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Feature Request: Sync inventory across multiple locations

Feature Request: Sync inventory across multiple locations

The title of this post has been edited from the original: Multi-Location Inventory - All locations use same inventory

 

Is there a way to have multiple locations use the same inventory? We sell orders from several locations and need to track by location, but the inventory comes from the same stock. Aside from assigning a certain amount of inventory to each location, and likely having to shuffle the inventory around within square, and possibly thinking we are out and ordering more when there's plenty in the inventory of another location... Can certain items be assigned from a central inventory stock and other items be location specific? 

 

I'm not seeing this is possible now, but is it something being considered? 

I'm using Square POS, not retail. I believe retail has a more robust inventory system, but retail is just far more in general than we need.

151 Comments
Admin

@littlebylittle Apologies for the delay in this reply! There isn't a way to pool inventory across multiple locations. This is a request we've heard before - can you share a bit more about why this is important for your business? 

My use case is I have a main brick and mortar store, an on-line store linked to WooCommerce which has it's own location as that is mandatory for the plug-in and also sell at multiple farmers markets in different towns. It's necessary to have separate locations for eack of those because both the taxes and the prices vary by location (I add the per item fees some markets charge to things sold at those markets and I bundle in an amount for shipping to things sold at the on-line store) but the inventory needs to be central so that no matter where I sell the item from the inventory is correctly debited. 

I have the same basic need, I have multiple locaitons with different pricing for the same SKU at those but need totrack inventory in one place. Editing and assigning inventory by location does notmake sense when the locations are flexible/mobile or on-line. I'm using WooCommerce for the on-line store

I've loked through the various threads on individualpieces of this puzzle but one of the solutions work in all cases. 

 

Issue is 3 locations 1 brick and mortar, 1 mobile, 1 online web site. 

 

Prices for each item are different at each location.

Tax rates for types of items are different at each location. Some places have 3 or more tax rates depending on what the item specifically is. The mobile place has to handle all the changed rates all the time. 

Inventory must be shared among all 3 locations since I can take orders at one location (mobile) for shipment later, while another order is coming in via web site and perhaps a 3rd at the brick and mortar store. The items are unique and once a given lot of them is gone there can never be any more so allowing backorders won't work and notifications are not fast enough. I can't just assign inventory to one location because then the other locations do not see an accurate count. If I try to put all the inventory on a single location then I can't have different prices at each location. I can't just set an automatic discount or price adder based on location since the pricing by location varies depending on what the rules are. Farmers markets sometimes add a fee based on dollars and sometimes based on number of sales or items and those fees vary dependin on whether it's food or not. The definition of food varies by location too. Taxes also vary by type of item and locaitona nd can change for the same item depending on location of the sale.

 

The third party solutions are both too expensive and do not handle this. Square POS is nearly there by allowing pricing overrides by location and also assigning taxes by location. However it fails by requiring inventory to be by location too. Separating out those things would make it all work. I'm very small, I choose Square because I did not have to pay a monthly fee. Since sales are seasonal anything that requires a monthly fee is generally way too expensive. 

 

It's as if I can get any 2 options to work but not all 3 at once. 

 

Very frustrated and need some solutions. 

Admin

Thanks for chiming in here @OogieM. I still unfortunately don't have any updates to share around this request. But you can bet that I'll continue to surface this with our Product Team. 👍

I sell bulk tshirts by piece as well as in bulk and have created different price levels for each item.  However, when I am building our inventory list, I noticed that there are separate inventory levels for each items price variation.  Is there a way to load inventory levels to a main item listing and the price variations will deduct from the global inventory instead of having to load an inventory level for each price variation? 

Alumni

I see @JSteesJStees - 

 

Currently pulling stock from a master inventory level is a limitation with  Square's system,  as you'll need to add stock amounts to each  variation to track your items accurately. 

 

I'm moving your post to our Feature Request board so the Product Team can get eyes on this. We'll let you know if any changes here! 

 

 

 

 

[The title of this thread has been edited from the original: I am setting up 2 locations both with the same items for Sale. But only one location is showing all]

 

I am setting up two locations both have all items available. But when setting up the online store, only one location has all items the other has only three items. What could I be doing wrong? And how do I fix it?

Alumni

Hi @PasteriaLucches,

 

Thanks for posting in the seller community. Welcome!

 

When you have a chance, do you mind sending me your website URL/homepage along with the names of the items encountering the issue.

 

I'll keep an eye out for your reply. 

https://www.pasterialucchese.com/s/order

the Ballard Farmers Market (1 of 2 locations) shows all items as “sold out” but it shares the same inventory as the Pasteria Lucchese location.  
Not sure how to fix it.

thank you In advance