Warehouse glossary

Quarantine

Quarantine is the status of held stock that cannot be allocated to an order while its disposition is decided, for example a return awaiting inspection or a lot under review.

Also known as
inventory hold · held stock

Reviewed October 29, 2026 by the Business in a Wave team

Its use in the warehouse

Quarantine separates in the system what is not yet sellable. The product can be physically in the warehouse, but it is not allocated to any pick until an authorized user releases it or writes it off. Without that status, a damaged return can ship in the next order.

How Chainlink WMS applies it

In Chainlink WMS, each warehouse has a quarantine location. Customer returns enter it and are inspected: they are restocked, kept in quarantine, written off as shrinkage or returned to the supplier. Picking allocation does not consider stock in quarantine.

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