Inventory transfers

An inventory transfer records stock moving from one place to another — from one of your locations to another, from an external supplier into a location, or out of a location to somewhere outside Sellerlane. As a transfer moves through its statuses, Sellerlane reserves stock at the origin, shows it as Incoming at the destination, and adds it to sellable inventory when you receive it, with every movement written to the inventory history.

Manage transfers under Products → Transfers.

Create a transfer

1. Go to Products → Transfers and select Create transfer.

2. Choose an Origin — the location the stock is leaving. To receive stock from an external supplier (for example, goods arriving against a purchase order), leave the origin blank.

3. Choose a Destination — the location the stock is going to. To ship stock out of your store externally (for example, returning goods to a vendor), leave the destination blank.

4. Add products and the quantity of each to move. Each product can appear once per transfer.

5. Optionally add a reference name, a note, and tags to help you find the transfer later.

6. Save. The transfer is created as a Draft with a sequential number like T1 — nothing is reserved yet.

Note

A transfer must have an origin or a destination — at least one end has to be one of your locations. Origin and destination can’t be the same location.

Transfer statuses and what they do to inventory

The status is what drives inventory. Move a transfer forward with the actions on its page — each step writes ledger entries you can audit in the inventory history.

Status	What it means	Inventory effect
Draft	Being planned	Nothing is reserved or moved
Ready to ship	Packed and committed	Quantities are reserved at the origin — no longer sellable there
In transit	Physically shipped	Stock leaves the origin and shows as Incoming at the destination
Transferred	Received	Accepted quantities become Available (sellable) at the destination
Canceled	Called off	Reserved stock at the origin is released back to Available

A few rules around the status flow:

• You can only cancel a transfer while it is in Draft or Ready to ship. Once it’s in transit the stock has physically left, so the flow forward is to receive (and reject items if needed).
• Partial receiving keeps the transfer In transit — it only becomes Transferred when receiving is complete.
• Transfers with a blank origin (external supplier) skip the origin effects: nothing is reserved, and going in transit simply creates the Incoming quantity at the destination.
• Transfers with a blank destination (shipping out externally) apply the origin effects only; receiving records quantities without adding stock anywhere.

Shipments

When a transfer goes In transit, Sellerlane automatically creates its first shipment (numbered like T1-1) carrying all the line quantities. You can add more shipments and split quantities between them — useful when a transfer arrives in several boxes on different days.

Each shipment has its own:

• Tracking number and carrier (free-text carrier name)
• Expected arrival date
• Barcode — up to 250 characters, so you can find the shipment later by scanning or searching the code
• Cost adjustment rows — record amounts such as freight or handling against the shipment, each with a type, amount, and description

Moving quantities between shipments never changes the transfer’s line totals, and a shipment that ends up empty is removed automatically.

Receive a transfer

Receiving happens per shipment, line by line:

1. Open the transfer and select the shipment you’re receiving.

2. For each line, enter the quantity to Accept and the quantity to Reject — or use Accept all to accept every outstanding unit in one step.

3. Save. Accepted units move from Incoming to Available at the destination and become sellable immediately.

Receiving rules worth knowing:

• Over-receiving is allowed. If more units arrive than the transfer listed, accept them all — the full accepted count is added to Available.
• Rejected items don’t add stock anywhere. The rejection is recorded on the transfer, but no inventory is created at the destination and nothing is returned to the origin.
• You can edit received quantities later. Reopen the shipment’s received counts and adjust them — Sellerlane automatically reconciles the stock difference (raising an accepted count adds the difference to Available, lowering it removes it).

Note

Transfer lines keep a snapshot of the product name, variant, and SKU from when the line was created, so your transfer history stays readable even if a product is later deleted. Receiving, however, requires the product to still exist — a line whose product has been removed shows an error at receiving.

Editing, deleting, and duplicating

• Origin and destination lock once the transfer is Ready to ship. Up to that point you can change either end; after that, cancel and recreate the transfer instead.
• Only drafts can be deleted. Every other status is part of your inventory history — cancel instead of deleting.
• Any transfer can be duplicated, whatever its status. The copy is created as a new draft with the same lines.

The Incoming column in inventory

Quantities on transfers that are In transit to a location appear in that location’s Incoming column in the inventory views. Incoming stock:

• is not sellable and is not counted in On hand,
• can’t be edited manually — it changes only as transfers move and are received, and
• converts to Available as you accept items during receiving.

Every Incoming change appears in the inventory history with the source Transfer, so you can trace exactly which transfer moved which units.

Next steps

Purchase orders

Record what you’ve ordered from suppliers, then receive it with a linked transfer. See Purchase orders.

Locations and inventory

Manage locations, stock levels, and the inventory history. See Locations & inventory.