Some Turn14 items aren't on Turn14's shelves right now but can still be ordered — either shipped directly from the manufacturer, or as a special order that Turn14 sources on request. This article explains how X-Cart's Turn14 integration surfaces these additional stock states on your storefront and how the associated drop-ship fees are handled at checkout.

For a Turn14 item that has run out of stock across all your suppliers — your own warehouses, other distributor integrations, and Turn14 itself — there may still be a way to sell it:

The additional stock states feature lets you offer both of these options to your customers instead of showing the item as simply "Out of Stock." It also handles drop-ship fees end-to-end: the customer is warned on the product page that a handling fee may apply, and the exact amount appears at checkout when Turn14 confirms it.

The classification is based on the signals Turn14 provides in its feed — X-Cart doesn't invent categories on its own. What your customer sees on your storefront reflects how Turn14 itself classifies each product.

Before you enable additional stock states from Turn14, make sure:

The feature is controlled by two settings on the Turn 14 integration page.

To open the settings:

You'll find two new controls there.

The Direct from Manufacturer state uses Turn14's drop-ship fulfillment — Turn14 asks the manufacturer to ship the item directly to your customer. For this to actually work when an order is placed, the corresponding brands must be authorized for direct-from-manufacturer shipping in your Turn14 portal.

This authorization is a Turn14-side setting, not an X-Cart setting. If a brand is not authorized on Turn14's side, X-Cart may still see the manufacturer's inventory in the feed, but Turn14 will refuse to fulfill the order at quote time. Please make sure the necessary brands are authorized in your Turn14 portal before enabling this feature.

Additional stock states only activate for a Turn14 item when all other stock sources for that product are at zero — your own warehouses, other distributor integrations, and all four Turn14 warehouses. If the item has stock anywhere, it's shown as In Stock and no additional state is applied. Think of Direct from Manufacturer and Special Order as fallback options — they surface when standard in-stock fulfillment isn't possible.

Once "no stock anywhere" is confirmed, X-Cart looks at three feed signals to decide which state applies.

Direct from Manufacturer is activated when all of the following are true:

For these items, Turn14 will attempt to have the manufacturer ship the item directly.

Special Order is activated when:

For these items, Turn14 will accept the order and attempt to source the item.

If neither condition is met, the item is shown as Out of Stock (the standard behavior).

The states are mutually exclusive — a product falls into exactly one of them, following the signals from Turn14's feed. If you see similar products on other stores labeled as both "Special Order" and "Drop Ship" at the same time, that reflects that store's own UX layering, not Turn14's actual classifications.

Every regular Turn14 import re-evaluates the classification for each Turn14 item:

There's no separate "enable" or "disable" action per product — it all happens through the import cycle.

When Use Turn14 additional stock states is on and a product qualifies for one of the states, the product's Inventory section (Catalog → Products → open a product → Pricing & Inventory tab) shows a new virtual warehouse under the Turn 14 supplier.

For products classified as Direct from Manufacturer, a row labeled Direct from MFR appears alongside Turn14's four regular warehouses. It shows:

Concrete drop-ship fee amounts are not displayed here in the admin. They appear at checkout and in the order details for each individual order — see Drop-ship fees on checkout and in orders.

For products classified as Special Order, a row labeled Special Order appears. It shows:

If a product doesn't qualify for either state, no virtual warehouse is added. Turn14's four regular warehouses (Hatfield, Arlington, Whiteland, Reno) are unaffected.

When Use Turn14 additional stock states is on and a product qualifies for one of the states, the product page shows a corresponding label. Because these states only apply when the item is out of stock everywhere else, the label takes the position of the usual "In Stock" indicator.

For products in the Direct from Manufacturer state, the customer sees:

An active Add to Cart button, with the quantity input capped at what the manufacturer has available

If backorder from Turn14 is also active for the item (see Direct backorder in the Turn14 Distribution integration), the "Available for backorder" label appears alongside the Direct from Manufacturer label.

For products in the Special Order state, the customer sees:

No other stock-state labels alongside it — Special Order is shown on its own

Turn14's drop-ship fees can depend on many factors — quantity tiers, order context, current promotions — and the actual fee is only finalized when Turn14 responds to the live quote at checkout. Displaying a specific fee on the product page from the feed carries a real risk of showing a number that differs from what the customer sees at checkout, which is exactly the kind of experience that leads to complaints and disputes.

The general "Handling fees may apply" notice gives your customers upfront context — they know a fee is coming — without committing to an amount that could later prove stale. The exact figure appears at checkout, where it comes from Turn14 in real time.

When a customer places an order that includes Direct from Manufacturer items, X-Cart requests a live quote from Turn14 during checkout. Turn14 returns the actual fees for the order alongside the shipment breakdown. From that point on:

In the admin Orders section, the drop-ship fee appears in the details of the shipment it applies to, so you can see the real cost of the drop-ship fulfillment at a glance.

Drop-ship fees are processed regardless of the Use Turn14 additional stock states setting — if Turn14 includes a fee in the quote response, it's applied to the order. The setting only controls whether the product-page indicator is shown; the underlying fee handling in orders is always active.

If Turn14 does not return a drop-ship fee for a given quote (for example, when a brand doesn't have a drop-ship fee configured), no fee line appears on the order.

Q: I turned the setting on. Why don't I see the labels or virtual warehouses yet?

A: The classification runs on the next scheduled Turn14 import. You can wait for the next import cycle or trigger a manual import from the Turn 14 settings page.

Q: A product has stock in my own warehouse but Turn14 shows it as Special Order. What will my customer see?

A: The customer sees the standard "In Stock" label — the Direct from Manufacturer and Special Order states only surface when there's no stock available from any of your other sources. Once your local stock runs out, the item automatically switches to the appropriate additional state on the next import.

Q: Why is my customer seeing "Handling fees may apply" instead of a specific fee amount?

A: By design. Drop-ship fees can vary based on quantity and other order-time factors, so showing a specific amount on the product page could result in a mismatch with the actual fee at checkout. The general indicator gives your customer upfront context; the exact fee is shown at checkout.

Q: Can I disable the "Handling fees may apply" notice for my store?

A: Not in this version. The notice appears on every Direct from Manufacturer item when the additional stock states feature is on. If you don't want to show it, you can turn off the additional stock states feature entirely; drop-ship fees will still be processed in orders but no product-page label or virtual warehouse will appear.

Q: A brand appears as drop-ship-enabled in my feed, but the order fails at checkout. What's wrong?

A: Most commonly, this means the brand is not authorized for direct-from-manufacturer shipping on your Turn14 portal. Check your Turn14 account settings — the authorization is on Turn14's side, not in X-Cart. See What Turn14 authorization is needed.

Q: Are drop-ship fees taxed?

A: No. Drop-ship fees are treated as handling surcharges — they are added to the order Total but not to the taxable Subtotal.

Q: Can the customer order more than the manufacturer's available quantity?

A: No. For Direct from Manufacturer items, the quantity input on the product page is capped at the manufacturer's inventory. For Special Order items, it's capped at your Special Order qty limit setting. The final quantity is confirmed by Turn14 at checkout.

Q: Does this feature work with the Turn14 backorder feature?

A: Yes, they're separate but complementary. Backorder handles items that Turn14 has on the way or regularly stocks; Direct from Manufacturer and Special Order handle items that are out of stock everywhere and need alternative fulfillment paths.

Q: Will my customer see a Special Order label if I've set Special Order qty limit to 0?

A: No. With the setting at 0, the Special Order state doesn't activate — qualifying items are shown as standard Out of Stock. Because the field is required, you'll be prompted to enter a value greater than 0 when you turn on the additional stock states feature.