Creating Inventory Locations
Inventory locations must exist in the system before inventory can be assigned to them. While the specific creation interface is not detailed in the current documentation, locations are created through an administrative interface or API endpoint within your ShipSidekick account.
Once created, locations are tracked in the system's database and become available for inventory assignment and warehouse operations. Active locations with inventory quantities are included in daily inventory snapshots and reconciliation processes.
Assigning Inventory to Locations
Inventory is assigned to locations through several event-driven triggers:
Purchase order receipt — When you receive a purchase order, inventory is automatically assigned to the designated location
Manual adjustments — Direct changes to inventory quantities at a specific location
Manual adds — Adding inventory directly through the inventory table or interface
CSV uploads — Bulk inventory assignments using the location upload template
How Assignment Works
When inventory is assigned to a location through any of these methods, the system:
Routes the inventory change through the batch services layer
Queues per-location inventory synchronization with built-in safeguards:
A 60-second settle delay prevents rapid successive updates from overwhelming the database
A 30-second deduplication window consolidates multiple changes to the same location
Syncs the updated inventory levels to connected external services (such as ApparelMagic)
Runs a daily cron job as a safety net to ensure all inventory levels remain synchronized
Using the Location Upload Template
You can update location properties—such as making locations non-pickable—using the location upload template. Updating location properties will not affect your inventory counts. The inventory quantities at those locations remain unchanged when you modify location settings.
Important Considerations
Archived Locations
Archived inventory locations are excluded from all operational processes, including daily snapshot generation and inventory calculations. If you need to retire a location, archiving it will prevent it from being included in future inventory operations.
Zero-Quantity Locations
Locations with zero inventory are handled specially by the system:
They do not generate snapshot rows (a missing row implies zero on hand)
Zero-quantity items are filtered during synchronization to external services
This prevents unnecessary data clutter while maintaining accurate inventory records
Phantom Inventory and Cleanup
If a location contains inventory records for items that never physically arrived, or if you have duplicate locations showing the same SKU with different quantities, support can help clean up these records. Common scenarios include:
Phantom inventory — Records for items that were never actually received. Support can zero out these locations completely.
Duplicate locations — When one location is created through scanner moves and another manually through the inventory table. You should zero out the unwanted duplicate location first, then delete it. If the system prevents deletion, something may still be using that location and support can assist with cleanup.
Negative inventory — Locations showing negative inventory can be cleared if they actually contain zero physical inventory. It's best to have support verify the location status before clearing to ensure it won't affect your overall inventory count.
Moving Inventory Between Locations
When you move inventory between locations, the system should automatically handle reallocation of any orders that were allocated from the original location. However, if orders continue to allocate from the wrong locations after a move, you may need to manually unallocate and reallocate those orders or use the recalculate function.
For moving multiple SKUs at once, you can use License Plates (LPNs). If your pallet has an LPN assigned to it (to which all inventory or nested LPNs on that pallet are assigned), you can scan that single LPN in the handheld to move the entire pallet. If there are multiple LPNs per pallet, each LPN will need to be scanned and moved individually.