What is Stock In?

1. Check the delivery

   Compare what arrived with the order and the supplier's invoice.

2. Count what is really there

   Open the cartons if needed. Look for damage.

3. Record the quantity received

   Enter what you actually got, not what the invoice says.

4. Shelve it

   Put the goods away, with older stock in front.

A delivery of pencils is billed as 12 boxes. The shopkeeper counts 11, and one box has a torn corner with loose pencils missing. She records 11 boxes in, notes the shortage and tells the supplier. If she had recorded 12, her stock would show a box that does not exist, and she would later blame theft for it. See shrinkage.

Before the delivery she had 8 boxes. After recording, her count is 8 + 11 = 19 boxes. A damaged box that cannot be sold is recorded separately as damaged, so the 19 stays true for what she can sell.

• Recording from the invoice. Invoices show what was billed, not what arrived.
• Delaying the entry. Stock sold before it is recorded shows as negative, or gets missed.
• Not updating cost. If the new batch cost more, update the product's cost, or profit figures will be wrong. See landed cost.
• Mixing it up with returns. Customer returns are a different movement from supplier deliveries.

Shopkeepa has a Stock In action for recording received stock. It adds to the product's count as a received movement in the stock ledger, next to sales, returns, damage and counts, so you can always see how the number got there. The guide on receiving stock deliveries has a full checklist.