Transferring stock between locations helps you maintain balanced inventory levels and reduce waste across your sites. If your business has a central production facility, you can also transfer products made in Batches to your other locations. 

This guide walks you through how to send and receive stock transfers, along with answers to frequently asked questions. 

Stock transfer is only available between sites that share the same Company ID.

What’s in this guide?

What you'll need
Sending stock transfers
Receiving stock transfers
Understanding stock transfer statuses
Frequently asked questions

What you'll need

• Advanced purchasing plan for all participating sites. 
• Your inventory items added in Back Office.

Sending stock transfers

Stock transfers allow you to move inventory between sites. Once a transfer is sent, it’s final and cannot be edited. To correct any discrepancies, perform a stock count, create a new stock transfer, or record wastage.

To send a stock transfer:

1. Log in to Back Office with your Lightspeed credentials. 
2. In the Home section, select Launch Purchase.
   
3. Select Stock transfers > New transfer. 
   
4. Select the site you would like to transfer stock to. 
   
5. Select a category to view its products. You can also search for any category or product using the search bar.
6. Enter the quantity of stock to send in the field before the product name.
7. On the same page, scroll down to view or edit additional details about your stock transfer, such as those highlighted below the image.
   • STOCK & PAR: Your stock level (shown below each item) updates automatically based on your inventory settings, while the par level must be set manually. 
   • Transfer Number: This is an automatically generated number used for stock transfers.
   • Delivery date: This field defaults to tomorrow’s date. To change the date, click on the field and select a new one from the calendar.
   • Delivery note:  Use this field to add any general notes or additional information about the transfer.
   • Note (below product line): You can also add notes for individual products. For example, in the image below, the first item has a note that says packed individually. This was added by selecting the product and entering the note in the corresponding field.
8. (Optional) To review the PDF of this stock transfer, tap the menu icon (three dots) in the upper-right corner of the screen, then select View as PDF.
   
9. When you're done, select Review Transfer at the bottom right of the screen.
10. Check the auto-filled details in the To and From fields. You can edit these fields and add email addresses in Cc and Bcc as needed.
11. Click Send email. 
    
12. (Optional) If you decide not to send an email, click the x button in the upper-right corner. The stock transfer will still appear in the recipient's Purchase section under the Stock transfers tab.

Drafts of stock transfers can be created and saved without immediate submission. Upon sending, the stock transfer is emailed to the recipient and recorded in their Lightspeed Purchase account under the Stock transfers tab.

Receiving stock transfers

Once a stock transfer is received, Lightspeed automatically updates the inventory levels at the receiving location, helping maintain accurate records and eliminating the need for manual stock counts.

To receive a stock transfer:

1. Navigate to the Stock transfers tab in Purchase. 
2. Select the stock transfer you’re receiving. It will display a status of Incoming and include the name of the sending site.
3. Click Start receiving. 
   
4. Review the transfer details carefully. If there are any discrepancies in quantity or pricing, here’s what you can do:
   • To adjust the quantity or price of an item, select the item from the summary list and update the details as needed.
   • If additional items were received but weren't included in the original transfer, use the search bar to add them manually. 
   • You can also add notes to specific items. For example, a note such as "Deducted 1 carton that got damaged – see attached photo" can be added to the first product.
5. For documentation purposes, you can attach photos or PDF files such as proof of delivery, images of damaged goods, or records of incorrect or additional items by clicking Add PDF/Image.
6. Click Receive transfer to finalize the stock transfer.

Once the transfer is received, its status will be updated and remain visible in the Stock transfers tab. If any of the received products are not currently enabled at your site, they will be automatically enabled upon receiving the transfer.

Understanding stock transfer statuses

The  Stock transfers tab provides a summary of all transfers and their current statuses. The statuses differ depending on whether you are the sender or the recipient.

Stock transfer statuses

• Draft: Appears when a stock transfer has been saved but not yet sent.
• Transferred: Appears once the stock transfer has been sent. This status remains visible to the sender even after the recipient has received the items, unless the transfer is cancelled.
• Delivered: Appears after the recipient has received and confirmed the stock transfer. 
• Incoming: Appears when the sender has sent the stock transfer. This also indicates that the recipient has received the notification email.
• Received: Appears in the recipient’s view after they mark the incoming items as received. For the sender, the status remains Transferred, unless the recipient cancels the transfer.
• Cancelled: Appears both on the sender and the recipient view if the recipient cancels an incoming stock transfer.
  

Frequently asked questions

What's next?