximum discount and a margin floor


When to use Clearance offers


  • You have variants that are running low and you want them gone before a restock or season change.
  • You want to move overstock without a store-wide sale.
  • You want to keep discounts as small as possible: a variant only gets a bigger discount when it isn't selling.


How it works


  1. ShopBrain picks the variants. A variant qualifies when it's under your threshold: either days of cover (stock ÷ recent sales pace) or units left. Products already in the shopper's cart are skipped.
  2. The discount starts at tier 1. Every qualifying variant starts on your first discount tier.
  3. It steps up only when needed. When a variant has been shown a set number of times without a sale, it moves to the next tier. Each tier runs a minimum number of days, so stores with little traffic don't step up too fast.
  4. Guardrails cap the discount. No tier ever goes past your maximum discount, or below your margin floor (if your products have a cost set in Shopify).
  5. Variants leave automatically. A variant drops out of the offer when it sells out, or when it's restocked above your threshold.


Set up a Clearance offer


  1. In Shopify admin, open Apps → UpsellPlus.
  2. Go to Offers → Create Offer. On the Funnel tab, choose where the offer shows (product page, cart, checkout, and so on).
  3. On the Offers tab, under How should products be selected?, choose Automatic, then select Clearance.
  4. Under What counts as low inventory, pick a Threshold:
    • Days of cover (stock ÷ sales pace): set Max days of cover. This adapts to how fast each variant sells.
    • Units left: set Max units left. This is a fixed cutoff.
    • Max units (no recent sales): catches variants with no sales in the last 30 days.
    • Hide when fewer than: stops showing a variant near zero stock, so you don't oversell the last unit.
  6. Under Discount ladder, set your tiers (for example 10% → 15% → 20%), then:
    • Impressions before stepping up: how many views without a sale before the next tier
    • Minimum days per tier: how long each tier runs at least
  8. Under Guardrails, set:
    • Maximum discount (%): no tier goes higher than this
    • Margin floor (%): keeps at least this margin over cost, when the variant has a cost in Shopify. Leave it empty to rely only on the maximum discount.
  10. Optional: use Always include to pin variants (they stay in the offer until they sell out), and Never include to keep variants out.
  11. Check the preview to see how many variants qualify right now, then Save.


Use the "Sell out inventory" strategy for a head start


Go to Strategies → Sell out inventory. It creates a Clearance offer with these defaults, which you can change afterwards:


Setting

Default

Threshold

14 days of cover

Discount ladder

10% → 15% → 20%

Maximum discount

25%


Personalize the offer text


You can use these tokens in your Clearance offer text:


  • {product_name}: the product title
  • {discount}: the current tier's discount, for example "15%" or "$5.00"
  • {scarcity_label}: "Only a few left" or "Last chance", based on stock
  • {units_left}: the exact units in stock (only use this if your inventory counts are reliable)


Track and manage what's clearing


Clearance analytics: variants on clearance with units left, current discount tier, views and sales, and cleared variants


Open the offer's analytics page (from the offer list, or Analytics → the offer). You'll see:


  • On clearance now: each variant's units left, days of cover, current tier and discount, views and sales at this tier, and how soon it moves to the next tier
  • Cleared: variants that sold out


For each variant you can:


  • Pin: keep it in the offer regardless of stock
  • Lock tier: freeze its discount at the current tier
  • Reset tier: send it back to tier 1
  • Remove: take it out of clearance


If a variant isn't moving even at your highest tier, UpsellPlus suggests offering it as a free gift or in a bundle.


FAQ


Will Clearance offers discount products below my margin?
No, as long as your products have a cost in Shopify and you've set a margin floor. The discount also never goes past your maximum discount.


Do all variants step up at the same time?
No. Each variant moves up on its own, and only after it's been shown the set number of times without a sale.


What happens when I restock a product?
When a variant is restocked above your threshold, it leaves the offer automatically.


Can I keep a product out of clearance?
Yes. Add it to Never include in the offer setup, or Remove it from the offer's analytics page.


Is Clearance part of ShopBrain?
Yes. Clearance is one of the ShopBrain automatic offer types, along with Similar Products, Complementary Products, Complete the Set, Get to the next reward, Recently viewed, Dynamic Subscription and Dynamic Size Upgrade.



Updated on: 14/10/2026

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