The Stock List Writes Itself: From Bench to Buyer Without a Spreadsheet
What a buyer needs on a refurbished laptop stock list, why hand-typed lists cost you credits, and how reCore builds one from test records. Free sample file.
Most floors know the spreadsheet afternoon. The testing is done, the grades are on the stickers, and someone sits down to type 200 laptops into Excel for a buyer. Serial, model, RAM, storage, grade, battery. Then they group the identical ones into lots by hand.
It's slow, and it's where the mistakes come from. A 256 GB laptop listed as 512. A scratch on the lid that never made it into the notes. A battery at 48% that went out as "tested working". The buyer finds it, and you pay for it in a credit or in their next offer.
In reCore, nobody types that list. It builds itself from what the station already recorded.
- A buyer prices on lots, not units: identical machines grouped, with grade, condition, battery range, wipe status and defects.
- Typing that list by hand costs hours and causes the errors buyers claim credits for.
- reCore builds it from the station's test, grade and wipe records, in Excel, with a guide to your grades.
- Download a sample stock list built by reCore from made-up laptops.
1. What a buyer needs on a stock list
Whether you use reCore or not, a list a buyer can price without calling you has these:
| Part | Why the buyer needs it |
|---|---|
| Lots of identical machines | They price per lot. Same make, model, CPU, RAM, storage, screen and grade go together. |
| Grade and a separate condition | Grade is how it looks. Condition is how it works: tested working, working with a named fault, locked, or for parts. |
| Battery health, as a range | "72-98%" tells them the worst unit in the lot, not just the average. |
| Keyboard layout | US-style and UK or European keyboards sell into different markets. |
| Data wipe status | They need to know what was done to the drives before they resell. |
| Defects, counted | "Top: minor scratches (6)" beats "light wear". |
| What your grades mean | Your B and their B aren't the same unless you tell them. |
| Terms | Price or offers, how long the list is valid, collection and payment. |
And it should leave things out: where the machines came from. No customer names, asset tags or hostnames.
2. How reCore builds it
There's no step where someone copies data across. Each column comes from a record the floor already made.
| Column | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Serial, make, model, CPU, RAM, storage, screen, keyboard | The station reads them from the hardware |
| Battery health and cycles | The station's battery test, on every unit |
| Grade and defects | Grading at the bench, by your grading standard |
| Condition | Rules over the records: a failed test or a battery under your limit is a named fault; a BIOS password, Computrace or device management lock is "Locked" |
| Data Sanitization | Each drive's latest wipe record: verified, wiped but not verified, failed, not finished, or not wiped by reCore |
To make one, an admin opens the batch, picks Stock list, and chooses:
- Which batches go on it (one or several)
- Pricing: ask for offers per lot, name one price for the whole list, or both
- Terms: valid until, collection, payment. They're remembered from your last list.
- Battery limit for a fault (60% unless you change it), and whether to hide serials
Before anything is generated, reCore shows which machines will be left off and why: not finished, not graded, or sent to repair, recycling or hold by their outcome. Fix those or leave them, then generate.
3. What comes out
An Excel file with four sheets:
- Summary: units, lots and the share tested working; counts by model and by grade and condition; your terms.
- Lots: one line per lot, with quantity, specs, grade, condition, keyboard mix, battery range, wipe status and the most common defects. If you asked for offers, a "Your offer per unit" column and a lot total that works itself out.
- Units: every machine, with its serial (unless hidden), battery health, cycles and defects.
- Grade Guide: what each grade and condition means, in your words, so the buyer reads your list the way you do.
Here's the Lots sheet from our sample, built by reCore's own code from 66 made-up laptops:
Notice what the rules did on their own. Five Latitude 7490s with no defects are one lot; the ten with light wear are another. The laptop with a 49% battery is pulled into its own lot as "Working, minor fault", so it can't drag down the price of the good ones. The one with Computrace is marked Locked, and the cracked screen is For parts, both at the bottom.
Download the sample stock list (Excel) and open it the way a buyer would.
4. Where it stops
So you know before you rely on it:
- The wipe is reported, not enforced. Some floors wipe outside reCore, or later. The list shows each unit's wipe status and the buyer judges; it doesn't hide unwiped machines.
- Excel only. No CSV or PDF version yet.
- Admins only. Technicians can't generate or price a list.
- Only finished, graded machines go on it. That's deliberate: a half-processed laptop on a buyer's list is the error this exists to stop.
When the lot leaves, a shipping list is built the same way: what's in the shipment, line by line, with every serial on an enclosed manifest.
Conclusion
The spreadsheet afternoon isn't part of the job. It's a copy of work the floor already did, and every copy is a chance to get it wrong. In reCore the list a buyer sees is built from the same records that proved each machine works, so they can't disagree.
The stock list is in every plan, at no extra cost. See pricing, or start a free trial: 14 days, no card.
Sources
- Stock list rules, columns and options: reCore's stock list builder and dashboard, checked in code on 2026-10-21.
- The sample file and the image above were generated by that builder from invented laptops (serials start SAMPLE-). They are not a customer's data.
Frequently asked questions
What should a refurbished laptop stock list include?
For each lot: quantity, make, model, CPU, RAM, storage, screen, grade, a working condition, keyboard layout, battery health as a range, the data wipe status and the defects. Add a short guide to what your grades and conditions mean, and your terms: price or offers, how long the list is valid, collection and payment.
Does reCore's stock list need any typing?
No. Specs, serials and battery health come from the station's hardware tests, the grade and defects from grading, and the wipe status from the wipe records. When you generate a list you only choose its options: which batches, pricing, terms and whether to show serials.
Does the stock list show where the machines came from?
No. It never shows asset tags, hostnames, batch, customer or technician names, whatever options you pick. Serial numbers can be hidden too.
Can a buyer send offers back in the file?
Yes. If you ask for offers, the Lots sheet gets a 'Your offer per unit' column. The buyer fills it in and sends the file back, and each lot's total works itself out. You can also name one price for the whole list, or both.
What format is the stock list?
An Excel file with four sheets: Summary, Lots, Units and Grade Guide. A shipping list with a full serial manifest can be built the same way when the lot leaves.
reCore Diagnostics Group
OfficialHardware Triage & Quality Assurance
Hardware engineers analyzing Apple Silicon, PC OEM firmware telemetry, battery degradation chemistry, and cosmetic defect standards.
Make your grade mean one thing
Write your grading standard once. Every station asks its questions and suggests the same grade for the same answers.
Related Guides & Research
Continue exploring compliance standards, firmware sanitization, and hardware diagnostics.
Windows 11 Ready? Check Every Refurbished Laptop Before You List It
How to tell which used laptops can run Windows 11, which need only a BIOS setting, and which can't, without installing Windows. Plus a free sample stock list.
Laptop Grading Criteria: Same Scratch, Same Grade (Free Template)
Free laptop grading criteria template: 45 defects across 7 parts, the rules that turn them into A, B, C, D or For parts, and an Excel sheet that works out the grade.
Your Grade A Could Be Someone Else's Grade B
No common grading scale exists for used laptops, and one floor can grade the same scratch two ways. Why grades drift, and how to make one mean one thing.
Stay Ahead in Data Sanitization & ITAD Compliance
Join enterprise IT managers and electronics refurbishers receiving our monthly technical standards breakdowns, NIST/R2v3 audit tips, and benchmark releases.