Square for Retail: Inventory recounted - how does it affect my reports?

[kateortega]

I have squarespace online store. When I have an order there, I manually adjust my square inventory level by Inventory Recounted option.

I wonder if I am lowering my inventory correctly, and what this step does to my inventory report in square??

Thanks!

[kateortega]

Can I please get an answer for this question? Thank you!

[Helen]

Hi @kateortega, really sorry for this late reply.

As you know when you sell an item from a Squarespace your Square inventory will not decrement after a sale as there's no integration between Square and Squarespace. If you're using the Square for Retail re-count action you're recording in Square that you physically re-counted your stock. Re-counts change your inventory levels but they also impact your COGS report - re-counts will increase/decrease your inventory value depending on the change you made (you re-counted and had more stock or you recounted and you had less stock).

I hope this helps clarify! 

[kateortega]

Thank you for your help, Helen. 
I still want to confirm if the step I am taking is the right one. Should I continue using inventory recounted function in Square Retail when I need to take a product that I sold in squarespace store out of inventory in square?

thank you

Kate

[Helen]

Happy to help! If you simply need to update your inventory you can absolutely use the re-count action.

But if you want your sales reports as well as your inventory to reflect your eCommerce sales you'd have to use a workaround like creating a payment in the Point of Sale app (for your Squarespace sales) and processing those payments as 'Other tender' which isn't ideal. 

[GLG]

I didn't know until recently that I could change stock actions in inventory history. Well, I've been using recount for years to alter quantities. From what I understand, this means that COGs is not equivalent to the amount entered in "stock received".  For instance, I have 10 items at $1 cost but two arrive broken. If the company won't reimburse me, I record 2 items as damaged. If the company does, I have always done a recount. Does the recount now make the COG for each item $1.25? ($10 originally recorded as cost/8 remaining items = $1.25) Or are the sold 8 items still recorded as costing $1 when I run a report?

I don't understand how recount works at all. If I have -10 quantity with a default cost & I do a recount to 0 without any stock received, is the COG of those 10 items still recorded at the default cost?

Follow up. I've read you can edit inventory recount in your history. Well, I can't. Why can't I edit it? This is especially important if my above understanding is correct. What is a workaround to fixing it?

[GLG]

Some help please. 

[TGPH]

Please can someone at square respond?

we want to know how recounts affect COGS.

if I own a retail store and we recount the entire stock every month and I change the levels of stock in square to match the recount.. how will this effect cogs?

[ashc]

Hey @TGPH,

I'd recommend reaching out to our direct Retail team who can answer these questions for you.

We typically don't engage in here all the time as it's intended for seller to seller conversations. You'll get your quickest answer with direct CS!

[GLG]

Understood about the Retail team but a number of us here, and I'm sure many more, want to understand recount and COG. This information should exist already as a tutorial. I have found that Square does not explain the implications of a sellers actions. For instance, in this case, "new quantity" in a spreadsheet is NOT new inventory. It is a recount that overrides all past inventory counts and costs. And how recount impacts COG. This is pertinent information and I don't believe I should have to struggle to contact the retail team to understand this. I also shouldn't have to suffer the consequences of not understanding the implications of my actions. Like when invoices weren't tracking inventory. I didn't know that until half way through this year. Now I understand why I had yet another inventory nightmare in 2018 and 2019. I knew I sold things but they weren't showing up. I can't even explain the stress I endured trying to understand why and manually calculating. 

Anyway, TGPH and I and others shouldn't have to reach out to retail to get simple questions answered. Understanding how recount impacts COG is not only a simple answer, but it is imperative that we understand because there can be huge financial ramifications. Both with tax reporting and putting together profit loss statements for investors, grants, and loans.

[SmartyPantsJane]

100% AGREED!!! I was so excited to invest in Square's inventory management so I'd have accurate numbers and reports, etc ... but holy cow! I have zero faith that my numbers are anywhere near accurate! I keep going in to add new quantities to an item I've re-ordered and finding negative numbers ... and they're on items I'm SURE I didn't just forget to add to my inventory earlier. This, along with the frustration of not understanding what's happening behind the scenes with my numbers when I do an inventory recount, is making me crazy! And like you, I don't have time to again figure out how to call customer service ... they make everything so complicated! AND, I've tried contacting my "rep" when I've had questions I just needed a quick answer to, but I never get a response. But then when I show up on HIS list of customers to call, he wants to bother me in the middle of my day for a chat! Ugh! I want to love Square because I can't stand the thought of changing POS and inventory management and website integrations, etc ... but this is getting ridiculous!