Shopify stocktake with a variance review before you apply

What approve before apply means#

Binly never writes to your inventory while you scan. Every scan lands in a count that lives inside Binly, next to the quantity Shopify expected for that item. You look at the whole picture first. When it looks right, you press Apply and Binly sends the adjustments to Shopify in one step.

That order matters on a busy shelf. A mistyped quantity, a barcode that matched the wrong variant or a box you counted twice turns into a note on a review screen that you can fix in a minute, instead of a hole in your stock history that someone has to explain to the accountant three weeks later.

The four steps#

1. Start a count. Count the whole store, one section of it, or run a quick count that only touches the items you scan.
2. Scan. Use your phone camera, a USB scanner, typed counts or the grid view. Each scan shows what Shopify expected beside what you counted.
3. Review. See the difference per item in units and in value. Sort by biggest difference and decide what to do with items nobody counted.
4. Apply or save. Apply writes the adjustments to Shopify. Mark as reviewed saves the count and its variances in Binly and leaves Shopify exactly as it is.

What the review screen shows#

The review lists the difference for every counted item, so a shelf that looks fine and a shelf that is off by forty units never hide behind the same total. Value is worked out at cost, and at retail price where an item has no cost, so a shelf of cheap tape does not look as serious as a shelf of jackets. You can sort by biggest difference and filter by name, SKU or barcode.

• Not counted items. You choose between leaving them as Shopify holds them and setting them to zero at that location. Nothing is zeroed unless you pick it, and a CSV lists what was set to zero.
• Unmatched barcodes. A code that fits no product is kept aside, and Binly asks you which product it belongs to. It never guesses.
• Codes that fit two variants. Binly asks you to pick one rather than choosing for you.
• Stale items. If units sold after the count started, a note tells you about how many units of the counted items went, so you can recount before applying.

What happens when something sells during the count#

Binly records what Shopify held at the moment each item was counted. At apply time it starts from what Shopify holds now and removes only the counting correction. Sales and deliveries that landed after you counted stay where they are.

A quick example. Shopify says 12 and you count 10 at 1 pm, so the correction is minus 2. At 6 pm two units sell, so Shopify now says 10. Applying sets the item to 8, which matches the shelf. A plain overwrite with your count would have left Shopify at 10 while the shelf held 8. If a line has no recorded starting quantity, Binly falls back to your counted number, and if the result would go below zero it stops at zero and flags the line.

Phone, scanner or keyboard#

Binly shows a QR code on your computer while a count is open, and that is the whole setup. Point your phone camera at it and a scanning page opens in the phone browser, so there is nothing to install. Every barcode you scan lands in the count on your computer, live.

If the connection drops, scans wait on the phone and go through when it returns, and they survive a page reload. Apply waits until they have all arrived, so a count is never written with scans missing.

A USB or Bluetooth scanner works on the computer, and so does typing a quantity by hand. Free counts use one phone at a time, and counting with several phones at once is part of Pro.

What it costs#

Stocktakes are on the Free plan, which covers stores up to 500 products and counting at your primary location. Starter is $12 a month for up to 4,000 products, and Pro is $25 a month with no product cap, all locations and several phones at once. Paid plans have a 14-day free trial. See Binly on the Shopify App Store for current plans.

Five questions to ask any counting app#

• Does a scan change stock the moment it happens?
• Can you save a count without applying it?
• What happens to a sale that lands mid-count?
• What happens to items you did not scan?
• Does the review show value, or only units?

We built Binly around the answers we wanted: no on scan, yes, netted against the count, left alone unless you choose, and both.

Keep reading#

• Binly as a Shopify stocktake app
• How to do a stocktake in Shopify, step by step
• Variance and recount rules for stock counts
• Counting inventory while you keep selling
• Shopify barcode scanner options