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Bulk Inventory Update - STOCK RECEIVED

Hello!

 

I'm looking for a way to add inventory to my stock in bulk.

I don't want to use the "Import --> Modify" option, because that only has a column for previous inventory (what I had when I downloaded the spreadsheet) and current inventory (which overwrites the quantity). Instead, I'm looking for a method to add large quantities of items to inventory from new stock received, like I could on the individual items.

 

For example,

 

Previous Stock:

Item A: 1
Item B: 6

Item C: 9

 

I receive the following new inventory and enter it LIKE THIS:

Item A: 4

Item B: 5

Item C: 6

 

Then it adds them (as it does for the individual items under "Stock Received" option), resulting in:

Item A: 5

Item B: 11

Item C: 15

 

I have large quantities of items to do this with, so I really don't want to have to do the addition manually. Also, I'm capable of writing a script to do this. However, I believe it should be a built-in function, and am hoping that I'm just unable to find it.

 

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

--Mike Majik, Blackmajik Scents

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Square Community Moderator

Best Answer

Hi @Blackmajik

 

Unfortunately the Import/Export tool is the only way to edit inventory in bulk within the basic inventory management features of Point of Sale. 

 

There's a chance that Square for Retail might be a fit for you, as there is a Purchase Order feature that automatically adds to your stock when you receive them. 

 

Check out these articles to see if it's a good fit for your business:

 

Get Started With Square for Retail

 

Purchase Order Management

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Square Community Moderator

Best Answer

Hi @Blackmajik

 

Unfortunately the Import/Export tool is the only way to edit inventory in bulk within the basic inventory management features of Point of Sale. 

 

There's a chance that Square for Retail might be a fit for you, as there is a Purchase Order feature that automatically adds to your stock when you receive them. 

 

Check out these articles to see if it's a good fit for your business:

 

Get Started With Square for Retail

 

Purchase Order Management

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Thanks for the response! The expense of the Retail version isn't worthwhile for the small side business I'm using this for, so I'll be passing on that idea. But yes, the purchase order does appear to have that functionality. Guess I'll be scripting it up. 🙂

 

Thanks for the response!

--Mike

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Looking at the purchase order management in Square for Retail, it looks like (from what the instructions say) that receiving a purchase order simply serves to close out the PO and does nothing to update inventory. Am I understand that correctly?

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Admin

Hi @paulvonfange — so sorry for this late reply. When you receive a Purchase Order your inventory counts are updated. This shows up in Inventory History on Dashboard as Stock Received. There's more receiving purchases orders and viewing stock adjustment history in the Support Center. If you have any other questions please let me know! 

️ Helen
Seller Community Manager

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Thanks 

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This reply created from merging an existing thread: "How can I update my year-end inventory count into SQUARE?" The author has been notified via email.

 

I can't believe I'm the only one with this problem, and I hope someone has found an answer to this.

 

I have a large store with over a half-M in inventory. I need to update my current invenotry with a year-end count. My Square CS rep has told me to use pencil and paper! Then use that to update the Square Item entry one at a time.  OR, I can use pencil and paper, then use that to hand-correct an exported Item Catlaog and then re-upload it.  This is silly!

 

When we used QB, we invested in Inventory scanning wands that allow us to scan each item quickly and efficiently, then upload that count directly into the software. It took us 8 hours to count the entire store. What the CS rep suggested would take days!

 

Help!

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Beta Member

I could also see this as a standard feature. We have many items for sale and it is very tedious to update stock or to toggle on or off the Tracking the stock.  

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When I get in new inventory, I get 200+ items at a time. Some are new items and some are replenishments.

I download the item worksheet, add the items to the end of the file - putting quantities in the new quantity column, save the worksheet and then upload.

I have tried modifying and replacing and end up with the same result.

The replenished items are in the inventory twice - same sku, same price, same everything - one has the old inventory quantity and the other has the new inventory quantity.

Am I missing something, or doing something wrong?  I can’t imagine that I would have to search for each item as that would be excessively time consuming.   Modify should do just that - modify the item - this is just adding it seems.

Also I tried an experiment with low stock alerts.  I have been trying to remove the alerts and again whether I modify or replace after deleting the values in those columns, or clearing content and deleting - I still get low stock reports every day.

Thanks for any help.

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Tried to use the P.O. template. The upload logic is stupid. I downloaded the item catalog from my Square account, looked up the items and copied them into the template by SKU using the information directly from my system. When I tried to upload the template it gave me and error and said some of the items could not be found and that the variation had to be added. What could I possibly do since I copied how they are in my system. Now it is complete guess as to what is causing the issue. I've spent hours pulling all of this together for absolutely nothing!!!! Thanks for providing a useless function that just burned up 2.5 hours of my day.

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Super Seller

@Whiskeyhill ;

Go here on a computer:

dashboard/items/inventory/purchase-orders 

 

Then on the Right side click or double click Create

 

You will get a new screen where you can enter information to create a New PO.

 

Not sure why you were exporting and importing your Square Catalog, using the above method you can type in the name or sku of the item and it will auto populate in the PO.  I think I even grabbed the items I wanted to reorder, was only 5 items, and was able to scan the barcode in for the system to find the item.  Add quantity that I wanted ordered updated the new prices. 

 

More info on Square Purchase Orders.

https://squareup.com/help/au/en/article/6240-purchase-order-management 

Keith
Owner
Pocono Candle

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As I said in my initial post, I was trying to use the Excel P.O. template. I've used your method for small order, but we have a large order with numerous items to bulk update. I'm not working from in the store but from the back office using the invoice we received from the vendor. On the page you mention under Import it opens a pop-up with a template to download so someone can upload an order. I used my catalogue to ensure I entered in the Excel rows the name and SKU as it exists in my system and then updated quantities and prices. It would not load saying the items didn't exist in my system and would have to be added. If I was going to pull all the different items and use a bar scanner I may as well update them at the POS one-by-one.

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Super Seller

@Whiskeyhill ;

Did you try the Excel method doing a small test PO?  Say 5 of the items you want to order?

If they come up not in your system, print out those items and compare them to your Excel PO.  

Sometimes Excel is a pain with auto formatting column incorrectly.

Meaning I have items that start with a Leading '0' and Excel would assume these are numbers not text for my SKU and then have these as NEW items.

So my method of scanning a few items into your excel spreadsheet is to test if there are errors with Excels formatting of your data in those columns.  

Typing in a lot of data is easier to miss a number or have Excel auto incorrect your intended text.  Square needs the data to match Identically or it is a new item.  A space before or after a SKU makes it different too.  I have copied my SKU and sometime it either copied a space or placed a Space after the paste.  This might make it different too.

 

When saving your inputted data do you  save a .csv or .xlsx?  This makes a difference too.  When you are entering the data in excel, is the column formatted as General, Text, Number or something else? I know Square sends it as the type they need, but are your Excel settings changing this without you knowing it?  When I open my catalog as a CSV file in excel from Square, Excel opens my SKU as a Number, if I have Square send it as a .xlsx file it opens it as a text column.  .CSV files lost the leading 0, .xlsx kept the leading zero.   This drove me crazy using Excel, from using Libreoffice which asked me the format of each column before opening it and deleting characters no matter which way I downloaded my Catalog.   Could this be the cause of your problems?  

 

My original suggestion was to test to make sure Square was recognizing your Items as you entered them in a PO.

Copy and Paste sometimes works and other times it ads an invisible character for formatting purposes.

With trying any new software or system I always recommend starting with a small test to get your new system up and going.  This way I learn the possible cause and effect of the new system I am using.  I am just offering possibilities to find the issue, then again it could be an issue with Squares Import of a PO template.  

 

 

 

Keith
Owner
Pocono Candle

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Square Support Number 855-700-6000.
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