Transfer stock between locations

Why transfers

Multi-store shops run out at Location A while Location B has shelf stock. Transfers update both sides atomically instead of informal “I borrowed five screens.”

How to transfer

1. Open the item in Inventory.
2. Start a Transfer from source location to destination.
3. Enter quantity (and variation if applicable).
4. Confirm — stock decrements and increments accordingly.

Discipline

Transfer before pulling for a ticket at the wrong store. Related: Multi-location basics for tickets and stock, Locations and multi-store basics.

Train the whole counter on the same steps so busy Saturdays do not revert to sticky notes and memory. Consistency beats clever shortcuts when three people share one shop floor.

When something feels slow, check whether you skipped a setup step in Settings or Locations — most workflow gaps trace back to hours, notifications, or catalog entries rather than software bugs.

Bookmark this guide in Help and share it with new hires during their first shift. LML Repair Shops works best when intake, bench, and Checkout all speak the same status language.

If you are migrating from paper, run parallel for one day maximum — dual systems duplicate customers and hide which queue is true. Commit to Tickets as the source of truth.

Owners should spot-check one picked-up ticket per week for notes, photos, invoice match, and Ask for review. That five-minute audit catches drift before it becomes habit.

Who this guide is for

This article is written for shop owners, managers, and front-desk or bench staff who use Transfer stock between locations in the day-to-day flow of a phone and device repair business. If you are brand new to LML, skim Getting Started first, then come back here when you are ready to run this feature for real customers — not just click around in an empty demo shop.

Managers should read the full guide once, then turn the checklists at the end into training for Team access staff. View only users can still learn the vocabulary, but they will not perform every action described below.

What success looks like

You are using Transfer stock between locations correctly when the counter and bench share the same story: prices come from the system, statuses match reality, customers get notified without a scavenger hunt, and you can answer warranty or payment questions by opening a record instead of guessing. Success is not “we clicked the menu once.” Success is a boring, repeatable habit that survives Saturday rush.

After two weeks you should notice fewer “what’s the price?” and “is it ready?” interruptions for this workflow, cleaner reports in Analytics, and less rework caused by missing notes, wrong options, or forgotten follow-ups.

Before you start — prerequisites

1. Confirm your shop Settings: name, timezone, currency, and portal slug. Wrong timezone breaks reminders; wrong currency confuses invoices.
2. Confirm at least one Location with real weekday hours. Many features (bookings especially) depend on hours being filled in.
3. Confirm staff are invited under Staff with the right role (Manager access, Team access, or View only). Shared logins will sabotage assignment, time clock, and accountability.
4. For customer-facing pieces of this workflow, know which public link you will share and preview it on your phone before promoting it.
5. For money-related steps, decide who can discount, void, or mark paid — write the rule down even if your shop is small.

If any of those are incomplete, pause and finish them. Teaching a broken setup just trains bad habits faster.

Step-by-step walkthrough

Use this as the default path for Transfer stock between locations. Your shop may tweak order slightly, but do not skip documentation, status honesty, or payment recording.

1. Open the right screen. Use the sidebar item that matches this feature. On many pages, click How this works for a short refresher that links back to this full guide.
2. Find or create the record. Search before you create. Duplicate customers, unlocks, or invoices create chaos later. Phone search is usually the fastest unique key at a repair counter.
3. Fill the fields that affect money or liability. That means catalog repair + option (OEM vs aftermarket), IMEI when risk is present, quoted price, deposit, tax, discount presets, location, and assigned technician when relevant.
4. Save and verify the customer-facing consequence. If this step should notify someone, confirm the Settings toggle is on and do one test with your own phone/email.
5. Move status forward only when reality matches. Intake, In progress, Ready, Picked up, pending, quoted, paid — whatever statuses this feature uses — must match what is physically true. Fake Ready is how you get angry pickups.
6. Close the loop. Payment, signature, loaner return, review ask, PO receive, claim resolution — whatever “done” means here, finish it the same day. Half-closed loops become next week’s fire drill.

Detailed habits for the counter

Front desk sets the tone. For workflows touching Transfer stock between locations, the counter should narrate what they are doing: “I’m putting this on a ticket,” “I’m sending your quote,” “I’m marking this ready and you’ll get a text,” “I’m checking you out now.” Customers trust shops that sound organized.

Keep a one-page cheat sheet near the register: public links, which status means what, who can discount, and where loaner deposits are recorded. New hires should shadow two full cycles of this feature before working solo on Saturday.

When the line is long, do not invent shortcuts that skip catalog prices or signatures. Shortcuts become policy by accident, then become chargebacks and one-star reviews.

Detailed habits for the bench

Technicians win by updating the system while they work, not at closing in a batch. If Transfer stock between locations intersects tickets, that means parts lines when parts go in, notes when something unexpected appears, photos before opening cracked or liquid devices, and status changes when the device actually moves stages.

If you are blocked waiting on a part, say so on the ticket and keep the customer informed. Silent delays create tracking-page anxiety and phone spikes. If scope changes, stop and get approval before continuing — especially when OEM vs aftermarket or labor time shifts the total.

Real shop scenarios

Scenario A — Busy Saturday

Three people are waiting, two online bookings just landed, and a Ready device is on the shelf. Priority order: clear Ready via Checkout (cash today), acknowledge new online bookings so they do not no-show emotionally, then intake walk-ins with catalog prices. Do not start a deep settings rabbit hole mid-rush. Use Transfer stock between locations only for the actions that move devices and money.

Scenario B — Angry comeback

Customer says the repair failed. Open history first — customer profile, original ticket, warranty record, photos, notes. Decide free rework vs new ticket using evidence, not vibes. If this feature is Warranties, Unlocks, or Tickets, document the claim outcome so the next shift is not starting from zero.

Scenario C — Multi-location handoff

Device intake at Location A, part stock at Location B. Assign the ticket and stock movements to the correct location, transfer inventory deliberately, and keep booking hours accurate per storefront. Cross-location confusion is usually bad Location records plus rushed intake — not “the software being weird.”

Settings, notifications, and public links that affect this

Many features look broken when Settings are incomplete. Recheck:

• Customer notifications — ticket ready/status, quote sent, booking reminder, unlock/recycling confirmations as applicable.
• Staff notifications — new online booking/quote/contact/recycling, low stock.
• Appointment slots — 15/30/60 minutes for bookings.
• Default unlock fee — starting price for unlock requests.
• Google review link — required before review-ask automation works.
• Public URLs — /book, /quote, /track, /unlock, /trade, /recycle, /review, /contact, /newsletter, /policies under your slug.

Preview every link on mobile. Turn on staff alerts for every form you promote. Promoting a silent inbox trains customers to call angry.

Quality checklist before you call it done

• Search found the right customer/device/record — no obvious duplicate created.
• Money fields are intentional: price, option, discount preset, tax, deposit, payment method.
• Status matches physical reality right now.
• Notes/photos exist when liability or warranty risk exists.
• Notifications you rely on are enabled and tested once.
• Loaners, accessories, and SIM trays are accounted for on pickup paths.
• If this was customer-facing, the customer knows what happens next and when.

Common mistakes and how to fix them

• Free-typing instead of catalog/services. Fix: add the missing catalog row the same day; edit the ticket to the real repair/option.
• Shared logins. Fix: invite real staff; revoke the shared user.
• Status theater. Fix: only mark Ready when Checkout could collect payment in 60 seconds.
• Ignoring online queues. Fix: Dashboard morning clear-down for bookings/quotes/contacts.
• Discount chaos. Fix: 3–5 Discount presets + a written approval rule.
• No IMEI on risky jobs. Fix: IMEI checker + store IMEI on ticket/unlock/trade before cash leaves.
• Review asks never sent. Fix: Google URL in Settings + Ask for review in the Checkout ritual.
• Half-received POs / half-returned loaners. Fix: close loops same day; make it a manager audit item.

Troubleshooting FAQ

Why don’t I see the button / action? Your role may be View only or Team access without permission for that action. Ask an owner/manager. Also confirm you are on the correct shop screen, not a filtered empty list.

Why is the public page empty or showing no times? Location hours missing/closed, appointment slot length mismatch, or inactive location. Fix Locations + Settings appointment slots, then retest on your phone.

Why didn’t the customer get a message? Toggle off in Settings, wrong contact info on the customer, SMS/Twilio not configured, or status never moved to the state that triggers the send.

Why is Checkout empty? Nothing is in Ready. Finish bench work and move status first.

Why is the price wrong at pickup? Wrong catalog option, silent bench scope change, or forgotten deposit/tax/discount on the invoice. Open the invoice lines and narrate the total before Pay & pickup.

Why are Analytics numbers confusing? Zombie tickets, unconverted bookings/quotes, or statuses that never close. Do a weekly hygiene pass.

Can I undo a send/campaign/payment? Treat sends and paid marks as serious. Void/correct carefully, note the ticket, and handle real-world refunds explicitly. Draft campaigns before send; confirm audience counts.

Team training plan (30–45 minutes)

1. Owner/manager demos the happy path for Transfer stock between locations on a test record.
2. Each staff member performs the happy path once while observed.
3. Practice the failure path: wrong price, no-show, comeback, missing IMEI, or empty hours — whichever applies.
4. Agree on the shop rule in one sentence (example: “No Ready without photos on cracked devices” or “No cash trade without IMEI check”).
5. Bookmark this Help article in the shop browser and pin the public links your marketing actually uses.

Re-train after you hire, after you change prices, and after any incident that cost money or a review.

Weekly review questions

• How many times did we bypass the system with paper, memory, or side chats?
• How many online requests sat longer than one business day?
• How many Ready jobs aged overnight?
• How many pickups included a review ask?
• How many tickets lacked IMEI/photos/notes when they should have had them?
• Did discounting follow presets and approval rules?

Use Dashboard daily and Analytics weekly. If a metric looks wrong, fix the habit — do not only stare at the chart.

Related guides to read next

After this article, open Help and read the canonical guides for the screens you touch next in the loop: Tickets, Repairs catalog, Bookings, Quotes, Invoices, Checkout, Customers, Inventory, Reviews, and Settings notifications. Pain-point articles (ready-for-pickup playbook, convert booking/quote, low stock, Google Business links, notification setup) exist for the exact snags shops hit after the first week.

Search by feature name anytime. The goal is not to memorize the portal — it is to run one clean job after another until the process is muscle memory.

Final takeaway

Transfer stock between locations only helps if your team uses it the same way under pressure. Keep statuses honest, keep prices in the catalog, close loops the same day, and teach the public to use your book/track/quote links. Do that for two weeks and the phone gets quieter, the till gets clearer, and Saturday stops feeling like improvisational theater.

When something breaks, do not invent a parallel process on paper. Fix the record, fix the setting, and update this habit in your huddle. That is how a repair shop scales past the owner’s personal memory.