How to track IMEI inventory in a phone shop

Why track by IMEI at all

Because the questions that cost you money are all about which one. Which handset went missing. Which one the customer is disputing. Which one came off the delivery your supplier says was short. A count of twelve does not help with any of them.

1. Record it at delivery, not later

The biggest single cause of untraceable stock is recording it when there is time. There is never time, and by the time there is, three units have gone out and nobody remembers which.

At delivery, capture for every handset:

• the IMEI from the box
• brand, model, colour and storage
• cost price
• supplier and their invoice number
• the date

2. Check the IMEI as you record it

An IMEI is fifteen digits and the last one is a check digit worked out from the other fourteen. A mistyped IMEI can be spotted immediately rather than discovered during a warranty claim.

If you are doing this by hand, read it back once. If you are using software, it should verify the check digit and reject a bad one. Scanning the barcode avoids the problem completely.

3. Record who takes it

The moment a handset leaves the store, write down who took it and when. This is the record that matters most and the one that gets skipped most often.

Get the person receiving it to confirm. A signature, a message, a tap on their phone, anything that stops it becoming one person's word against another's later. It protects the person carrying the stock as much as it protects you.

4. Record the sale against the IMEI

Against the unit, not the model. The sale needs to name the exact handset, along with:

• the price actually agreed, not the list price
• who sold it
• the customer's name and phone number
• the warranty period

Print the IMEI on the receipt. When the customer comes back in eight months, it is the only thing that identifies what they bought.

5. Count regularly, against the record

A stock take means listing or scanning what is physically there and comparing it to what should be. Monthly suits most shops. Weekly if stock moves quickly.

The number worth knowing is the difference, and it only means anything if the record was kept honestly along the way. [How to run a stock take](/guides/how-to-run-a-stock-take-in-a-phone-shop/) covers the process.

Doing this in StockRada

All of the above is the ordinary way of working. Paste or scan a whole delivery of IMEIs at once, hand stock to staff who accept it on their phones, sell by scanning, and print a receipt carrying the IMEI and warranty. See IMEI inventory management.