After a buyer pays for an order, our Digital Picking feature ensures you always grab the correct items off your shelf by incorporating barcode scanning. In addition to Digital Picking (our recommended workflow), Pack Slips can be printed to manually search for items, but this method is prone to human error in picking the wrong products.
Digital Picking in Link (Recommended)
Digital Picking in Link is our recommended workflow for boosting productivity and eliminating errors in picking the wrong item. Pickers are assigned products in Link and are guided through inventory in the most efficient way to your inventory layout.
Key Features
- Transparency: Every picking action in Link is tracked in Lister. The in-app User Productivity report tracks how many items are picked by each teammate
- Efficiency: Set up Picking Profiles in Lister to match your operational processes around order fulfillment. Link automatically guides users to the next item based on your warehouse layout, reducing backtracking and unnecessary steps. Up to 150 products can be assigned to a picker per batch, and no pickers will be assigned the same order to pull at the same time
- Loss Prevention: Never pick the wrong item for an order by scanning the barcode to verify the item. In the event a product isn't found by pickers, it is marked "Not Found" for investigation by management/loss prevention
Equipment
- iOS 13 or later Apple device with the Link app installed
- Ring scanner (recommended) for easier and more efficient scanning
How to Use
- Tap "Pick Orders" on the Link dashboard
- Select the types of orders to pick based on your Picking Profiles
- Select how many items will be picked, then tap "Start picking"
- Navigate to the inventory location shown in Link
- Scan the product barcode, then repeat steps 4 and 5 until all items are picked
💡Operational Tip: Not enough space on the cart to fit an item? Tap "Skip item" at the bottom of the screen so it can be picked later!
Can't find an item in inventory? Tap "Actions" then tap "Mark not found" to tag the item as missing for investigation by a team leader! 
Printed Pack Slips in Lister
As a backup alternative to using Digital Picking, printed pack slips with item pictures, names, SKUs, and locations can be printed In Lister. Unlike Digital Picking, this method does not optimize your team's picking workflow, track who picked the items, or use barcode scanning to verify the correct item was picked. For these reasons, if picking orders via printed pack slips, we highly recommend using Pack Mode (described below) to ensure the correct items are shipped to buyers.
Key Features
- Redundancy: Use as a backup method to picking orders if Digital Picking is not an option
- Efficiency: Printed pack slips show the main product picture, title, SKU, and location
- Customizable: Create a customized pack slip footer for buyers (for example, instructions on starting a return, or info on your organization)
Equipment
- 1 desktop or laptop computer (typically the same one used for packing and shipping)
- 1 regular office printer to print out 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper with pack slip details
How to Use
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Navigate to the "Ready to fulfill" tab of the Orders Manager
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Click "More filters"
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Select the "Not started" checkbox under the Pick and Pack status heading
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Select all the orders that need to be picked and click the "Actions" menu
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Click "Print pack slips" in the dropdown menu
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Select what details to include in the printed pack slips
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Select the sort order for how pack slips will be printed
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Click the blue "Print pack slips" button
Additional Resources
Pack Mode ensures that the right products go to the right buyers. Once again, the product barcode is used to track productivity and verify the correct item is packed into each order.
Key Features
- Transparency: Lister tracks who packed each order, showing overall productivity in the User and Operational Productivity reports
- Efficiency: Use barcode scanners to verify items and select shipping boxes
- Loss Prevention: Never ship the wrong item or miss an item in a shipment - Pack Mode prevents the wrong item from being added to a shipping box and tracks if an item is manually skipped from being included in a package
Equipment
- 1 laptop or desktop computer per packing workstation
- 1 barcode scanner (1D or 2D) per workstation
- Optional: 1 label printer per workstation to reprint SKUs
- Note: If using this option, the workstation computer will need Lister Connect installed
- Optional: 1 regular office printer per workstation to print out 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper with Pack Slip details
How to Use
Scan a product barcode, pack slip, or type in an order number into the Orders Manager to open Pack Mode. From there:
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Scan the product barcode as it is being packed into the shipping box(es)
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Scan the shipping box barcode using the Pack Mode printed Scan Sheet (Example Below) to select a shipping box, or use the dropdown menu
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Scan the "Confirm" barcode on the scan sheet, or click the green "Confirm order" button
💡Operational Tip: Pack Mode will reject an item if the product barcode is not part of the order, ensuring that the right products are being sent to buyers. It's especially handy for multi-item orders!
Example Pack Mode Scan Sheet:
Additional Resources
After an order has been packed to be shipped, barcoding helps ensure the right package is heading to the right customer and continues building a productivity report for the core functions within your organization.
Key Features
- Transparency: Track how many orders are shipped by each user. Use reports in Lister to track your buyer-paid shipping and handling vs. actual shipping costs
- Efficiency: No need for 3rd party shipping software - ship directly within Lister and save time in fulfilling orders
- Loss Prevention: Automatically assign shipping insurance and signature confirmation on high-value orders
Equipment
- 1 laptop or desktop computer per workstation with Lister Connect installed
- 1 label printer per workstation
- 1 barcode scanner (1D or 2D) per workstation
- 1 USB package scale per workstation
How to Use
Depending on the team size and order fulfillment workspace, there are two workflows when shipping orders:
- All-In-One Packing and Shipping Workstation: Ideal for smaller teams where one person is responsible for packing and shipping each order
- Separate Packing and Shipping Workstations: Perfect for larger teams that need to divide labor further to increase productivity
The following sections describe how each of these workflows operates.
All-in-One Packing and Shipping Workstation
For smaller organizations, your order fulfillment workflow might involve one person packing and shipping an order. If your operation packs and ships at the same station, we recommend enabling our feature that requires packing before shipping.
Admin Settings
Follow the steps below to combine shipping and packing into one workflow in Lister:
- Click the gear icon in the top right navigation menu to go to the Admin settings page
- Click "Shipping" in the left navigation menu
- Toggle ON the option for "Require packing before shipping"
- Toggle ON the option for "Auto-select packer"
- Click the blue "Save" button at the bottom of the page
All-in-One Packing and Shipping Workflow
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Click "New Shipment"
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Scan a product barcode in the order or the order pack slip barcode to begin either verifying the items in the order via Pack Mode or creating the shipping label
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Review the package and order information
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Purchase and print a shipping label, apply to the box, then repeat steps 3-5 until all orders are shipped!
💡Operational Tip: If the product barcode SKU is scanned for single-item orders, the Pack Mode page is skipped, as the product barcode is verified with the barcode scan. If the packing slip barcode is scanned, the Pack Mode page will come up to verify the item SKU.
Multi-item orders always use Pack Mode to verify the correct items are packed in the shipment.
Separate Packing and Shipping Workstations
For larger organizations, your order fulfillment workflow might involve one person packing and another person shipping an order.
Admin Settings
Follow the steps below to separate the shipping and packing workflow in Lister:
- Click the gear icon in the top right navigation menu to go to the Admin settings page
- Click "Shipping" in the left navigation menu
- Toggle OFF the option for "Require packing before shipping"
- Click the blue "Save" button at the bottom of the page
Packer Workflow
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Click the shopping cart icon in the top right navigation menu of Lister to navigate to the Orders page
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Click "Pack Orders"
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Scan a product barcode from the order
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Scan any other product barcodes that are part of the order
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Scan a box size from the packing control sheet (example below), or manually select the box from the dropdown
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Attach either one of the product barcodes or a printed pack slip to the outside of the shipping box
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Pack Mode has multiple ways to print barcodes or pack slips: Reprint a product SKU via the product description, print a pack slip via the blue "Print pack slip" button, or scan the "Print pack slip" barcode on the packing control sheet (example below)
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Scan the "Confirm" barcode from the packing control sheet (example below), or click the green "Confirm order" button and return to step 3 to begin packing the next order
Packing Controls Scan Sheet:
Shipper Workflow
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Click "New Shipment"
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Scan a product barcode in the order or the order pack slip barcode to begin creating the shipping label
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Review the package and order information
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Purchase and print a shipping label, apply to the box, then repeat steps 3-5 until all orders are shipped!
Additional Resources
If a Product reaches the end of a Listing Strategy and doesn't sell, it should be purged from inventory to make room for new items. Outdated (unsold and recycled) inventory is identified, tracked, and removed from inventory using Link (our recommendation) or via Lister.
Purged products may be returned to team leaders to determine why they didn't sell or simply move to the next step in your organization's product lifecycle (for example, group into a lot of similar items to sell online, sent to retail stores/outlet/table sales, or salvaged).
Purging in Link (Recommended)
Purging in Link is the recommended workflow for removing unsold inventory, as it requires the correct item's barcode to be scanned before it is purged. The Purge tool in Link guides teammates to each item in inventory that is ready to be purged. Link will not allow a user to purge the wrong product.
Key Features
- Transparency: Track teammate productivity via reports. All purged actions are maintained in the Event Logs report.
- Efficiency: Link guides teammates through inventory in the most efficient route to prevent backtracking
- Loss Prevention: Prevents accidental shrinkage by ensuring the correct product barcode is scanned
Equipment
- iOS 13 or later internet-connected Apple device with the Link app installed
- Recommended: Ring Bluetooth barcode scanner to speed up workflow and iOS wrist holder for hands-free operation
How to Use
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Tap "Purge" on the Link dashboard
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Select your desired inventory location purging order (A-Z or Z-A), and/or select specific locations, then tap "start purging"
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Navigate to the indicated inventory location and find the item
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Tap the scan icon and scan the product SKU (or use a ring scanner). Repeat steps 3 and 4 until all items are purged
Purging in Lister
Purging may also be done within Lister with printed lists of purgeable items as a backup to Link, but it does not have the benefit of verifying the correct item is removed from inventory using barcode scanning.
This method is not recommended, as it requires printing purge lists and does not include a barcode verification scan to remove the correct item from inventory.
Key Features
- Redundancy: Useful alternative/backup process if all other inventory-dedicated iOS devices are currently being charged or used for product putaway or picking orders
- Efficiency: Can pre-print purge lists and assign workload to teammates. Target specific products to purge using Product filters
Equipment
- 1 regular office printer to print out 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper with purge list details
How to Use
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Navigate to the Products>Recycled page
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Select the checkboxes next to the items that will be purged
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Click "Print purge list" from the Actions menu
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Choose options for purge list printout
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Print the purge list and provide to team members to pull items from inventory
Example Printed Purge List:
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Click the "Bulk purge" from the Actions menu
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Confirm purge. Caution: This action cannot be undone!
Additional Resources
Each of the above workflow steps is tracked and recorded in Lister as team members interact with products. These steps are recorded in the User Productivity report and the Operational Productivity report, which give you a high-level overview of your operation and help identify top performers and opportunities for development. In addition, the Manifest report tracks trends in total items sent, acceptance and rejection rates, and many other valuable metrics to gauge supplier health.
Key Features
- Transparency: Gauge team performance over any date range and identify top performers and areas where additional training may be needed. Identify trends in supplier manifests
- Efficiency: Compare productivity during A/B testing of new workflows
Equipment
- 1 computer or laptop
- A spreadsheet program like Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel to open downloaded reports
How to Use
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Click the reports icon in the top right corner of Lister
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Select the desired report from the left navigation menu
User Productivity
The User Productivity report is a breakdown of each teammate's actions within a given time frame.
- Clicking on a teammate will open up the Operational Productivity report filtered to show that teammate's productivity
- Inactive users can be hidden to reduce unnecessary clutter
- Click column headers to sort in ascending or descending order
Operational Productivity
A high-level view of productivity in each part of the operation that can be grouped by hour, day, week, month, and more. Toggle on or off specific events in the chart to only display data relevant to your needs.
Poster Overview
The Poster Overview report shows high-level details of new listings created by each teammate. View the number of listings created per teammate compared to a set goal.
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Set target postings per hour and daily worked hours with the (x) icon at the top of the page. Note: Poster targets are set as the same goal across all teammates
💡Operational Tip: When setting daily hours, exclude any hours set aside for paid breaks or other non-listing hours. For example, if your team works 8 hours a day, but has two 10-minute paid breaks, a 5-minute morning meeting, and a 5-minute workstation reset/cleanup at the end of the day, set the daily hours to 7.5.
Manifests
Four reports visualized on one page of Manifest activity within a given date range.
- Manifest Acceptance/Rejection Rate: Chart of all manifest item statuses, acceptance rate, revenue generated, and sell thru rate
- Manifests by Supplier: Bar chart of total manifests created per supplier
- Manifests by User: Total number of manifests and quantity of manifested items per teammate
- Manifest Items by Day: Historical chart plotting how many manifest items were created each day
Additional Resources
Related Guides
Lister Start to Finish Workflow Guide: Part 1
Lister Start to Finish Workflow Guide: Part 2
Have questions? Reach out to us at support@uprightlabs.com or via chat anytime between 9am-6pm ET, Monday to Friday