New handsets, each with its IMEI

What does this tour show?

It shows a delivery of phones being booked in at half past nine. A box has arrived and every handset in it has to be traceable from now until it is sold, traded back in or claimed under warranty. Priya adds them one at a time with the IMEI checked as it is scanned, sees a duplicate stopped, and learns how a larger delivery of forty phones would go in from a sheet.

Goods-in is where most stock problems in a phone shop begin. A digit slipped on an IMEI, a handset scanned twice, a cost price left blank: none of these hurt on the day, and all of them hurt later. The Add a device form is built to catch the common ones while the box is still open.

What goes on each device record?

Each handset gets its own record. These are the three phones from the tour's delivery, at sample prices:

The two silver phones are identical in every way except the IMEI. That one number is what keeps them apart for the rest of their lives in the shop.

Step by step

1. Open Devices, then Add a device. The form is titled "One handset, with its IMEI". Keep the delivery note beside you.
2. Choose the model. Pick it from your list so reports group sales correctly by model and brand.
3. Scan the IMEI. Use a barcode scanner on the box label or the phone's own settings screen. The field checks the number as it goes in and shows "Checked: 15 digits, check digit correct". A mistyped number shows Invalid checksum instead.
4. Add the second IMEI for dual SIM handsets. The field is optional, but filling it means either number finds the phone later.
5. Enter the cost price and the selling price. Both are required. In the tour the silver phone costs £389 and sells for £499, a margin of £110 before VAT considerations. Without the cost, profit reports cannot work.
6. Set the warranty months. Twelve is typical for a new handset. This becomes the default warranty when the phone is sold.
7. Record the location and condition. "Front cabinet" or "Stockroom shelf 2", screen condition Perfect, and what is in the box (box, cable). These save a search when a customer asks to see one.
8. Save the device. It appears under Added today as In stock.
9. Scan the next box, and watch for Already exists. If a handset is scanned twice, the form stops it because that IMEI is already in stock. Put the box aside and check it; it is often a box that was opened, closed and put back.
10. Use Import devices for a big delivery. For forty phones, fill in a CSV or Excel sheet with IMEI, supplier, purchase price, selling price, warranty months and colour, and import it in one go.

When should you use the sheet instead of the form?

Use the form when a handful of phones arrive and you want each one checked as you handle it. Use the import when a supplier sends a sheet of IMEIs with the delivery, or when you are moving a large number of devices across from an old system. Either way, open the boxes and match a sample of IMEIs against the sheet. A supplier's spreadsheet is only as good as whoever typed it.

Why record the cost on every handset?

Because a phone shop's profit is decided handset by handset. The same model can come in at different costs from one delivery to the next, especially when prices fall after a newer model launches. If each device carries its own cost, the profit on each sale is exact, and the value of your cabinets reflects what you really paid. If cost is recorded once per model and never updated, the margin on every sale after a price change is wrong, and you may think a model is earning more than it is. Recording the cost at goods-in, from the delivery note in front of you, takes a few seconds and makes every later report trustworthy.

Tips at goods-in

• Scan, do not type. A scanner reads all fifteen digits correctly every time.
• Book a delivery in before any of it goes on display. A phone in the window that is not in the system is invisible.
• Keep the supplier's delivery note with the date you booked it in. It helps with any warranty claim back to the supplier.
• Agree what cost price means in your shop (with or without reclaimable VAT) and stick to it. The VAT for small business guide explains input VAT if you are unsure.
• Use location names staff understand. "Cabinet 3, top shelf" beats "Loc-07".

Common mistakes

• Typing the IMEI from the box by hand. One wrong digit and the warranty lookup months later finds nothing.
• Leaving cost price blank to fill in later. Later rarely comes, and margin reports show nonsense.
• Overriding Already exists. If the system says the IMEI is in stock, believe it until you have checked the shelf.
• Importing a sheet without spot-checking. Copy and paste errors in supplier sheets are common.
• Booking in phones that are actually faulty as perfect. Note the condition honestly at goods-in; it protects you if the customer returns it.

What should you do next?

The new handsets are now on the electronics Home and ready to sell. The next tour, selling a phone with a warranty, follows one of these silver phones from the IMEI scan at the till to a warranty card on the customer's phone. For a wider view of keeping stock accurate, read the stock control guide, and for how the cost prices you just entered feed into the value of your cabinets, the stock valuation guide.

How EasyTaskr helps

EasyTaskr adds each handset as its own device with its IMEI checked on entry, a duplicate IMEI stopped, and its cost, selling price, warranty months, location and contents recorded. Larger deliveries can be imported from a CSV or Excel sheet.