Receiving Inventory in a Jewelry Store: From Invoice to Tagged Piece

Set up a receiving spot before you open the box

For example, a vendor box sits on the back counter for 2 days because nobody had time to check it in. Meanwhile a customer asks for a pendant that is in that box, and nobody can sell it because it is not in the system yet.

Pick one spot away from the sales floor and keep it set up: a scale, a loupe, a millimeter gauge, a tag printer, good light for photos and a sealed bin for anything waiting on a question. Make it a rule that shipments are received the day they arrive, and that 2 people open anything high-value.

Receiving inventory in a jewelry store, step by step

Use the same order every time, and finish each shipment before you start the next one.

1. Match the invoice to your orderCheck each line against what you ordered: style, quantity, metal, size and cost. Flag anything you did not order and anything that is missing.
2. Count pieces and stonesCount the pieces, then count the stones in each piece against the description. "1 round center and 24 round side stones" means 25 stones.
3. Weigh each pieceRecord the gram weight and compare it with the invoice when the vendor lists one. Gold priced by weight should match.
4. Check metal, markings and disclosuresLook for the karat stamp and maker's mark, and confirm whether stones are natural or laboratory-grown and whether any treatment is listed.
5. Match lab reports to stonesCompare each report with its stone, including weight, measurements and any inscription on the girdle. There is more on this below.
6. Enter cost and retailUse the invoice cost and your own pricing rules. Decide with your accountant whether freight and insurance go into cost, and do it the same way every time.
7. Mark it owned or memoMemo pieces need the vendor, the memo terms and the return date on the record before they are tagged.
8. Tag itPrint the tag from the item record, RFID or standard, and attach it so it hangs free of the metal.
9. Photograph itTake your product photos now, while the piece is clean and in your hand.
10. Put it onlineList it on your website with the same details, so the site and the case match.

Tell the vendor about shortages, damage or wrong items the same day, in writing, and check your vendor's terms for how long you have to report a problem.

Tagging at receiving is also what keeps later counts honest, as we explained in our guide to RFID for jewelry stores. And if you sell online, the last step is easy to put off; our guide to syncing your website with inventory explains why a piece should go online from the same record as the case.

Check grading, lab reports and disclosures

A lab report is only useful if it belongs to the stone in front of you. GIA's guide to reading its diamond grading reports lists the details to compare: the report number, shape and cutting style, measurements, carat weight to the nearest hundredth, color and clarity grades, any inscription on the girdle, and the comments, which is where a detected treatment such as laser drilling is noted (GIA (opens in a new tab)). The same guide says the report's QR code, when scanned, verifies the report's data against GIA's database.

Look up the report number on GIA's Report Check and read the inscription under a loupe. Then compare the details as well as the number. In one case described in GIA's Gems and Gemology journal, a treated diamond carried a counterfeit inscription that pointed to the report of a different, untreated stone, and the mismatch showed when the lab compared the stone's details with that report (GIA Gems and Gemology, 2021 (opens in a new tab)).

Lab-grown and treated stones

Receiving is the moment to get the description right, because whatever you enter ends up on the tag, the receipt and the website. The FTC's Jewelry Guides say the name of a laboratory-grown stone should be immediately preceded, just as clearly, by a word like "laboratory-grown" or "laboratory-created" (section 23.25), and that a gemstone treatment should be disclosed when it is not permanent, creates special care needs or significantly affects value (section 23.24, and section 23.14 applies the same rule to diamonds) (eCFR, 16 CFR Part 23 (opens in a new tab)). If the invoice is unclear, ask the vendor before you tag the piece. This is general information, not legal advice.

Mark owned and memo pieces before tagging

A memo piece looks exactly like one you bought. If it is received as owned stock, it ends up in your inventory value, your reorder reports and maybe your markdowns. Decide at receiving, and make the difference visible.

• Record the vendor, memo number, terms and return date on the item.
• Use a separate tag color or a clear mark on the tag for memo goods.
• Keep memo goods in their own trays where you can.
• Check memo returns and purchases against the vendor's memo statement every month.

Our guide to memo vs consignment covers who owns what and why those goods are counted apart.

Common receiving mistakes

Where AI helps with vendor invoices, and what a person still checks

Typing a long invoice is slow, and it is where a lot of receiving errors start. Jewelry invoice scanning, where AI reads a photo or PDF of the vendor's invoice, takes over that typing. A good invoice reader pulls the vendor, style numbers, descriptions, metal, stone weights, quantities and costs off the page and turns them into lines ready to receive.

What it cannot do is look inside the box. A person still checks:

• That every line matches a piece in hand, and every piece matches a line.
• The numbers that change value: carat weights, karat, gram weights and costs.
• That the lines add up to the invoice total.
• Lines the AI may have split, merged or skipped, especially on long or handwritten invoices.
• Whether the paper is an invoice or a memo, and whether stones are natural or laboratory-grown.
• Your retail prices, which should come from your own rules and not from the vendor's paperwork.

For example, an invoice line for a pair of earrings at 0.50 carats total weight could be read as 2 pieces at 0.50 carats each. That is an easy catch for a person holding the earrings and a hard one for software reading a photo.