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Inventory Management

Warehouse Management

NetSuite Bin Management: Turning On Bins, Preferred Bins and Bin Transfers

Sherman Hsieh
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NetSuite Bin Management: Turning On Bins, Preferred Bins and Bin Transfers

Last updated: November 3, 2026 · Independent guide · We do not sell rankings or coverage.

NetSuite bin management tracks on-hand stock by shelf or rack position inside a location, so receipts, picking tickets and fulfillments show where each item sits. NetSuite has two bin features: basic Bin Management, where items must be linked to bins before use, and Advanced Bin / Numbered Inventory Management, which adds lot and serial items, per-location bins and bins that need no item link. This guide covers which to choose, the setup order, preferred bins, putaway worksheets, bin transfers and when you need a WMS.

Before you start

  • Features: The Inventory feature must be on before Bin Management. Lot Tracking and Serialized Inventory are needed only if you want bins on lot or serial items (Oracle, no date shown).
  • Locations: If you use Multi-Location Inventory, decide which locations will use bins. Basic Bin Management forces bins at every location; the advanced feature lets you choose per location (Oracle, no date shown).
  • Integrations: List the SuiteScript and SOAP integrations that touch inventory transactions. Oracle warns that scripts written for basic Bin Management stop working when you enable the advanced feature, and that SOAP code must be updated (Oracle, no date shown).
  • Bin naming: Agree a naming convention and label plan before you create records; see our bin location system guide.

Basic Bin Management vs Advanced Bin / Numbered Inventory Management

Administrators often call the basic feature “Use Bins”, but Use Bins is the checkbox on item and location records; the feature is Bin Management (Oracle, no date shown).

Area Basic Bin Management Advanced Bin / Numbered Inventory Management
Item-to-bin link Required before a bin can be used on a transaction Optional; any bin can hold any item
Lot and serial items Not supported Supported, with quantities per lot or serial number in each bin
Multi-location Bins in all locations or none Use Bins set per location
Bin entry on transactions Bin and quantity typed in the line Inventory Detail subrecord on each line
Required for NetSuite WMS Yes, as a prerequisite Yes, as a prerequisite

Sources: Oracle’s Advanced Bin / Numbered Inventory Management and Enabling Features for NetSuite WMS pages, no date shown. Choose the advanced feature from the start if you stock lot or serial items, need bins at only some locations or may add NetSuite WMS.

Step 1: Enable the bin features

Go to Setup > Company > Enable Features and open the Items & Inventory subtab. Check Bin Management, and also Advanced Bin / Numbered Inventory Management if you chose the advanced feature, then click Save (Oracle, no date shown).

If you already use Lot Tracking or Serialized Inventory, existing lot and serial items are not placed in bins automatically, so assign them at once with the putaway worksheet (Step 6). Oracle also states that the advanced feature cannot be disabled once you have entered a transaction for a lot or serial item that uses bins (Oracle, no date shown).

Step 2: Set the two bin preferences

Go to Setup > Accounting > Preferences > Accounting Preferences and open the Items/Transactions subtab (Oracle, no date shown):

  • Use Preferred Bin on Item Receipts: When checked, the bin on an item receipt defaults to the item’s preferred bin. When cleared, the field stays blank and stock waits for the putaway worksheet.
  • Require Bins on All Transactions Except Item Receipts: When checked, any transaction that changes inventory for a bin item needs a bin to save. When cleared, NetSuite still requires bins on cash sales, item fulfillments and negative adjustments, but not on purchases or positive adjustments.

Default to the preferred bin if receivers put stock straight into fixed pick faces. Leave it blank if goods go to staging and are put away later from the worksheet.

Step 3: Turn on Use Bins at each location (advanced only)

With Multi-Location Inventory and the advanced feature, open each location at Setup > Company > Locations and check Use Bins on the locations that hold binned stock (Oracle, no date shown).

Step 4: Create bin records

Create one record per physical position at Lists > Supply Chain > Bins > New. Enter a unique Bin Number, select the Location if you use Multi-Location Inventory, and add a Memo if useful. The location cannot be changed after you save, and NetSuite sets no limit on the number of bins (Oracle, no date shown).

For more than a few dozen bins, use Setup > Import/Export > Import Tasks > Import CSV Records with the Bin record type. Bin Number is required, plus Location when Multi-Location Inventory is on; Type, Sequence Number and Zone are importable only when Warehouse Management is enabled (Oracle, no date shown).

Make bin numbers sort in the order pickers walk. Oracle’s examples use AA01 for basic bins and A1-01-01 (aisle, pallet position, level) for WMS bins.

Step 5: Turn on Use Bins on items and set preferred bins

Go to Lists > Accounting > Items, edit the item, and on the Purchasing/Inventory subtab check Use Bins. On the Bin Numbers subtab, select a bin, check Preferred (Per Location) for the default bin, click Add, then Save (Oracle, no date shown).

You can set one preferred bin per location. NetSuite uses it by default on receiving and fulfilling transactions and on the putaway worksheet. With basic Bin Management every binned item needs at least one bin on the subtab. For bulk changes, Oracle’s Bin Import page says Use Bins, the Bin Numbers sublist and the Preferred flag can be set through an Items import.

On transactions, NetSuite uses the preferred bin if it holds enough, then any single bin that covers the quantity; otherwise the user splits the quantity across bins. These rules do not apply to lot or serial items (Oracle, no date shown).

Step 6: Put existing stock into bins with the Bin Putaway Worksheet

Stock on hand before go-live is in no bin and, with the advanced feature, is excluded from bin-level counts (Oracle, no date shown). Load opening balances at Transactions > Inventory > Bin Putaway Worksheet (Oracle, no date shown):

  1. Set the Date and, with Multi-Location Inventory, the Location.
  2. Click Print Putaway List if staff work from paper (Oracle, no date shown).
  3. Basic: accept the preferred bin, or type bins with quantities, for example A101(50), A102(43).
  4. Advanced: click the Inventory Detail icon, choose the serial or lot number if any, select the bin, enter the quantity, click Add for each bin, then OK.
  5. Click Save. NetSuite adjusts on-hand bin quantities.

Work location by location, straight after a physical count.

Step 7: Receive and put away day to day

After go-live, use the putaway worksheet for receipts, adjustments and transfers saved without a bin (Oracle, no date shown). Anchor Group, a NetSuite partner that sells consulting services, recommends that the inbound manager make sure the worksheet is empty at the end of every day (Anchor Group, September 17, 2026). See our warehouse receiving process guide for the dock steps around it.

When an item needs several bins, the picking ticket lists the preferred bin first (Oracle, no date shown). If a picker takes stock from a different bin, correct the bin on the item fulfillment or bin balances drift.

Step 8: Move stock between bins with bin transfers

Use Transactions > Inventory > Bin Transfer to move stock between bins in the same location, for example from overflow racking to a pick face (Oracle, no date shown). Select the date, location and item. With basic bins, enter From Bins and To Bins as text such as 101 (5), and the To Bins total must equal the quantity. With advanced bins, enter the quantity and use Inventory Detail to pick the lot or serial number, the source Bin and the destination in To Bins.

A bin transfer has no GL impact. Oracle says it does not post to the chart of accounts. Stock can only move from bins it is already in, and moves between locations need an inventory transfer. For large re-slots, bin transfers can be imported through the CSV Import Assistant (Oracle, no date shown).

As an illustration, moving 60 of 120 units of item AB-200 from overflow bin R-04-02 to pick face A-01-03 leaves location on-hand at 120 and posts nothing to the ledger.

Common mistakes and how to fix them

  • Enabling advanced bins with live scripts. Integrations written for basic bins stop working. Fix them in the sandbox to use the Inventory Detail subrecord before you switch on the feature in production.
  • Bin balances that do not match location totals. These usually come from stock never put away or fulfillments saved with the wrong bin. Clear the worksheet and correct differences with an adjustment that names the bin; our NetSuite inventory adjustment guide covers posting accounts and approvals.
  • Removing bins that still hold stock. Oracle says to clear on-hand bin quantities before you remove bins from an item, or they reappear with their old bin assignments when Use Bins is checked again. Empty the bin with a bin transfer or an adjustment first.
  • Turning Use Bins off and on repeatedly. Oracle says on-hand stock left in bins does not become available for fulfillment when you clear Use Bins, and toggling the setting can cause quantity discrepancies (Oracle, no date shown). Close pending transactions and clear bin quantities with adjustments first.

A NetSuite saved search on bin on-hand quantities is the easiest way to find bins with stock before you make any of these changes.

Limitations of the native feature

  • Quantity only. Oracle says only on-hand quantity is tracked per bin. Costing is not calculated per bin, and available, committed, backordered and ordered quantities are not tracked per bin (Oracle, no date shown).
  • No directed putaway. It defaults to the preferred bin. Putaway strategies that suggest bins by zone and putaway sequence come with NetSuite WMS.
  • No bin types or zones. Zones, bin types such as Inbound Staging or Picking, putaway sequence and replenishment min and max fields come with Warehouse Management (Oracle, no date shown).
  • Desktop entry. Putaway, transfers and picks are keyed into NetSuite forms, so accuracy depends on staff recording what they did.
  • Preferred-bin logic skips lot and serial items. Users choose bins for numbered items by hand.

When companies add NetSuite WMS or a third-party tool

Native bins suit a small team with a stable item range. Distributors usually outgrow them when they need handheld scanning, directed putaway, wave picking or bin replenishment.

NetSuite WMS is Oracle’s add-on module. It requires both bin features plus other features including Multi-Location Inventory, Advanced Inventory Management, Multiple Units of Measure and Advanced Shipping, and NetSuite Customer Support must provision it if the feature is missing (Oracle, no date shown). Its putaway strategies match item fields such as ABC velocity, then list preferred bins first, followed by bins sorted by zone and putaway sequence (Oracle, no date shown). Oracle lists mobile RF scanning, picking strategies and wave release, and prices WMS within the annual subscription without publishing a figure (Oracle NetSuite, NetSuite WMS, no date shown).

Third-party scanning and warehouse apps built for NetSuite, such as RF-SMART, are the other route. RF-SMART, which sells NetSuite warehouse software, says a no-bin setup can suit a business whose items are all barcoded, few in number, rarely changed and grouped the way they are ordered (RF-SMART, June 17, 2015). Compare mobile workflows and lot and serial handling against NetSuite WMS, and request a quote from each, since Oracle does not publish a WMS price.

How we researched this

We used Oracle’s NetSuite Online Help pages for each feature, preference, record and transaction named above, checked on November 3, 2026; those pages show no publication date. We read the top search results for “netsuite bin management”: Oracle help and blogs from Folio3, Anchor Group and RF-SMART, which sell NetSuite services or software. None covered the advanced feature’s reversibility limit, bin transfer imports and WMS prerequisites together. We have no commercial relationship with Oracle or any partner named here.

Related guides

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Bin Management and Advanced Bin Management in NetSuite?

Basic Bin Management requires each item to be linked to its bins, does not support lot or serial items, and applies bins to every location. Advanced Bin / Numbered Inventory Management supports lot and serial items, lets you turn bins on per location and lets any bin hold any item.

Can I turn off Advanced Bin Management after enabling it?

Oracle says the advanced feature cannot be disabled once you have entered a transaction for a lot or serial item that uses bins. Where it can be disabled, Oracle says you can turn it off before basic Bin Management, and to close pending bin transactions and clear bin quantities before you disable bins.

How do I set a preferred bin for an item in NetSuite?

Edit the item, check Use Bins on the Purchasing/Inventory subtab, add the bin on the Bin Numbers subtab and check Preferred (Per Location). You can have one preferred bin per location, and NetSuite defaults to it on receipts, fulfillments and the putaway worksheet.

Do I need NetSuite WMS to use bins?

No. Both bin features are standard NetSuite features. NetSuite WMS is an add-on that requires both and adds zones, bin types, strategies and mobile scanning.

Sources

Sherman Hsieh

CEO & Editor-in-Chief, Business-Software.com
Independent analysis of enterprise software — ERP, CRM and more
Sherman Hsieh is the founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief of Business-Software.com. He leads the site's independent, buyer-focused coverage of ERP, CRM, and other business systems, including vendor-neutral comparisons, pricing analysis, and implementation guidance. Before founding Business-Software.com, Sherman was an executive at Siebel ...

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