IMEI and Serial Number Inventory Software for Phone Shops
Gadgets POS is IMEI inventory software for phone shops: every handset is its own unit in stock with its IMEI or serial number. Scan to add it to a sale, have a second sale of the same unit blocked, and search any IMEI across sales, returns and trade-ins. It is stock control, not lost-phone tracking.
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IMEI inventory software: stock control by IMEI, not lost-phone tracking
An IMEI is the number that identifies a handset. In a shop, it is a dependable way to tell one phone from another when they are all the same model, colour and storage. IMEI inventory software uses that number as the key to your stock: which units you have, which you sold, to whom, and what each one cost.
That is different from tracking a phone once it has left your shop. Gadgets POS does not locate phones and it does not check an IMEI against blacklists, iCloud locks or carrier locks. It makes your own records dependable. For a plain-English walk through the idea, read the guide on how to track phone stock by IMEI.
The same approach works for anything with a serial number, such as laptops (see POS for computer and laptop shops), consoles and tablets. You choose, product by product, whether an item is serialised or just counted by quantity, so accessories do not need an IMEI.
Serial numbers on purchase orders
The cleanest time to capture an IMEI is when the goods arrive. On a purchase order you can add the serial or IMEI list for the units you are receiving. When you receive the order, those units go into stock, each with its own number, and each carries the cost of the purchase it came from.
Stock then follows first in, first out costing, so margin on a later sale comes from what that purchase cost. Stock records cannot be deleted. Quantities change only through an adjustment, a sale, a purchase receipt, a return or a trade-in. See purchase order software for the supplier side.
Scan to sell, with a double-sale guard
At the till you scan the IMEI or the barcode on the box and the unit is added to the order. If the same unit is already in another open cart, anywhere in your business, the system refuses it. That includes a cart held on a different till or by a different member of staff, which is where double sales usually happen in a busy shop.
Scanners that behave like a keyboard work with this. The 2D barcode and QR scanner we supply for £40, one-off, must be set to keyboard mode, and each scan must end with Enter. We have not tested every other scanner model, so check with us before you buy one. The till itself is covered in the POS system for mobile phone shops page.
Returns and trade-ins create or reactivate the unit
When a phone comes back as a return or arrives as a trade-in, you record its IMEI. If the system has not seen that number before, it creates a new unit. If it has, the existing unit is reactivated. Either way the IMEI is in your stock again, rather than disappearing from your records.
Returns ask whether the unit is faulty or not faulty, and you decide whether it goes back into sellable stock. Learn more about trade-in software and POS for second hand phones.
Search any IMEI across sales, returns and trade-ins
A customer comes back and says the phone you sold them last month has a fault. You search the IMEI and find the sale, and if it later came back or was traded in, you find that too, because the search runs across sales, returns and trade-ins. You can also search receipts for an IMEI.
Gadgets POS does not have a single timeline screen for each device. What it gives you is the ability to find an IMEI wherever it was recorded, in the reports and receipt search.
Move units between branches
If you have more than one shop, stock moves between them by request and acceptance. The receiving shop asks, the sending shop approves, and the units, with their IMEIs, arrive on the receiving shop's stock list. Rejected and declined requests are listed, and the stock movement can be printed. See multi-store POS.
A stock check lets you scan what is actually on the shelf and compare it with what the system expects. It is the quickest way to find a unit that is in the wrong place.
Labels with the IMEI barcode
Print labels with the IMEI as a barcode on Zebra or DYMO label printers, so the unit can be scanned at the till or in a stock check. Labels can show storage, RAM and processor from the product. More on printers and scanners is on POS hardware for phone shops, and the wider stock feature set is on inventory management.
Questions about IMEI stock
Can a POS track phones by IMEI?
Yes. Gadgets POS holds each serialised phone as its own unit with its IMEI or serial number, adds it to an order when you scan it, and records its cost from the purchase it came from. You can search any IMEI across sales, returns and trade-ins. It tracks stock inside your business, not a phone after it leaves.
What happens when a customer returns a phone?
You record the IMEI on the return and answer whether the unit is faulty or not faulty. You decide whether it goes back into sellable stock. If the system has never seen that IMEI, it creates a new unit, and if it has, the existing unit is reactivated. The return can sit on the same order as a replacement.
Can two staff sell the same IMEI?
No. If a unit is already in another open cart anywhere in your business, the system refuses to add it to a second one. Once the first sale is completed, the unit is no longer in stock. This covers carts on other tills and carts held by other members of staff, so the same phone cannot be sold twice.
Does it check IMEIs against blacklists?
No. Gadgets POS does not check IMEIs against blacklists, iCloud locks or carrier locks, and it does not locate phones. Those checks are done with separate services before you buy a phone. What the software does is record each IMEI you handle so you can search it later across sales, returns and trade-ins.