Overview
Sellercloud’s Inventory Management Tool allows you to set the current physical inventory count for one or multiple products which lets it display the current inventory amount. In contrast to adjusting inventory, where you enter the amount by which your inventory should be changed, the process of Setting Physical Inventory allows you to set the physical count of your products’ inventory.
Follow the instructions below to learn more about setting physical inventory on products.
Set Physical Inventory
Once you have done a physical inventory count of a product within a warehouse, you can update that in-stock quantity either manually, or via a file import.
Set Physical Inventory Manually
There are two places from where the Physical Quantity of a product in a warehouse can be updated: from the Warehouse Inventory tab, or from the Physicals tab. These are both available under the product’s Warehouse toolbox. See the steps below for details.
- Access Inventory > Manage Inventory.
- Open the product the physical you need to set.
- Click Toolbox, and select Warehouse.
- Set a new Physical Inventory in one of the following ways:
a. Under Warehouse Inventory > Select the Set Physical icon next to your desired warehouse.
b. Under Physicals > Select the plus icon.
- Select the requested Warehouse and specify the Physical Quantity. Indicate the Inventory Date which should reflect the time and date when the inventory was last physically verified, or counted.
- Click Set.
Set Physical Inventory in Bulk
Physical Inventory Import lets you set the current calculated Physical Inventory for multiple products using a file import. To import physical inventory data, follow the steps below.
- Access Inventory > Tools > Import Inventory Info.
- Select Import Physical Inventory.
- To download a sample template, select the file type, and click the Download icon on the Import Physical Inventory panel.
- Complete the template file. Save the file.
- Return to Import Physical Inventory.
- Click the File field, and select the appropriate file from your computer.
- In the Update Type field, specify whether you want to perform a Partial (Recommended) or Full Inventory Count. Note: Indicate a Warehouse if you are going to perform a Full Update by Warehouse. Refer to the definitions below.
UPDATE TYPE
DESCRIPTION
Partial
(Strongly Recommended)
A partial inventory import will only update the SKUs and respective warehouse(s) entered in the file. We recommend performing a partial inventory import because it is the safest option. Unlike a full import, partial imports will not affect SKUs missing from the file, eliminating any possibility of error.
Full
Similar to a partial update, full imports will update the SKUs and respective warehouse(s) entered in the file with the values specified. Any SKU that is missing from the file will have its inventory zeroed out. This is why we recommend using a partial upload unless you want to zero out the products outside of your import file. Full Update by Warehouse
A warehouse must be selected from the Warehouse dropdown. This will allow you to limit the full inventory update to the selected warehouse. Make sure the warehouse in the file matches the selected warehouse from the dropdown; otherwise, the import will not work and return an error. Note: The Enable Warehouse Inventory Import by Warehouse Client Setting must be selected for the Warehouse dropdown to appear, and this update option to be available.
Inventory movements that occurred before the current Physical Inventory Date will not display on the Warehouse Inventory Movements page. - Click Import.
Automate Inventory Imports
Physical inventory can be imported from an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) using the scheduled task Import Physical Inventory. If the file format matches the Sellercloud format, use the plugin type None. If the file is formatted differently, a plugin is needed to be created and selected on the scheduled task.
Check out this video on importing physical inventory!
Understanding physical inventory
Setting a Physical refers to setting the actual quantity of the product in a warehouse. The
quantity entered is the quantity you have in stock.
You can set the physical inventory on multiple products using a file import. Inventory is stored in
warehouses, so the file will reference to which warehouse you are setting the physical inventory.
- On the Inventory tab, click on Warehouse Inventory Import.
- Download the template from the action menu. You can download a template as an excel
spreadsheet, CSV, or tab delimited file. You can also download a blank template
[Download Template], a template with all SKUs [Download Template (all products)], a
template with all SKUs and their current inventory [Download Template (all product
inventory)], and a template with all SKUs excluding shadow SKUs and All
Component/Main Component kits [Download Template (all products no
Shadow/Dependent Kits)]. - In the Product ID column, enter the ProductID.
- In the Warehouse column, enter the name of the warehouse where the inventory of the
product will be stored. You can have multiple warehouse on a single import file. - In the third column, enter the physical quantity of the product.
- In the last column, enter the date and time the inventory was counted. Repeat this
process for all the items in the import. You can set a different time and date for each item
in the import. This column only needs to be filled in if there was inventory movement
since the time of counting. If there was no inventory movement, the physical will be time
stamped with the time of the import. However, the column header “InventoryDate”
should be left in the file. - Save your template.
- Go back to the warehouse inventory import page and select your file.
- Select the file type of the file you are importing.
- Typically, the Update Type should be set to “Partial” (this is the default selection). Read
about Update Types below - The inventory date and time displayed on this page are the date and time of the import,
not the date and time of the actual counting. Both time frames will be logged, but the date entered on the template will take precedence over the page’s time stamp. If there is no date and time entered on the template, then the date and time of the import will be used as the date and time of the physical count. - Click Import Inventory and the inventory will be imported into the assigned warehouses.
Understanding and using update types
- Partial Update (Strongly Recommended)— Import will only set the physical on SKUs that are in
the file. No other SKU will be affected. Likewise, it will only affect inventory quantity in the
warehouse entered on the file. - Full Update— will set any SKU in the system that is not on the file to a quantity of zero. Typically, a full update is only done when you are sure that what the count accurately reflects the complete inventory, and you want to zero out any other item that is currently in the system.
- Full Update by Warehouse— In Client Settings, check Enable Warehouse Inventory Import by Warehouse. When this is enabled, a warehouse dropdown will display when Full Update is selected. By selecting a warehouse, inventory in the selected warehouse alone will be affected. Inventory in other warehouses will be ignored. This means that any product not on the file will be will be zeroed out in the warehouse selected in the dropdown, but the inventory in other warehouses will not be affected. Please note the following conditions:
- The warehouse in the file must match the warehouse selected. If it does not, an immediate error will be thrown.
- The file must have only have the matching warehouse. If the file contains additional warehouses an immediate error will be thrown.
Importing physical inventory automatically
Physical inventory can be imported from an FTP using the scheduled task Import Physical Inventory. If the file format matches the Sellercloud format, use the plugin type None. If the file is formatted differently a plugin would need to be created and select on the scheduled task.