Transferring Stock Between Stores: What a Transfer Note Is and How It Works

1What Is a Transfer Note?

A transfer note is the document for products moving between two branches or warehouses of the same business. It's neither a sale nor a purchase: the product stays in the business, only its location changes. A transfer note shows:

• The sending and receiving branch
• The products and their quantities
• The dispatch and receipt dates
• Who sent and who received the goods
• Any difference found on receipt, and its reason

Accounting and inventory software often calls the same document a stock transfer note or a warehouse transfer form.

2Why Move Products Between Branches?

• To restock what ran out. If a product sold out at one branch but sits on the shelf at another, request it from there before you lose the sale.
• To clear excess stock. A product that doesn't sell at one branch goes to the branch where it sells better.
• To distribute from a central warehouse. Goods bought in bulk are distributed from the central warehouse to the branches.
• To balance sizes and colours. In clothing, a size or colour that ran out at one branch is restocked from another.

3Moving Goods Between Branches, Step by Step

• Request. The branch that needs stock writes down which products it wants and how many.
• Approve and dispatch. The sending branch approves the request and dispatches the goods; they leave its stock at that moment. If it can't send everything, it approves part of the request.
• In transit. Goods in transit count in no branch's stock; a document that stays in transit too long is followed up.
• Count on receipt. The receiving branch counts what arrives, item by item; only the counted quantity enters its stock.
• Record the difference. If anything arrives short or damaged, the reason is recorded on the document.

4Common Transfer Mistakes

• Receiving without counting. If the dispatched quantity goes straight into stock, missing items disappear; the difference only shows up at the next stock count.
• Counting goods in transit twice. If the products show in both the sending and the receiving branch, stock looks higher than it is.
• Not recording the transfer. Goods moved without a record leave both branches' stock wrong.
• Not recording the difference. If no reason is written down for items that arrive short or damaged, the same problem comes back.

5Transfers Between Branches in PratikKasa

On the Transfers screen, you request products from another branch with New Request, or send products without waiting for a request with Send. The sending branch dispatches a request with «Approve and Dispatch»; if it can send only part, it approves part, and if it can't send, it rejects with a reason. Each document's status shows in the list.

The receiving branch counts what arrives with «Receive and Count»; the counted quantity enters its stock. If there is a difference, choosing a reason is required: Arrived Short, Arrived Damaged or Reason Unknown. A document in transit for more than two days is marked as delayed.

On the phone, you add products to a transfer by scanning them with the camera. Requests, dispatch and receiving also work offline; the other branch sees the document after sync.

The drawings in this post are based on the screens of PratikKasa 2.1.0.