Scanning to pick
Use a phone or tablet camera to scan barcodes, SKUs, and bin labels straight onto a pick list. No handheld scanner to buy.
What scanning does
Open a pick list, tap Scan to pick, and point your camera at a barcode. BinTech reads the code, finds the matching line on that pick list, and ticks it as picked. It runs in the browser on any phone or tablet, so a picker can work from the device already in their pocket instead of a dedicated scanner gun.
Scanning is available on every plan, including Free. It works in two places: the pick list detail page inside the Shopify admin, and the public pick link you can share with staff who do not have Shopify access.
What a scan matches
A single scanned code can point at more than one thing, so BinTech resolves it in a fixed order and stops at the first tier that hits. This keeps the behavior predictable when a barcode value happens to look like a SKU or a bin name.
- Barcode. If the scanned value matches a variant barcode on the pick list, that wins.
- SKU. If nothing matched on barcode, BinTech tries the SKU field next.
- Bin. If neither matched, it checks whether the value is a bin name on the list, which lets a picker scan the shelf label instead of the product.
When one scan matches several items
Sometimes a scan lands on more than one open line. Two different products can share a bin, or the same SKU can appear on the list twice. Rather than guess which line you meant, BinTech shows the matches and lets you choose.
- Scan the bin label or SKU. If two or more unpicked lines match, a panel opens listing each one.
- Tick the lines you actually picked. Everything that matched is selected by default, so you can deselect the odd one out instead of hunting for the right row.
- Confirm. BinTech marks only the lines you kept selected and leaves the rest open.
When a scan matches exactly one open line and that line needs more than one unit, BinTech asks whether to pick the full quantity in one go or just a single unit. When it matches one line of quantity one, it picks it outright with no extra tap.
Reading the feedback
The scanner gives you three signals so you are not left guessing whether a code was read.
- Tracking box
- A box tracks the barcode while it sits in frame, the way a phone camera highlights a QR code. It tells you the camera has locked onto something before you commit to the scan.
- Green flash
- The code matched a line on this pick list. The matching line is ticked, and a banner confirms what was picked and how it matched (by barcode, SKU, or bin).
- Red flash
- BinTech read the code cleanly but it is not on this pick list. This is the difference between "I did not scan anything" and "I scanned a real code that does not belong here", which usually means the picker grabbed the wrong item.
Scanning on the public pick link
Every pick list has a shareable public URL for staff who work outside the Shopify admin, on a warehouse tablet or their own phone. The scanner behaves exactly the same there: open the link, tap Scan to pick, and the camera resolves codes and ticks lines without anyone signing in.
Manual entry and wedge scanners
Under the camera there is a plain text field. Anything typed there runs through the same matching as a camera scan, so it doubles as a fallback when the light is poor and as an input for hardware. A Bluetooth or USB wedge scanner that types the code and sends Enter will drop its value straight into that field and resolve it the same way.
Printing labels to scan
Scanning only helps if the shelf and the product carry codes a camera can read. BinTech prints Code128 labels for both bins and SKUs from the Bins and Products pages.
- Pick which labels to print, so you can reprint a single bin without wasting a sheet.
- Set how many copies of each, for a bin face that needs a label at both ends.
- Every label comes out at one fixed size, so a sheet prints predictably no matter how long the bin name or SKU is.