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A transfer moves stock from one of your locations to another. Nothing is created or destroyed — the quantity leaves the source and arrives at the destination.

When to use one

  • Restocking a shop from a warehouse
  • Moving goods between branches
  • Loading a delivery vehicle
  • Returning unsold stock to a central store
If stock is genuinely leaving your business — sold, written off, returned to a supplier — that is an adjustment, not a transfer.

Two ways to transfer

Complete in one step

Use this when the move is immediate — carrying stock between rooms, or between two shops on the same trip. Stock leaves the source and arrives at the destination in a single action.

Ship, then receive

Use this when the goods are in transit for a meaningful period — a lorry between towns, an overnight delivery.
1

Ship

Stock is deducted from the source. It is now in transit.
2

The goods travel

They are neither at the source nor at the destination. The transfer sits In transit.
3

Receive

Stock is added at the destination when it physically arrives.
The in-transit stage is worth using whenever goods spend real time on the road. It tells you what has left but not yet arrived — which is exactly what you need to know when something goes missing.

Creating a transfer

1

Open Inventory, then Transfers

Choose New transfer.
2

Select the source and destination

They must be different locations.
3

Add your lines

Item, quantity and unit for each.
4

Add a reference

A delivery note number, a vehicle registration, a driver’s name — whatever helps you trace it.
5

Save as draft

Nothing has moved yet.
6

Check it against what is physically going

Right items, right quantities.
7

Ship or complete

Ship if the goods will be in transit. Complete if the move is immediate.

Receiving

1

Open the transfer

From Inventory → Transfers, filtered to In transit.
2

Check what actually arrived

Against the transfer lines. Count it — do not assume.
3

Receive

Stock is added at the destination.
4

Deal with any shortfall separately

See below.

Transfer statuses

If something is missing on arrival

This is the situation the in-transit stage exists for.
1

Receive what actually arrived

Do not record a quantity you did not receive.
2

Investigate the difference

Was it short-loaded, mis-counted at the source, or lost in transit?
3

Record the shortfall as an adjustment

At whichever location the loss actually occurred, with the reason loss and a note explaining it.
4

Follow it up

A pattern of shortfalls on a particular route or with a particular driver is worth knowing about.

Voiding

Only an administrator can void, and a reason is required. The original transfer stays visible.
Voiding a received transfer reverses stock at both ends. If some of the goods have already been sold from the destination, this will produce a negative balance. Adjust rather than void in that situation.

What Bumara checks

Good practice

  • Ship and receive separately when goods are genuinely in transit. The visibility is the point.
  • Count on arrival. Every time. This is where discrepancies are caught cheaply.
  • Reference the physical paperwork. Delivery note number, vehicle, driver.
  • Review what is in transit weekly. A transfer shipped three weeks ago and never received means either the stock or the record has gone astray.
  • Receive promptly. Stock sitting in transit is stock nobody can sell.

Reviewing transfers

Last modified on August 4, 2026