Stock counts

A stock count records what you actually found on the shelf. You type the quantity you counted; Stockful works out the variance against what it expected and writes only the difference to Shopify. Use it for a full stocktake, a cycle count of one vendor or product type, or a quick spot check of a single shelf. They are the same document; the difference is how far you narrow the scope. That distinction matters more than it sounds. Typing the quantity means a count that takes all afternoon is still correct at the end of it: if something sold at 2pm, the variance you found at 10am is still the variance, and Stockful applies it to whatever the quantity is when you apply rather than overwriting the shelf with a number that went stale hours ago.

​

Starting a count

From Counts & adjustments, click Start count. A count covers one location, optionally narrowed by vendor, product type, or tag. Those filters combine, so vendor “AudioGear” plus type “Headphones” counts only items that are both. As you change them, Stockful tells you how many SKUs the count will cover, so you find out it is seven thousand lines before you start rather than after. The scope is fixed once the count is created. It decides which lines exist, so changing it later would make it a different count. It stays visible on the sheet so a finished count can always say what it covered.

​

Blind counting

Blind counting is on by default, and hides the expected quantity until you have entered your own. Once you enter a number, the expected quantity and the variance appear. This is not busywork. Shown “50”, a counter who counts 48 tends to write 50 - the number on the screen quietly becomes the answer. Withholding it until you have committed is the accepted way to get an accurate count, and it is the whole reason a count is worth doing rather than eyeballing. Untick it if you would rather see expected quantities from the start, for example when recounting a short list you already know is wrong.

​

The count sheet

The sheet lists every SKU in scope with a Counted field. Fill them in as you work; the sidebar tracks how far through you are.

• Expected - what Stockful believes is there. Hidden on a blind count until the line is counted.
• Counted - what you found. Leave it empty for anything you have not reached.
• Variance - counted minus expected, filled in once you have counted.
• Value - what the variance is worth, using the item’s cost.

An empty Counted field and a counted zero are different things, and Stockful keeps them apart. Empty means nobody has looked at that SKU yet, and applying leaves it alone. Zero means you looked and the shelf was empty, which is a real finding worth recording. A counted quantity can also be negative. Shopify allows stock to sit below zero - deposits, oversold items, and other non-physical SKUs - and a count records that the same way it records any other number. Save as often as you like. A count is a session, not a form, and saving keeps it as an open draft. The sidebar also has a Notes field for recording why the count took place - end of month, annual, an audit. It saves with the sheet and stays on the count after it is applied, so a finished count can say not just what it covered but why it happened.

​

Count sheets by CSV

Click the import button to download a count sheet template - one row per SKU in the count, with a blank quantity column - or to upload a filled-in one. Take it away as a spreadsheet or a printout, fill in what you counted, upload it, and Stockful maps the rows back onto the sheet. Column headings are detected automatically, so most formats work as they are. Rows that cannot be filled in are flagged and skipped rather than silently dropped:

• No matching item - the SKU or barcode is not in your catalogue.
• Not on this count - the item exists but the count’s scope does not cover it. If you found stock of it, add it as a found item instead.

​

Scanning barcodes

Any barcode scanner that types like a keyboard works on the count sheet. There is nothing to switch on and nothing to pair: scan an item and its Counted goes up by one, so counting a shelf is one scan per unit rather than a trip back to the keyboard. Scan something the count does not cover and the found item search opens with the barcode already filled in, ready to add. Scan a barcode that two items share and Stockful shows you which ones instead of choosing for you, because picking the wrong one would write the wrong stock. The toolbar above the sheet says whether scanning is live:

• Ready to scan - scans are reaching Stockful.
• Click the page to scan - the Shopify admin has the keyboard rather than Stockful, so a scan would land there instead. Click anywhere on the page and it clears. This is normal right after you open a count from the admin’s own navigation.

​

Found items

Sometimes you find stock on the shelf that the count does not cover: the filters excluded it, or Shopify does not hold that SKU at this location at all. Click Add found item on the sheet and search your whole catalogue by product, SKU, or barcode. The picker tells you whether the location already stocks each item, and anything already on the count is left out so you cannot add it twice. Found items are added uncounted, and you type the quantity into the Counted column with everything else. They sit below the scoped lines with a Found badge, and their Expected reads as a dash, because nothing was expected there at all. Unlike scoped lines, a found item can be removed from the sheet - it is one you added, and picking the wrong variant is easy. A few items cannot be added, because Shopify will not let anything adjust their quantity: variants with no SKU, bundles, and items managed by a third-party fulfilment service.

​

Applying a count

Apply count writes the variances to Shopify. You get a confirmation summary first, and if you have unsaved counts they are saved as part of applying. What gets written, and what does not:

• Only the variances. A line counted at exactly the expected quantity is a real, useful result, and it is recorded on the count - but there is nothing to move, so nothing is sent to Shopify.
• Uncounted lines are left alone. They are never treated as zero. Stock nobody looked at is not stock that has gone missing.
• Found items are applied last, after everything the count set out to cover.

A large count is applied in the background. Shopify accepts 250 changes per call, so counting a whole warehouse takes dozens of them, and the page follows the progress rather than making you wait on a spinner. You can leave the page and come back; refreshing picks the progress back up.

​

When Shopify refuses a line

If an item’s quantity changed between counting it and applying - a sale came in, or someone edited it in Shopify admin - Stockful does not apply that line blindly. The line is flagged, its expected quantity is refreshed, and the count stays open so you can look at it and apply again. This is deliberate. A sale between counting and applying preserves your variance, but a delivery does not, and nothing in the rejection can tell those two apart. The judgement is yours. Anything that did apply stays applied, so applying again only re-sends what has not landed yet.

​

After applying

An applied count is read-only: a permanent record of what was counted, what was expected, and what changed. Each line links through to that item’s inventory history in Shopify admin, where the change appears as a stock count with a reference back to the Stockful document. Completed counts can be archived to keep the list tidy, and unarchived at any time. You can also export a count as CSV for a spreadsheet.