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Use stock conversion

Who is this article for?
  • Sellers with general items and inventory permissions. Set permissions in the Square Dashboard.
  • About stock conversion 

    With stock conversion, you can manage inventory when selling items in different units of measure. For example, if your business sells wine by the bottle and by the glass, you can track all of your inventory on a single item variation so that whether you sell it by the bottle or by the glass, the inventory is reduced. Stock conversion allows you to:

    • Break stock of an item into smaller components to allow for easier tracking and management.

    • Save time in receiving and stock tracking by using units of measure that match how you receive and count items.

    • Supports those who sell an item by multiple units (i.e. 6 ounces, bottle) and want to use a single source of inventory to generate different views of that inventory.

    Before you begin

    You can set up stock conversions in Square Dashboard, and edit your sell-by units in the Square Dashboard, Square Retail, or Square Restaurants POS apps.

    Before you set up your stock conversion, learn how to create and edit items and create and edit item unit types.

    Stock conversion calculations must be made based on the stocking unit (e.g. per bottle, not per glass).

    Create a stock conversion 

    1. Sign in to your Square Dashboard and click Items & orders > Items > Item library.

    2. Select an existing item or click Create item.

    3. Under Units, click Add unit.

    4. Select an existing unit, or create a new one, like "glass".

      • For new units, click Add custom unit to add a unique unit with a name, abbreviation, and precision. Click Save.

    5. Under "Unit conversion," enter the conversion details specific to the item variation. For example, a conversion for a bottle of wine might be "4 glasses are equal to 1 bottle".

    6. Click Save > Save.

    Stock adjustments on Square Dashboard

    Note: If you have more than one customized unit you would like to include, they must be created in the Units section before proceeding to Variations for stock adjustments. 

    Single Variation:

    1. In the Item tab on your Square Dashboard, go to Item Library and select an item you’d like to make adjustments to.

    2. Scroll down to Variations and click the item variation you want to edit.

    3. In the Edit Variation popup screen, select Manage stock > Stock action dropdown.

    4. Select the reason for the change in stock from Stock received, Inventory re-count, Damage, Theft Loss, and Restock Return and enter the unit amount.

    5. Finalize by clicking Done > Save.

    Multiple Variations:

    1. In the Item tab on your Square Dashboard, go to Item Library and select an item you’d like to make adjustments to.

    2. Scroll down to Variations and click the item variation you want to edit.

    3. In the Edit Variation popup screen select Manage stock > Stock action dropdown.

    4. Select the reason for the change in stock from Stock received, Inventory re-count, Damage, Theft Loss, and Restock Return.

    5. The multiple unit types you created for the specific item will appear (e.g. Crate, Bottle, Glass) select the unit you would like to change and enter the amount.

    6. Finalize by clicking Done > Save.

    Edit sell-by unit

    You can edit sell-by units from your Square Dashboard, Square Retail, or Square Restaurants POS apps. These edits can also apply to situations where stock-by is a custom unit but sell-by is a standard unit.

    Square Dashboard

    1. Sign in to your Square Dashboard and click Items & orders > Items > Item library.
    2. Select an item with the custom unit you’ve created.
    3. Edit the unit conversion and check the Change the stock by unit box (if applicable).
    4. Click Save > Save.

    Square POS apps

    1. Tap ≡ More > Items > Unit.
    2. Select the custom unit you’ve created.
    3. Edit the custom unit by changing the unit, abbreviation, and precision as needed.
    4. Tap Save.

    Delete sell-by unit

    There are two ways to delete your sell-by units from your Square Retail or Square Restaurants POS apps.

    Square Dashboard

    1. Sign in to your Square Dashboard and click Items & orders > Items > Units.
    2. Select the unit you want to delete and click Delete.

    Square POS apps

    1. Open the Retail POS app and tap ≡ More > Items > Units.
    2. Select the Unit you want to delete.
    3. Tap Delete Unit > Confirm Delete.

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