Inventory & Overstock location Management

[DinaLRosenberg]

Yesterday we were cleaning out a closet in our shop and found 5 "gratitude' candles with a burn by date of 11/2021.... whellppppp... 

There goes that inventory.

This is just a real world example of how difficult it is to manage overstock location with square items/inventory. There is no place for us retailers to memorialize where items are located within the store and where overstock is. I understand we can create a spreadsheet with that information.. and I know many retailers on here that are incredibly tech proficient that have done that.

However, if Square is to be a robust retail ecosystem- they MUST solve for this. 

[TCSlaguna]

Long time feature request badly needed. Hope it gets some love and attention this year. 

[sacredheart926]

This literally would be a game changer for my store!!!

[Leobernardes]

This would be a great feature! Also, being able to have the same item in multiple locations inside the same store - I'm not sure how the system would know which section of the store the item was in before the sale.

[evieWG]

Totally agree. My workaround is a Custom attribute on items called "Qty in Stock Room" and my staff knows to update that number when moving in and out of storage.

It's working decently well for us but we are a small enough store that it is easy to notice when things are missing...

[greenlotusdream]

I'll have to try this. We have stock in the immediate storage along with an off site storage and it makes it difficult to track true inventory counts without having to have a "2nd location".

I have not used the custom attribute fields for anything yet. Have you noticed any issues or quirks? I'm assuming this attribute is only applied to specific items you have located in the storage?

Thank you!

[evieWG]

Yes, only applied to specific items. Honestly, that's the most challenging part -- having to add the attribute to items and other views.

This is maybe more info than you're looking for but my process is this:

• Inventory received needs to go to stock room
• Add custom attribute to item(s) and put quantity that will go to stock room
• At end of shift, bring items to stock room (which is in the basement and creates some headaches to go down during a shift...not a Square problem, but worth noting)
• Once a week, I filter my items in Square by Custom attribute>Qty in Stock Room> Greater than 0
• Export library (Only filtered items)
• Print document
• Walk sales floor to check what's needed to be brought up from storage
• Restock to desired qty on floor
• Bulk edit custom attribute to reflect change in stock

This would be 100% easier if Square export included custom attributes, but alas.

[JTPets]

You could have claude write you a script to export your catalog and Include the custom attributes. Have it export on a schedule to a google sheet running a google apps script with a square token.

80% of whst you need is in my github with a few minor modifications 

[DinaLRosenberg]

you are cute for suggesting this but that is well beyond my available time and my tech prowess.

[DinaLRosenberg]

My issue is we cross-merchandise, use merchandise in our window displays- all of that needs to be kept track of

[indianathomas]

Just curious on this on what features you're looking for.

Are you primarily looking for a way to:

1. Record an item’s physical location, such as “sales floor,” “stockroom shelf B,” or “closet bin 4”?
2. Track separate quantities for the sales floor and overstock areas?
3. Assign expiration, best-by, or “burn by” dates to specific batches?
4. Receive alerts when inventory is aging or approaching expiration?
5. Search for an item and see exactly where it is stored?
6. Move inventory between areas within the same store?
7. Create inventory counts organized by aisle, shelf, closet, or bin?

It would also be helpful to understand how you handle this today and what the ideal workflow would look like. For example, when receiving new candles, would you want to record the storage location and expiration date at that point? Then, when replenishing the sales floor, would staff update the quantities assigned to each area?

Any examples of the fields, alerts, or reports you’d find most useful would help us better understand the request.

[DinaLRosenberg]

These are all really great questions...

And this is going to sound CRAZY but my mind keeps going back to CRM software I used bin 1998 (I know crazy). At the time- I worked at an executive search firm. The software included all of our contacts and had typically fields for name, address, specialty, college, degree, etc.

The software also had an awesome "note" section; every time one of us called, left a message, or had a conversation, it would be documented in notes by date.

Ideally I'd like THAT functionality. Not only WHERE something is- but a clear look of WHAT is going on in that item screen (not searchable somewhere else) by date.

In my imagination the entries could look something like this:

8/1/26- Dina received 24 units vanilla 8 ounce candle- 1 broken- initiated claim

8/2/26- Vinny merchandized 23 units vanilla candle; 13 units on candle shelf, 5 units in book shop, 5 units overstock- upstairs closet

8/4/25- Dani gifted 1 unit vanilla candle, inventory removed

IMO it's just as important WHAT the data is as to WHO is acting. That way- if I notice something "funky" I can correct it with my staff & retrain.

I know this is likely way less fancy than fields- the problem with fields is that they don't hold all the info and it affords a more granular look at the data. If I'm already in the item screen I'm already pretty granular.. so I guess I want a more macro data view at the individual item level.

I might also put in the notes something like this:

8/15/26- Rep shift- no longer Heather, now Robert

Sure- that info could sit somewhere else- but for me, I like the dates to see "change of command"