Writing for the repair trade
Practical writing on the parts of running a shop that are genuinely fiddly — VAT on second-hand devices, stock that matches the shelf, and paperwork that agrees with the money.
“Where is my phone?” — the call you can stop taking
The commonest question a repair shop is asked has the same answer every time, and a person has to find it first. It does not have to be a person.
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Ordering from a supplier who is already in the system
Every purchase order gets typed twice: once by you, once by them. Everything that goes wrong afterwards starts with that second typing.
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Your staff already carry a barcode scanner
The second till never gets a scanner, because a scanner is eighty pounds you have not spent. Everyone behind the counter is already holding one.
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Who is allowed to give a discount?
Most shops answer that question with trust. Trust is not a control — and the difference shows up in the month's margin, not on the day it happens.
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Counting stock without closing the shop
A stocktake fails for boring reasons: it takes a day you don't have, and the till keeps selling while you count. Both are solvable.
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Getting the VAT margin scheme right on used devices
A plain-English walk-through of margin VAT for second-hand phones — what it taxes, why it is one sixth and not 20%, and the mistakes that cost shops the scheme.
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Why IMEI-level stock beats a quantity count
Tracking each handset as its own record changes what you can see, sell and trust on the shelf — and it is the only way per-item margin VAT ever adds up.
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Purchase orders, receiving, and the gap in between
Why booking stock in against the order you raised is what stops a short delivery quietly becoming your problem — and your loss.
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Bring us the job that always goes wrong
Thirty minutes on your own repair and stock workflow — the part-paid repair, the traded-in handset, the month that never balances.