Receiving Inbound Shipments
The following instructions cover how to Receive Inbound Shipments, including what to do if units are delivered damaged, barcodes aren't matching expected values, units are missing, or extra unexpected units are received, and includes best practices accordingly. This process is necessary to ensure data integrity and helps to provide a more accurate basis for Cycle Counts.
Video Walkthrough
Video Timestamps
Jump directly to a specific part of the Video:
| 0:00 | Mark as Arrived |
| 0:38 | Upload Shipping Documents |
| 1:36 | Receiving Good Units |
| 6:38 | Receiving Damaged Units |
| 8:25 | Receiving Discrepancies |
| 9:15 | Confirming Issue Details |
| 9:57 | Submitting Invoices |
Step-by-Step Guide
1. Navigate to Work Orders > All Inbounds. On the Assigned to Me tab, click the Inbound ID for the shipment you are Receiving.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page, enter your name in the Completed By field, enter the Date of Arrival at Warehouse, then click Mark as Arrived. Click Yes to confirm.
3. When an LTL shipment is delivered, you must visually inspect the shipment briefly and make note of any damages you observe on the Bill of Lading. Be sure to have the driver sign it and take a copy. Attach the Signed Bill of Lading to the Shipping Documents section using the Upload link. Use the Other Upload link to upload a few pictures of the damages that can be shared with the Seller in case they want to file a claim with the carrier.
4. Scroll to the bottom of the page again and click Receive Inbound.
5. On the Receive Inbound screen, click into the Barcode field and Scan the first barcode. The product row will be highlighted and the checkbox checked, and fields enabled for your entries. (You can also manually activate rows using the checkbox in the Receive column.)
6. Enter the actual Quantity Received in Good (New) Condition (this may differ from the expected Quantity Sent). and the UNIQUE Bin Location where this product will be stored. It must be a unique location unless the quantity received requires more storage space than your Bin Locations will allow. In this case, add multiple Bin Locations to this same field and comma separate them (C-21, C-22).
7. Weigh the Product to the nearest tenth of a pound (one decimal place like 0.1 Lbs), and Measure the Product to the nearest quarter inch (erring on the side of rounding up, not down).
CRITICAL: Learn more about How to Measure and Weigh Products.
It is very important NOT to round to whole numbers. The Cahoot technologies that automatically select the best packaging and create the shipping label accordingly, rely on the accuracy of your numbers. Inaccurate numbers mean more communication with Cahoot Support about an order that doesn’t fit in an assigned box. This leads to voiding and recreating shipping labels, among other unnecessary work for all involved.
8. Select your Suggested Packaging. This is the packaging you would ship this product in if it were your own SKU.
9. If you scan a barcode and the product is a replenishment SKU, Cahoot will pre-populate the Bin Location where the existing inventory is located.
Cahoot only displays this pre-populated data if there is existing inventory in that location. If the SKU is depleted, this field will be blank. If it’s not possible to add the new inventory to the existing Bin Location, you may put it in a separate unique Bin Location, but you’ll have to add the Bin in the Product Editor, which you can get to via the Products menu.
Learn more about Adding Bin Locations.
Cahoot will also pre-populate the Product Weight and Dimensions, as well as the Suggested Packaging that was entered the first time the product was received. There will be no need to enter them again unless they are noticeably different, such as if retail packaging has changed. This is rare, but if it does happen please contact Cahoot Support for help with the next steps.
10. When you’re done receiving (for now), sign your name in the Completed By field, click Save Changes.
Cahoot will then create an Inbound Receipt, and these SKUs will move to Received status. You can edit your entries by clicking Edit Inbound, but only until the inventory is officially committed as Available Quantity at your facility; after which, the Inbound Receipts column will be updated from Arrived status to Completed status. Also, the Inbound Receipt status will be updated to Confirmed Receipt, and will no longer be editable.
11. To receive more inventory, click the Receive Inbound button to resume receiving.
If you didn’t receive all the units expected, enter what you did receive, and Cahoot Support work with the Seller to figure out where the missing units are.
Learn more about Work Orders.
Receiving Damaged Units
When receiving inbound inventory, your team will unbox and inspect all inventory as you place the SKUs in their unique Bin Locations. When you come across damaged units during receiving, our recommendation is to take pictures now, but set those damaged units aside until you’re done receiving all the Good units. You can then come back and receive all the damaged units together when you have the pictures available to easily attach/upload them. Damaged units should be documented as follows:
12. Be sure you are on the Receive Inbound page.
13. Check the box in the Receive column next to the SKU you are receiving damaged units for, and enter the Quantity of good units in the Good section.
14. Enter the Quantity of damaged units in the Damaged section.
A barcode specific for the damaged units is auto-generated and should be printed and the damaged units re-barcoded to prevent accidental fulfillment of an order for a new unit using a damaged one.
15. Enter a unique Bin Location for the damaged units.
16. Click the Upload link in the Pictures column of the DAMAGED section and select at least one picture of the damages to share with the Seller in case they want to create a claim with their supplier or carrier. (You won’t be able to save your work without it).
17. Once damaged Qty, Bin Location, and Pictures have been uploaded, enter the rest of the information as previously discussed then enter your name in the Completed By field and click Save Changes.
18. After damaged units are received and the Item Receipt status is updated to Confirmed Receipt, go back into the Inbound and print any barcode labels needed to barcode the inventory, whether Good or Damaged. This can be done by clicking the drop-down arrow next to the Print button in the upper right corner, then clicking Barcode Labels.
Learn more about Printing Barcodes.
Again, please DO NOT manually enter the barcode unless it’s not scannable. Even then, make sure to notify Cahoot Support to have the product re-barcoded with a scannable barcode.
VERY IMPORTANT! You must make sure that the products are identical when you’re entering a new barcode for a product. An error here means you could start fulfilling orders using the wrong product. TRIPLE CHECK that the alternate barcode you’re entering is accurate for the product in hand.
Inbound Discrepancies
The following steps only apply if you encountered any discrepancies from what was expected. After triple counting the actual Qty Received vs. the Qty Sent, the following process will confirm the issues and allow you to mark the inbound as fully received.
19. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click No More Items to Receive.
20. On the Confirm Inbound page, verify the Qty Received and confirm the Issue Details to make sure it aligns with the issues observed. Enter your name in the Confirmed By section, then click Confirm.
Submitting Invoices
Once the Inbound if fully received and LIVE, the Inbound Receipts column will be moved to COMPLETED status.
1. Click the Inbound ID to go back to the Inbound.
2. Click Submit Invoice at the bottom of the page.
3. Enter your 6-digit PIN#. (if you don’t have one, create a Support Ticket, and Cahoot Support will make sure to create one for you).
