How to count your stock

A stock count checks a shelf, a brand or a whole location against what Shopify says is there. It lives next to What is Inventory? at Selling › Counts, where the page reads Start a count, watch it as staff scan, then review the differences.

At Fairgreen Golf Co., Priya Raman counts the Portside Mills range in the showroom each month. She starts the count, the team scans, and she posts the differences to Shopify in one go.

Before you start

You need the Store and Inventory modules on, Shopify connected, and the right rows in Settings › Permissions. Both modules are on unless an admin turned them off in Settings › Modules. With either one off, Counts is not in the menu.

Your Shopify connection has to be allowed to change stock, the same as for receiving. See How to receive a delivery and How to manage integrations, your workspace name and the audit log.

Four rows control counts. See How to set who can do what.

• View stock counts starts at member. It lets you open a count and watch it.
• Scan items into stock counts starts at member.
• Start stock counts starts at lead. It shows New count, Close counting and Cancel count.
• Approve stock counts and post them to Shopify starts at lead. It covers recounts, decisions on lines and posting.

Seeing the numbers and the value also needs View inventory. Without it, a count's page says You can see this count, but not the stock numbers or dollars. Ask an admin for inventory access to review it.

Counts shows in the menu to people who can open Analytics and Inventory. That row in Settings › Permissions starts at lead.

How do you start a count?

Press New count at the top of Selling › Counts, fill in the New count box, and press Start count. Tideswell opens the new count straight away.

1. Under Name, give it a name your team will recognise, such as Front wall, November.
2. Under Location, choose the Shopify location you are counting. A location you have not yet confirmed as yours reads (not confirmed as yours) after its name.
3. Under What to count, choose Everything in stock here or One brand. For one brand, type it in the box marked Brand name, exactly as in Shopify, such as Portside Mills.
4. Leave Blind count on unless you have a reason to turn it off. It reads Counters will not see how many Shopify expects., so nobody counts towards a number.
5. Press Start count.

To start a count of just the items that are overdue for one, use the Due tab instead. See How to see what is due for a count and what has gone missing.

Why did my count not start?

The message says what to change. These are the ones you are most likely to see:

• Give the count a name. Fill in Name.
• No items match this count, so there is nothing to count. Check the location, and check the brand is spelled exactly as it is in Shopify.
• This location has too many items to count in one go. Start one count per vendor or product type. Split the location into brands with One brand.
• Some of these items are already being counted in "Front wall, November". Finish or cancel that count first. Post or cancel the count it names, then start yours.

What does each status mean?

Every count on the list carries one of these, in the Status column:

• Starting: Tideswell is reading the items from Shopify. Reload in a minute.
• Counting: staff are scanning.
• In review: counting is closed and the differences are ready to check.
• Posting: the approved differences are on their way to Shopify.
• Posted: Shopify has every change.
• Closed with exceptions: some items were not posted, and someone closed the count with a note.
• Cancelled: nothing was posted.
• Stuck while starting: the start did not finish. Its items stay locked until someone with Start stock counts presses Cancel.

The list's other columns are Count, Location, Net difference and Started. A blind count shows a Blind tag beside its name.

How do staff scan items?

On the count's own page, in a browser. Anyone with Scan items into stock counts sees a Scan items panel at the top while the count is counting.

The panel reads "Each scan records 1 unit. Scan the tag again for another unit."

1. Open the count from Selling › Counts.
2. Click the Scan a barcode or SKU box, so the panel shows Scanner ready.
3. Scan each item's tag with a barcode scanner, or type the SKU and press Enter.

Any scanner that types the code and ends with Enter or Tab works, such as a USB or Bluetooth scanner paired to a laptop or tablet. Each scan shows under Recent scans with the item's name. If you click away, the panel pauses; press Resume scanning before the next scan.

What if a scan does not send?

It waits in that browser and the panel shows Retry sending. Below it, the panel reads:

"Pending scans are saved in this browser. Return to this count as the same person to send them. Do not rescan those units."

A scan the count refuses shows its reason in red, and collects under Show refused scans. Read them, deal with each item, then press I have reviewed the refused scans.

How do you watch a count while staff scan?

Open the count. Items counted shows how many items have been scanned out of the total, with a bar, and refreshes every 10 seconds.

Under Counters, each person who has scanned shows their name, their area (or No area set), how many scans they made and Done once they have finished. Until the first scan the list reads Nobody has scanned anything yet.

How do you close counting?

Press Close counting when the team has finished. The box says how many items are left, such as 12 items have not been counted yet. You can still look them over in review, and late scans are flagged. Press Close counting again to move the count to In review.

To stop a count without posting anything, press Cancel count. The box reads The items go back to being free for a new count. Scans already made are kept on record but nothing is posted.

How do you review the differences?

Read the three totals first, then work down the table. The totals are Posting would change stock value by, Value of items nobody counted and Lines needing a look, in your store's currency.

The table, Lines, flagged first, has Item, Expected, Counted, Difference, Value and Why it is flagged. A line with nothing to check reads Nothing to check.

Each flag names itself and gives its reason:

• Not counted: Nobody scanned this. Shopify's number stays unless you set it to zero.
• Counted twice: More than one person counted this in the same area.
• Stock moved: Stock changed in Shopify while this was being counted.
• Late scans: Some scans for this reached the server late.
• Big difference: The difference is bigger than your threshold.
• Not in this count: Scanned but not part of this count. It is not posted unless you tick it in.
• Unknown code: A code that matched nothing in Shopify.

Codes that matched no item are listed separately under Codes with no item, with how many times each was scanned and by whom. What counts as a big difference is set in Count settings, covered in How to see what is due for a count and what has gone missing.

What do you decide on each line?

Two kinds of line need a decision, in the Decision column. An item nobody counted offers Leave as it is or Set to zero, and leaving it keeps Shopify's number.

An item scanned outside the count offers Include in posting. Tick it only when that item really belongs in this count.

How do you ask for a recount?

Tick the lines you want counted again and press Recount N lines, such as Recount 3 lines. Those lines are counted again, and each one then shows recount, round 2 under its name.

What if the totals say they are not shown yet?

Confirm which locations are yours, then come back. The panel reads Dollar totals are not shown yet. followed by the reason, and Fix this opens Buying › Data feeds › Open to buy, where you confirm them. See How to send your open-to-buy file to a buying planner.

How do you approve and post a count?

Press Approve and post, read the box, then press Post to Shopify. Beside the button, a line says what will happen, such as Approving posts 48 lines to Shopify at Showroom. Each item moves by its difference, so sales made during the count are kept.

The box is headed Post this count to Shopify? and says the change cannot be undone from Tideswell. Make sure every line and every decision is right before you press Post to Shopify.

When every change has landed, the count reads Posted to Shopify. If the answer is slow to arrive you see This took too long to confirm. Reload to see what was posted. Reload rather than pressing again.

What if part of a count did not post?

Changes go to Shopify in batches, and the count shows how far it got, such as Posted 2 of 3 batches. If some were never sent, press Send the rest.

A batch Shopify did not confirm reads Batch 3 was not confirmed by Shopify, with its items and a Retry button. Retry is safe for a day after its last attempt.

After that the batch reads Too old to retry safely. Check these items in Shopify by hand, then close with exceptions.

To finish, write what you checked under Close with exceptions and press Close with exceptions. The note is required, and the items that did not post can go into a new count. Any item left out is named after Not posted:.

How does a second sign-off work?

When an admin has switched it on, a count needs a second person before it posts. The review then reads This workspace needs a second person to sign off before this count posts. and Approve and post stays greyed until someone signs.

1. Press Ask for sign-off. The count reads Waiting for a second person to sign off. Asked by Priya Raman. and A different manager can sign it off in Approvals.
2. The people who can sign get a notification, A stock count needs your sign-off. They decide it on Buying › Approvals, as in How to route a purchase order for approval.
3. Once signed, the count reads Signed off by Dana. with You can post now. Press Approve and post as usual.

The signer needs Approve stock counts and post them to Shopify, and has to be someone other than the person who asked and the person who started the count. A refusal shows as Sign-off was refused, with the signer's note if they left one.

Why did the sign-off stop applying?

Because the review changed after it was signed. A recount or a changed decision voids it, and the count reads The sign-off no longer applies because the review changed after it. Ask again.

When a count needs a sign-off, the review also warns Make sure every counter has stopped scanning. A scan that arrives while you approve withdraws the sign-off, and nothing posts.