Repair shop inventory management: how to track screens and parts in a phone and computer shop

Decide what you actually track

Not everything on your shelves needs the same level of tracking. Split it into three groups:

• Repair parts (track every unit): screens, batteries, charging ports, cameras, speakers, back glass, SSDs, console HDMI ports. They’re expensive, they’re used on tickets, and they’re what goes missing.
• Retail stock (track every unit, separately): cases, chargers, cables and screen protectors you sell over the counter. Keep them apart from repair parts so a case sale never shows up as a “missing” screen.
• Consumables (track by reorder, not by unit): adhesive, tape, cleaning supplies, screws, thermal paste. Counting individual strips of adhesive is a waste of time. Keep a simple “reorder when the last pack is opened” rule.

If a customer brings their own part, write it on the ticket. It isn’t your inventory and shouldn’t touch your counts.

Name parts so nobody can grab the wrong one

Many inventory mistakes in phone repair aren’t theft. They’re two parts that look the same on a list. Use one naming pattern for everything, in the same order every time:

Put the same label on the bin or drawer. When a tech can match the screen name to the bin without thinking, picking errors drop.

Receiving: the step most shops skip

A part should never go on the shelf straight from the box. Receiving takes a couple of minutes per order and saves hours later:

1. Check the order against the invoice. Right models, right quality, right quantity.
2. Test what you can. Screens can be connected to a known-good device for display and touch before they’re shelved. A dead screen found on receiving goes back to the supplier. A dead screen found during a customer repair costs you the install time too.
3. Record cost and supplier. Your repair price worksheet depends on knowing what each part really cost.
4. Add the units to stock and label the bin.

Tie every part to a ticket

This is the habit that separates a repair shop that knows where its money goes from one that guesses. When a part is used, it should be deducted against the repair ticket that used it, not crossed off a list at the end of the day.

Tying parts to tickets gives you answers you can’t get any other way:

• Where did that screen go? The usage history points to a ticket number and a tech.
• What did that warranty return cost? The original part and the replacement are both on record.
• Which supplier sends the most bad parts? DOA parts are logged against real orders, not remembered.

If you’re still on paper, write the part name on the repair ticket and deduct it from your sheet when the ticket is closed, not when someone remembers.

Handle the messy cases on purpose

Repair inventory has situations a retail system never sees. Decide in advance what happens in each one:

• Dead on arrival: move it to a labeled “return to supplier” bin and log it. Don’t let it sit mixed in with good stock.
• Broken during install: deduct it on the ticket like a used part and note the reason. This is exactly what the allowance in your price list is for.
• Warranty return: the replacement part goes on the warranty ticket, linked to the original repair. Your warranty policy should say what’s covered.
• Test parts: if you keep known-good parts for diagnostics, label them and keep them out of sellable stock.

Count a little, often

One big annual count is painful and usually wrong by the time it’s done. Cycle counting works better in a repair shop:

• Fast movers weekly. Your most common screens and batteries.
• Everything else monthly, a few drawers at a time.
• Count when the shop is closed or when no tickets are being worked, so parts aren’t moving while you count.
• Investigate every negative number. A negative count means a part was used without being received, or deducted twice. Fix the cause, not just the number.

Set reorder points without overthinking it

You don’t need to stock every model that exists. Stock the models that actually come through your door and order the rest on demand, telling the customer at intake (your device intake checklist is a good place to note “part ordered”).

For the parts you do stock, a simple reorder point works:

Example with made-up numbers: if you use about 1 of a given screen per day, your supplier takes 3 days, and you keep a 2-unit buffer, reorder when you’re down to 5. Use your own usage history; it’s the only number that matters.

Review reorder points every few months. Phone models age out, and parts that sold every week last year can sit for months.

When a spreadsheet stops being enough

A spreadsheet can work for a one-person shop. It usually breaks when more than one person is pulling parts, when you can’t see which ticket used which part, or when the count only gets updated at the end of the day. At that point, inventory needs to live in the same place as your tickets.

Where RepairAmigo fits

RepairAmigo is free software for cell phone, computer and electronics repair shops, built inside a busy repair shop that has processed more than 50,000 tickets. Its inventory is tied to the repair workflow: when a tech saves a repair update, the screens and parts used are deducted automatically. Screens are tracked by model, quality and color, with built-in part types for batteries, charging ports, cameras, speakers, HDMI ports and SSDs, plus any other part names you stock. You can receive, count and hide items, see the history linked to tickets, and get low and negative stock warnings, including from a phone browser at the bench. It runs on a computer in your shop with no ticket or user limits, and setup takes about an hour. See how it works for cell phone, computer and electronics repair shops, or read what “free” means here.

Frequently asked questions