How to fix "inventory policy is not included in the list"
This is the most-searched Shopify import error, and it comes from one column: Variant Inventory Policy. Shopify accepts only two values there — continue or deny — written exactly like that.
Most files that trigger it look correct on screen. The problem is invisible: a capital letter, a trailing space, or a stubborn blank cell.
Check your file before you import it
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The five causes, in order of frequency
Check your file against this list before touching anything else:
- Capitalized values: "Deny" or "Continue" instead of deny / continue.
- Trailing or leading spaces: "deny " looks identical in Excel but is rejected.
- Extra words: "Deny selling", "continue (default)" and similar phrases.
- Empty cells: new rows with inventory tracking need a policy value.
- Wrong column: the value ended up in Variant Fulfillment Service or another column after a spreadsheet edit.
How to fix every row in one pass
The slow way is scrolling through thousands of rows looking for a space. The fast way is to run the file through a preflight check that reports the exact rows and columns that will fail, fixes the mechanical ones (spaces, capitalization, blanks) with a preview, and exports a clean file.
BeforeImport does this in the browser, with a dedicated Shopify preset that flags invalid inventory policy values, non-integer quantities, malformed prices, bad booleans and duplicate handles before you upload.
- Upload the product CSV (free up to 5,000 rows).
- Select "Shopify products" as import target and read the error list.
- Apply the fixes, review the preview, export and import into Shopify.
Prevent it from coming back
If the file is generated by a spreadsheet template, fix the template: lock the allowed values with a dropdown (continue, deny), strip spaces automatically, and keep the column order identical to Shopify's sample file.
And when a supplier sends you a new export, run the preflight before the import. It takes seconds and replaces the error-email-fix cycle.
Frequently asked questions
Is "manual" a valid inventory policy value?
No. manual belongs to the fulfillment service column, not to inventory policy. Inventory policy accepts only continue or deny.
Does capitalization really matter?
Yes. Shopify matches the value character for character. "Deny" and "deny" are different strings, and only the lowercase form is accepted.
Can I leave the cell blank if I do not track inventory?
For rows with inventory tracking it is safer to set a value anyway: blank is a common cause of this error, especially on variant rows.
Will this error stop the whole import?
Shopify validates the file before applying rows, so yes — one bad value can block the entire batch.
Related guides
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