Looking for Barcode Scanner/Inventory Software
I have a online based e-commerce business and in looking for ways to make it more efficient I want to purchase a barcode scanner to use to scan in new inventory as well as scan inventory when it's shipped. As well, I'd like if there's a way to integrate it's use into Quickbooks but either way am looking for a good inventory management program. Is there a good Mac Solution for this? I prefer this but if not I would be willing to use a Windows solution under Parallels.
Comments
http://www.barcodereaders.com/phoenix/usb.html
You can also use an isight btw:
http://www.delicious-monster.com/
but I think that's more of a gimmick than for business use. It does work though, I've tried it out. That software scans books for example and gives you their current value on Amazon.
I have a online based e-commerce business and in looking for ways to make it more efficient I want to purchase a barcode scanner to use to scan in new inventory as well as scan inventory when it's shipped. As well, I'd like if there's a way to integrate it's use into Quickbooks but either way am looking for a good inventory management program. Is there a good Mac Solution for this? I prefer this but if not I would be willing to use a Windows solution under Parallels.
Most USB barcode scanners simply input data as keyboard typing. This works nicely as you can even do something as simple as scan barcodes into a spreadsheet program like MS Excel. The barcode scanners that I've worked with include some from Symbol and Metrologic. They can typically be programmed to send additional keys with each scan. The default would work well for most spreadsheet programs as it just sends an enter key after each scan. Then, you can simply group by barcode and sum them up. I would guess that if you save your spreadsheet into the correct format (csv or something with appropriate columns) that you could probably import into Quickbooks (not sure what features the app has; who knows maybe you can just use it with the barcode scanner to begin with).
The only downside to the above is that you get a bunch of scanned in data without any sort of validation. For example, you scan some item in and then later when going through the spreadsheet, notice that there is some problem with that item (it shouldn't have been in your inventory anymore) but you've no idea where you scanned it. One easy solution is to break up your spreadsheet for different shelves/rooms/etc.
If you have an inventory already in some DB, it should be pretty easy to create a form that checks your inventory for each item as you scan it and lets you know if the item isn't found or is marked inactive or something. Even a simple web page can do this. Put a field on a form and scan into it. The enter sent by the scanner would post the form to the web server which can check the DB and respond appropriately. I've recently built a complete retail point-of-sale solution working this way and it really is quite simple when you get into it.
I've been thinking a bit about working on some Mac programs (kicking ideas around). Maybe I should consider writing a simple and cheap inventory management application. I hadn't really because I thought for sure this kind of thing would be done already...
Good luck.
Old thread with full information about USB barcode scanner. Nice talk, anyway.
You can use a cheap LoMag inventory management software and use free a Barcode Scanner LoMag for android system. Read more about a LoMag protucts on www.lomag.eu