Auto Parts POS: Part Numbers, Fitments and Mechanic Accounts
An auto parts shop is really a lookup business. The stock is thousands of part numbers, many differing by one character, and getting the wrong one is not an inconvenience — it is a returned part and a lost afternoon. On top of that, most of the turnover goes out to mechanics on account.
The Auto parts preset is set up for exactly those two.
What the auto parts preset switches on
- Sizes & colours — used here for fitments and sizes: one part with its variants underneath.
Credit sales are on, and the till is set to search. Nobody finds a part by scrolling tiles.
Exact lookup, on purpose
Every step of a barcode scan in GOF POS is exact — the product's own barcode first, then its code. There is deliberately no fuzzy matching, because in this category a near match is a different part that will be fitted to a car and brought back.
Text search covers name, code and brand, so a mechanic calling out a part number or a description both work. Products carry a brand field and a description, which is where cross-reference numbers usually live.
Variants for fitments
The same component often exists in a range — sizes, sides, model years. Variants keep those under one parent so the catalogue stays readable, while each variant carries its own stock, barcode and price. The sale records the exact variant, so "how many of the 1300cc ones are left" is a real number.
Reports show variants separately by default, which is what you need for reordering, with an optional roll-up for the part's total.
Mechanic accounts
Workshops take parts through the week and settle later, sometimes partially. Each mechanic is a customer with a ledger: every bill, every payment, and the running balance. Payments are recorded against the customer, so clearing four bills with one amount is a single entry.
Credit limits are enforced at the till. A limit of zero means no limit, so nothing changes until you set a ceiling on somebody who needs one.
Returns, which are constant here
Wrong part is the everyday return in this trade. A sale return records what came back and settles as refund, store credit or exchange, taking price and cost from the original sale line rather than from today's price list.
You can set a return window in days. Zero means no window — returns are not switched off — so the rule only applies once you choose one.
Parts also go back to distributors. Purchase returns take the goods off the shelf and credit the supplier's ledger, with the balance stated as a direction in words rather than a bare minus sign.
Buying: the order, the delivery and the bill
Distributor orders arrive in pieces. GOF POS keeps the order separate from the delivery: a purchase order books no stock, and stock moves only when you record what actually turned up. A bill for 100 of which 60 arrived shows 40 still expected, and a second delivery against the same order is a second receipt rather than an edit.
Once goods have been received against an order, the order's lines are locked — the correction path for a delivery that happened is a return, not a rewrite of the paperwork.
Getting started
Setup takes about ten minutes. When you sign up you pick Auto parts as your business type, and GOF POS switches on the features above for you — no configuration screens to hunt through, no consultant. If something in the preset does not suit you, every switch is yours to change afterwards in Settings → Business type.
The app runs on Windows, macOS and Linux for the counter, and on Android and iOS for stock checks and quick sales on the move. The desktop till keeps working when the internet does not, and syncs when it comes back.
See pricing or download GOF POS and try it on a real day's trading.
