Hello!
To use the forum, login or register above.
(If you are already logged in above, please click here)
Disappearing inventory?
I seem to be ending up with more physical inventory than is listed on BL/BO. Not just small parts that were extra in sets. Errors include 2x4 bricks and even 4x10 plates
The discrepancies are increasing with time, therefore somehow inventory is either being removed or not uploaded correctly.
I use brickstock exclusively, and upload using "BL master" then syncing to BO
Before I attempt to stock check and count 250,000 parts can anyone suggest where/how/why the errors are happening?
Thanks
The discrepancies are increasing with time, therefore somehow inventory is either being removed or not uploaded correctly.
I use brickstock exclusively, and upload using "BL master" then syncing to BO
Before I attempt to stock check and count 250,000 parts can anyone suggest where/how/why the errors are happening?
Thanks
Powered by Vanilla
Comments
No nothing to do with cancelled orders, which fortunately are very rare.
I suspect a bug somewhere, but without any knowledge in the computing arena, will have to deal with it... the thought of a stock check is very unappealing!
With certainty not the case. I am extremely diligent using that method. I have separate devices. PC devoted to bricksync, ipad for picking in stockroom and a MacBook for brickstock/label printing.
Stock is added within seconds of activating BL master, BL master is deactivated immediately after upload. Those computers are side by side, so forgetting doesn't happen.
It's something else
Canceled BO orders have to be manually uploaded back using the bsx order file generated by bricksync. Adding items back on BrickOwl will get overwritten by bricksync master inventory file
There are of course other possible solutions, but a coding error - while possible - is unlikely to affect just one user, and there has been no widespread reporting of incorrect inventories. It doesn't mean this isn't the case and you may be the unlucky one who fell across a coding error because you have a particular number of lots or a particular item value or something. It can happen.
Anyways, best of luck trying to resolve it.
Look the item/color up on BO and few the history and see if you can match the changes in number of items with orders made. Somewhere there should be an error with one or more orders.
Given those orders try looking at errors from Bricksync.
Your not annoying me. I appreciate your help!
But if you do a BL master on/off then yes, it could screw your inventory a bit by subtraction stock items.
A sync command would screw it first doubling your stock, But as BS saves a copy of your inventory, after the order is not finalised in 10 minutes or made and showing, if you do a Sync again it would correct all.
Also you can see these orders in BL if you click the link In Progress on the orders screen.
If an order on BL goes into a limbo state, temporary in stockroom. Which could be 10 minutes if the order fails.
Whilst in stockroom, bricksync polls BL and doesn't "see" items in stockroom does it correct master inventory locally to reflect this change?
Then when BL "decides" the order failed, returns items to stock. BUT next time bricksync polls BL will it then overwrite BL with the master local inventory which is now incorrect?
As I have polling interval set to 10 minutes there is a very high probability of this occurring. Which would be rare, because I imagine the overwhelming majority of orders don't fail.
I only noticed the errors due to a large number of 4x10 plates in physical stock, that showed a small quantity available. I imagine this may not be noticed until a lot is zeroed out, whilst physical stock remains, which could explain why it's not been brought up before by others?
If this is the case, at least it's not the other way round. I'll just correct lots as the errors manifest
Seriously though, @Graham, what you describe does sound a likely cause for your issue and it certainly might help others in future to know this is possible. I think this will be an issue in some way or other for all the syncing platforms, and it would be difficult (though not impossible) to account for stock that BL reports as simply gone rather than temporarily unavailable pending an order.
Going forward I guess the only way to prevent it happening is to check for pending orders on BL before using blmaster.
Is there a better method that you could suggest? I'm only aware of options that are cloud based on another sellers server, which I'm not too keen on.
Cheers
@Stellar says no... so time to test it. I'll report back
I'll go over to that method, I've just not used it due to the "I've always done it this way"... you know how it goes!
I paid close attention to last nights upload, seems that 1 perhaps 2 lots got overwritten.
I have location information in "remarks"
when a new lot gets uploaded, that's not already in stock room, I have to add location. The one part I knew for sure was in inventory showed as a new part, and with the quantity of the upload
This surely must be happening to someone else?
@Hoddie if I use the merge feature on BS what happens adding to lots of zero qty in stockroom on BL ?
You would be better off starting a new thread under third party tools, detailing your issue. This thread isn't about your issue.
so its definitely happening somewhere - but its not during the upload - I've been checking that after every upload.
So far all the lots that have been affected are either Dark Stone Gray or Black
I have had a load of orders since the reset so it'll take some time to go thru all the backups
Thanks in advance.
Tyson.
But I still don't know how it's happening. The part in question 1x4 plate in dark stone gray.
At 18:51 (December 19) bricksync generated a backup showing qty 25 where the back up prior at 17:56 showed 49.
At 17:56 there was a BrickOwl order, the part was not in this order at all (qty 0)
At 18:51 there was a BrickLink order again the part was not in that order.
So I now know with 100% certainty it's happening but as to how, I have no clue.
Surely this can't only be happening to me alone?
Confusing to say the least. I'm going to have to also check against uploads, as well as back tracking BL
Still doesn't account for the other discrepancies
I've been getting bug reports recently asking me to send the file to stragus but I don't believe he's active any more
And to see that bug thing very often is not good I have had some in the past, but not seen it for a long time now.
If anyone has had this problem and is running Brick Freedom, please let me know because we could probably nail this issue down in a couple of hours. (Brick Freedom tracks every single change across all platforms and from admin interface is searchable)
Appreciate your input, as well as others!
I'm actually more confused than before. The BrickOwl history doesn't show anything that would indicate the cause, due to the anonymous api calls.
I'll get a screen shot of error next time it shows, in the meantime I'll look through the error logs.
What I find perplexing is that nobody else is experiencing this? It's definitely not my imagination and the way I upload and handle inventory would seem to rule out "human error"
I'm extremely cautious when using blmaster mode, I literally select on, within 15 seconds upload from brickstock, then within 15 seconds select off.
@BrickFreedom looks good and thanks, I just prefer having control locally, rather than cloud based (at least at the moment)
Cheers Graham
This was c&p from file "debug tracker" I have no clue what it means. The numbers seem to repeat, refer to code? Maybe? I've had to delete some to fit in this post there are 255 lines, they seem to repeat.
When this happens I "sync" and bricksync functions normally again. Seems to happen every couple of weeks
WARNING: Watchdog timer kicked in, activity appears stalled since 900.333 seconds.
Thread 0 last activity : 900.333 seconds ago.
Log #0 : file tcphttp.c, line 892
Log #1 : file bricksync.c, line 1344
Log #2 : file bsapihistory.c, line 130
Log #3 : file bsapihistory.c, line 88
Log #4 : file bsapihistory.c, line 88
Log #5 : file bscheck.c, line 519
Log #6 : file bscheck.c, line 478
Log #7 : file bscheck.c, line 204
Log #8 : file bsfetchorderlist.c, line 121
Log #9 : file bricksyncnet.c, line 309
Thread 1 last activity : -39154.494 seconds ago.
Log #0 : file tcp.c, line 1577
Log #1 : file tcp.c, line 1599
Log #2 : file tcp.c, line 1617
Log #3 : file tcp.c, line 1497
Log #4 : file tcp.c, line 1097
Log #5 : file tcp.c, line 1577
Log #6 : file tcp.c, line 1599
Log #7 : file tcp.c, line 1617
Log #8 : file tcp.c, line 1497
Log #9 : file tcp.c, line 1097
Log #10 : file tcp.c, line 1577
Log #11 : file tcp.c, line 1599
Log #12 : file tcp.c, line 1617
Log #13 : file tcp.c, line 1497
Log #14 : file tcp.c, line 1097
Log #15 : file tcp.c, line 1577
Log #16 : file tcp.c, line 1599
Log #17 : file tcp.c, line 1617
Log #18 : file tcp.c, line 1497
Log #19 : file tcp.c, line 1097
Log #20 : file tcp.c, line 1577
Log #21 : file tcp.c, line 1599
Log #22 : file tcp.c, line 1617
Log #23 : file tcp.c, line 1497
Log #24 : file tcp.c, line 1097
Log #25 : file tcp.c, line 1577
Log #26 : file tcp.c, line 1599
Log #27 : file tcp.c, line 1617
Log #28 : file tcp.c, line 1497
Log #29 : file tcp.c, line 1097
Log #30 : file tcp.c, line 1577
Log #31 : file tcp.c, line 1599
Log #32 : file tcp.c, line 1617
" A lot that I corrected a few days ago is now wrong again"
How did you correct that lot? Through a BSX file, or directly on BL inventory, and did you do BL master after that?
The error that you show is a sign that BrickSync stopped working, that happens sometimes, but should not happen every couple of weeks (last time I had it was 9 november).
Every anonymous API is from an action from BrickSync (I assume you don't use the API yourself), so you should see your adjustment there
I rarely have inventory issues and when I do I can link them to an error I made when creating the BSX to add (like forgetting to change the quantity or color from one part to the next).
Sequence was "blmaster on" modify qty in inventory on BrickLink "blmaster off" I know it took because I checked BrickOwl qty after.
Probably worthwhile downloading and replacing the bricksync app, can't hurt.
@Colorado Bricks others have recommended that, 2 problems for me is I have bricksync running on a cheap windows 10 laptop, which I can't get my head around (mac guy)
The other is having to re assign so many lots in remarks with each upload, at least when uploading to BL the lots in stockroom get updated, I still have all the lots that zeroed out on BO, which is already enough!
I'm planning on buying another laptop next year, so I can switch to the old Mac for bricksync maybe then I'll switch to adding via bricksync
Guess I'll plod on with manual updates to errors, at least it's not the other way round. Better too much than too little!
Thanks y'all if I find something absolutely 100% will report back. Still find it strange that no one else is experiencing this, unless all of y'all are using the "add" feature?
Before that, and since then, I allways use BrickStock, from there upload to BL and then do a BLmaster On and Off.
Even smaller changes in stock get done in BL and the BLmaster method.
And yes, we have had our share of mistakes, but never in this way, almost all can be explained in our own errors.
Only thing I can come up with is that your BS has some lot id's mixed up, but that would mean there are some items that you have to little of in real life.
"At 18:51 (December 19) bricksync generated a backup showing qty 25 where the back up prior at 17:56 showed 49.
At 17:56 there was a BrickOwl order, the part was not in this order at all (qty 0)
At 18:51 there was a BrickLink order again the part was not in that order."
Does the order placed at 17:56 include anything with a quantity of 24?
Just wondering if the mapping is mixed up?
This is probably going to sound confusing! Yes that order has quantity 24 and yes it looks like the inventory updated. BUT the remaining physical quantity was 24 more than my stores showed in stock. Checking the bsx files everything adds up correctly. BUT the physical quantity is incorrect.
This example will be a bad one IF I actually got the order wrong, I haven't heard from the customer, order is still in transit. So that remains a (slim) possibility, my error rate is very low (hopefully not tempting fate!) - when I pick an order each lot goes in its own compartment, so completely missing a lot, very slim chance.
However just today another error showed up with 1x6 red-brown plate, again more physical inventory than in store. This from my last upload today which created a new lot of 4, but there were 53 more in the bin already. I haven't started tracking that yet.
The store room is separate from the house and its locked, no one goes in there, the stock is pretty meticulously stored and I keep the same location for parts 1x6 plates always go with assigned 1x6 plates draw.
This is driving me crazy, I know I'm aging but i haven't lost it yet!
But... having had a think about it, is that not the potential problem we're looking for??
- You had 49 in stock (both physical inventory & store stock)
- An order came in with a quantity of 24 (albeit for a different part)
- You still have 49 physical inventory, but the store now shows you have 25
Is that correct?
If so, that could mean that whatever part was ordered in qty 24, could have incorrectly adjusted the wrong part (in addition to the correct part?)