0
Our shop sells replacement parts, and some products are unavailable for four to six weeks before we get another shipment. The product pages still have specifications, compatibility details, and customer reviews, but checkout is disabled while stock is zero.
A developer has suggested returning a 404 during that period so customers won’t land on something they can’t buy. I’m concerned about what that would mean for temporarily out-of-stock product pages that already receive search traffic.
- Should the HTTP status depend on whether we expect the product to return?
- Does keeping an unavailable item in the XML sitemap send a conflicting signal?
- How should product availability structured data reflect the page while sales are paused?
I’m trying to establish a policy that distinguishes temporary shortages from permanently discontinued products, rather than treating every zero-stock item the same way.
