Why Pay an ERP for This?
Lot, serial and expiration tracking is the feature that pushes small distributors, food and supplement sellers, medical suppliers and equipment dealers into an ERP they do not otherwise need. NetSuite sells it as part of a quoted annual license with per-user seats and an implementation project on top. Fishbowl lists its entry plan at a few hundred dollars a month, billed annually, with a required implementation package before you can use it. Either way you are paying for a general ledger, a project manager and a training calendar to get a lot number onto a pick ticket.
FloPay takes the other route. Orders, receiving, inventory, releases and the documents that go with them are part of the platform you already use to get paid, and lot, serial and expiration tracking is included free. There is no module to license, no seat count and no implementation fee. Turn tracking on per part and start receiving.
How It Works
Configure the part
Set each part to track by lot, expiration date, serial number or any combination. Untracked parts keep working exactly as before.
Receive
Type the lot and expiration date on the receipt line. For serialised parts, paste the serials one per line. Each lot opens its own stock row; each serial opens its own unit.
Pick and release
The release line shows every lot on hand with its expiration date and quantity. Allocate the order across lots, or pick the exact serials to ship, grouped by lot.
Trace
Every release records which lot and which serials left on each line. Look up a lot, a serial or an expiration date and see every shipment it touched.
What the System Enforces
On Receipt
- A lot-tracked part cannot be received without a lot; an expiration-tracked part cannot be received without a date
- A serial-tracked part is received in each, with exactly one serial per unit, no serial listed twice, and no serial that is already on the shelf
- A serial is unique per part. A lot keeps one expiration date; a second date for the same lot is refused with the date already on hand
- Lots and serials are matched case-insensitively, so A-2291 and a-2291 are one lot, not two stock rows that look identical
- Expiration dates are calendar dates, never timestamps, so the day on the box is the day in the system
On Release
- Release All refuses a tracked line with no lot or missing serials and names the part, before any stock moves
- Over-picking is refused per lot: "Only 3 of lot A-2291 on hand; the release asks for 5"
- A serial that was never received, or has already shipped, cannot ship
- One order line can draw from several lots; the split is recorded as separate release lines and the order still completes correctly
- Serialised units carry their own lot and expiration, so one line can ship serials from two lots
Stock You Can Correct and Audit
The Inventory grid shows a row per lot, with lot, expiration date, serial, location, unit of measure and quantity on hand. Sort by expiration date to see what is going out of date first, and hide the zero rows to see only what is on the shelf.
Receipts and releases are frozen once posted, so a lot typed wrong at the dock or a serial with a transposed digit is corrected on the stock row itself. The edit changes the labels, never the quantity, and cannot merge two rows or duplicate a serial. Quantity adjustments must name the lot they apply to. Every change to inventory, receipt lines and release lines is written to an audit trail with who, when and what changed, so the path from the receipt to the shelf to the shipment survives the correction.
FloPay vs the ERPs
| FloPay | NetSuite | Fishbowl | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lot number tracking | Included | Included in inventory module | Included |
| Serial number tracking | Included | Included in inventory module | Included |
| Expiration date tracking | Included | Included in inventory module | Included |
| Software cost | Free | Quoted annual license plus per-user seats | Monthly plans billed annually |
| Implementation | None required | Partner-led project, quoted separately | Required implementation package |
| Payments, invoicing, text to pay | Built in | Separate payments setup | Third-party integration |
| Right fit | Businesses that need traceability without an ERP | Multi-entity companies that need a full ERP | QuickBooks shops that outgrew spreadsheets |
Competitor pricing and packaging as published by the vendors and third-party pricing guides at the time of writing; confirm current terms with the vendor. NetSuite and Fishbowl are trademarks of their respective owners.
When a Recall Hits
A recall notice names a lot. The question is which customers got it, and the answer has to be fast and complete. Because each release line records the lot and the serials it shipped, FloPay can list every release that carried a given lot, serial or expiration date, with the customer and the date on each. The release history is filtered server-side, so the search is the same whether it runs in the app or in your own script against the API.
The same lookup answers the everyday questions too: which units did this customer receive, which lot is still on the shelf, and which serial went out on which pick ticket.
What It Does Not Do Yet
FloPay does not pretend to be a warehouse management system. Today the picker shows every lot on hand with its expiration date and lets you choose; it does not auto-assign first-expired-first-out, there is no barcode scanning in the receiving screen, and there are no automatic alerts when a lot is about to expire. If one of those is on your list, tell sales what you need. The data model is already in place for it.
Get lot and serial tracking without the ERP bill
Turn tracking on per part and start receiving. No license, no seats, no implementation project.
Talk to SalesFrequently Asked Questions
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Is lot, serial and expiration tracking really free?
Yes. It is part of the FloPay platform at no additional charge. There is no inventory module to license, no per-user fee and no implementation fee.
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Can one part be tracked by lot and serial at the same time?
Yes. Tracking is set per part and the options combine. A serialised unit is received under a lot and expiration date, and the serial picker groups units by lot when you ship.
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What can a lot number or serial look like?
Letters, digits, hyphen, period, underscore and slash, up to 50 characters with no spaces. That matches GS1 serials, Code 39 barcode labels and what NetSuite, Fishbowl, SAP and Odoo accept, so numbers exchange cleanly with suppliers and customers who use those systems.
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What happens to stock that was received before tracking was turned on?
It stays in an untracked row for the part and keeps working. New receipts open tracked rows. For a part switched to serial tracking, existing untracked quantity is adjusted to zero and re-received with its serials.
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Can I fix a lot or serial that was entered wrong?
Yes. Edit the labels on the stock row in Inventory. The quantity is untouched, the system refuses an edit that would duplicate a serial or merge two lots, and the change is recorded in the audit trail.
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Does this sync to QuickBooks?
Items, invoices and payments sync to QuickBooks Online as they do today. Lot and serial detail stays in FloPay; QuickBooks Online does not carry it.
Talk to Sales About Lot and Serial Tracking
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