IMEI Record Keeping for Mobile Shops

In a grocery store, one packet of biscuits is the same as the next. In a mobile shop, no two phones are the same. Each handset has its own IMEI, its own PTA status, its own warranty and, once sold, its own customer. A shop that records stock only as “Samsung A15, 6 pieces” cannot answer the questions that matter: which unit did this customer buy, when, at what price, and is its warranty still running?

Good IMEI records protect you in three situations: when a customer comes back with a warranty claim, when someone offers to sell you a used phone, and when the police or a customer asks where a phone came from.

What the IMEI is

According to Wikipedia’s IMEI article, the IMEI is a 15-digit number that identifies a mobile device; the last digit is a check digit calculated with the Luhn formula. Dual-SIM phones normally have two IMEI numbers. You can see it on most phones by dialling *#06#, in the phone’s settings, and on the box and the device itself.

The check digit is useful at the counter. A mistyped IMEI almost always fails the check, so software can warn you about a typing error before it goes into your records. A number that fails the check on a real device is a reason to look more closely at that phone.

Networks also use the IMEI to block devices. Wikipedia notes that if a phone is stolen, the owner can ask their network to blocklist it by IMEI, which makes it useless on that network even with a new SIM. For a shop, that means a stolen phone you buy and resell can stop working in your customer’s hands, and the customer will come back to you.

Check status with PTA DIRBS

In Pakistan, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority runs DIRBS, its device identification, registration and blocking system. The DIRBS site says you can check a device’s status by sending each 15-digit IMEI by SMS to 8484, and it offers a DIRBS DVS app for the same check. For dual-SIM phones, check both IMEIs. Registration of devices is done through the DIRBS site, the USSD code *8484# or a mobile operator’s franchise centre, as listed on the same page.

Make the DIRBS check a habit at three points: when stock arrives, before you buy any used phone, and before you hand over a phone a customer is collecting after a long hold. Note the result and the date in your records. Read the PTA approved glossary entry for what the term means for a shop.

Warranty claims

When a customer returns with a fault, look up the IMEI first. Your records should tell you in seconds whether you sold that phone, on which date, to whom, and how much warranty is left. If the phone was not sold by you, or the warranty has ended, you can say so politely and show the record. If it was repaired by you before, the repair has its own warranty, separate from the original sale.

Without IMEI records, every claim becomes an argument about memory.

Profit per handset, not per model

Prices of phones move often, and you may buy the same model at different costs over a month. Averages hide this. For example, you buy one unit of a model at 58,000 rupees and a later unit at 61,000 rupees, and sell both at 62,500 rupees. Your profit is 4,500 rupees on the first and 1,500 rupees on the second. If the second unit sat on the shelf for two months, its real return is even lower. Recording cost and sale price by IMEI shows the true profit of each phone and warns you when a model is no longer worth stocking.

Days on the shelf matters too. A phone that has not sold in 60 days is cash you cannot use for faster-moving stock, and its market price is probably falling.

Mistakes to avoid

• Recording only the model and quantity, so no sale can be traced to a unit.
• Typing IMEIs by hand without a check, so records hold wrong numbers.
• Buying used phones without a CNIC copy and a written slip.
• Skipping the DIRBS check because the seller is a regular.
• Not recording the warranty start date on the bill.

How Nafaa helps

In Nafaa’s mobile shop setup, phones are added to stock by IMEI, one by one or in bulk, with a warning when an IMEI’s check digit does not match. The IMEI stock list shows each phone’s variant, PTA status, days on the shelf, cost and sale price, and for sold phones the bill, customer and warranty left. At the counter the cashier scans or picks the exact IMEI, which prints on the receipt. An IMEI check looks up one number’s history in the shop, including new sales, buy-backs with the seller’s CNIC and repairs, for warranty claims and before buying a phone in. Used phones are taken in with the seller’s CNIC, IMEI, PTA status, condition and accessories, and can be used as a trade-in payment at the counter. The profit report shows profit by model and per IMEI, and instalment plans are tracked in the khata.