How to choose software for a book depot in Pakistan: a checklist

A general shop POS can bill a book. What it usually cannot do is keep last year's edition apart from this year's, bill a whole class list in one go, hold a parent's advance for a book that has not arrived, or send unsold copies back to a publisher and follow the claim until the credit note comes. Those are the things that decide whether a book depot's records agree with its shelves at the end of the school season.

This checklist is what we would ask of any software, ours included, before a book depot or stationery shop moves its counter onto it. Each question says why it matters and what a good answer looks like. At the end is how BooksPOS answers each one today.

The checklist

1. Does billing carry on without internet?

In most towns the internet and the electricity both come and go. Software that needs the internet to print a bill stops the counter in the busiest hour. Ask where the shop's records are kept and what happens to billing, returns and khata when the connection drops. A good answer: the shop's own PC keeps the records and bills on its own, and anything sent to the cloud goes later.

2. Is every edition its own item, and are ISBNs checked?

Schools change books every year. If the 2025 and 2026 editions of the same title share one stock figure, the shop sells the wrong one, or finds out at the end of the season that half its stock is an edition nobody wants. Ask whether each edition is a separate item with its own price and stock, and whether a mistyped ISBN is refused instead of saved. More about both in keeping book editions apart and ISBN check digits explained.

3. Can it bill a school's class list in one go?

In March and April a depot sells the same set of books and copies to hundreds of parents. Ask whether the software keeps each school's list per class and session, lets the cashier leave out what the child already has, and shows what to buy before the rush.

4. Can it hold a parent's advance, and books still owed?

A parent pays for the whole set, and two titles are still with the publisher. Ask whether the software records the advance as money held for the parent, not as a sale, and keeps a list of what is still owed to whom.

5. Can stationery be sold by the piece, dozen and box?

A box of pencils holds 12 and a ream holds 500 sheets. Ask whether each item can have its own pack sizes, a price and a barcode for each pack, and whether selling a box and then a single piece keeps stock exact.

6. Does it handle publisher returns and consignment?

Ask whether books sent back to a publisher are recorded as a claim at the price paid, settled against the publisher's credit note, and whether books taken on sale or return are owed only when sold.

7. Is khata more than a notebook?

Ask for credit limits per customer, a statement a school or shop can be given, and a list of who owes what and for how long.

8. Can several counters bill the same stock?

In the season one counter is not enough. Ask whether a second PC bills against the same stock, so two cashiers cannot both sell the last copy, and what happens when the main PC is off.

9. Is FBR POS integration there if you need it?

Not every book depot has to report its sales to FBR. Ask your tax adviser whether yours does. If it does, ask whether the software reports every bill and return to FBR, prints FBR's invoice number and QR code on the receipt, and keeps bills made while the internet was down until they can be sent.

10. Can you get your data out, and back?

Ask whether reports and lists can be saved as Excel or CSV, whether backups are taken every day without anyone remembering, whether they are encrypted, and whether the shop can restore them on a new PC without calling anyone.

11. Who can do what?

Ask whether each person signs in as themselves, whether a cashier needs a manager's approval for a large discount or a void, and whether every such action is recorded with a name and a time.

12. How does your current item list get in?

Nobody types thousands of titles again. Ask whether items, customers and suppliers with their balances can be imported from Excel, and whether every row is checked before anything is saved.

How BooksPOS answers the checklist today

Common questions

Is a general retail POS good enough for a book depot?

It can bill, but put questions 2 to 6 above to it first. Editions, class lists, advances and publisher returns are what a book depot's season depends on, and they are the questions to press hardest.

Should the software run in the cloud or on the shop's PC?

For billing, on the shop's PC, so the counter never waits for the internet. The cloud is best for the owner's view from anywhere and for a copy of the figures off the premises. BooksPOS does both: the store PC bills, and the owner portal shows each branch's sales with the time it last reported.

How long does it take to move a shop onto new software?

Most of the time goes into cleaning the item list and counting stock, not into the software. Pick one closing date, import items, customers and suppliers as of that date, and start billing the next morning. The getting started guide has a first-day checklist.

What does BooksPOS cost?

The plans and their prices, in rupees, are on the pricing page. The Cloud edition is paid monthly or yearly; an Offline licence is paid once, with no yearly fee. There is no setup fee.