Two salespeople, one sofa, two customers. If it's happened in your business, you already know the cost: an awkward phone call, a delayed delivery, maybe a refund, and a customer who doesn't come back. It almost always happens for the same reason — the team was selling from the wrong number.
Sales should only ever sell from the third one. The trouble is that most small businesses don't have it written down anywhere.
A simple version that works for most product businesses:
Available for sale = on the floor − sold and awaiting delivery − held for another branch or customer
Then, separately, show coming in — stock on purchase orders or posted purchases that hasn't arrived — so sales can promise a later date instead of saying "no".
You have 6 of a dining table on the floor. Two are invoiced for delivery on Friday. One is held for your second store. Four more are on a container due in two weeks.
If sales works from QuickBooks' 4, they will eventually sell the table your second store is counting on.
You can approximate available-to-promise with QuickBooks reports and a spreadsheet: take quantity on hand, subtract any holds you track elsewhere, and add an "on order" column from open purchase orders. If your region and plan include sales orders, their committed quantities help too.
The weakness is timing. A spreadsheet is accurate when someone updates it. Double-selling happens in the gaps — two sales an hour apart, a hold someone forgot to record, a delivery that was never marked.
Our warehouse layer for QuickBooks Online makes available for sale the headline number. Every invoice reserves stock automatically, held stock for sister branches comes off immediately, incoming purchases show as "coming in", and negative or oversold quantities are flagged. QuickBooks stays your accounting system; the warehouse layer keeps the number honest.
A 20-minute call. We'll look at how orders move through your business today and show you exactly where the gaps are.
Book a 20-minute demo →The quantity you can sell to a new customer right now: stock on the floor minus stock already sold and awaiting delivery, minus stock held for another branch or customer.
Sell from an available-for-sale figure rather than quantity on hand, reserve stock automatically when the invoice is raised, make holds visible, and release stock only when goods actually leave.
QuickBooks and QuickBooks Online are trademarks of Intuit Inc. Rinko Books' warehouse software works with QuickBooks Online; it is an independent product and is not made, endorsed, certified or sponsored by Intuit.