Stock status is used to indicate the availability or current status of a product in your inventory.  For your customers, it not only lets them know if they can buy a product, but it may also inform them on its pending availability.  The following Opencart 1.5 tutorial will walk you through how to set or edit stock statuses in the Administration Dashboard.

Creating and Modifying the Stock Statues in Opencart 1.5

1. Login to the Administration Dashboard as an Administrator
2. Hover over SYSTEM in the menu bar, then when the drop-down menu is shown click on LOCALISATION. Another drop-down menu will appear when you hover over LOCALISATION.  Select STOCK STATUSES in the next drop-down menu and you will see the following screen:
   
   
   
   
3. Select a status, then click on EDIT in order to change it.  Otherwise, you can click on INSERT in order to create a new Stock Status. The default statuses are shown above but include:
   
   2-3 days
   In Stock
   Out of Stock (Default)
   Pre-order
   
   Add further stock statuses as needed.  Remember that these statuses must be translated if you have more than one language loaded with your with your store.  When editing, you will see the screen below.  Note the extra blank provided for the other language loaded:
   
   

When the stock status is added, the most immediate place that a customer sees this will be in the Product screens for a product.  Here's an example of a product page where the Stock Status is fairly obvious (it's shown as "In Stock" under AVAILABILITY):