Home › Forums › Storage Solutions › Time to get your items inventoried! Sigh…
- This topic has 21 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 2 years, 9 months ago by
T-Satt.
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06/16/2017 at 8:16 pm #19496
I have been selling on ebay for many years, mostly as a hobby but in the recent year I have turned it in to a full time job. Today I sold an item and could not find it, this is only the 2nd item in many years. I have recently started the journey of doing inventory but have not completed my mission as of yet. My husband and I went through every un-inventoried bin twice or thrice to no avail. I feel mostly disappointed in myself for not having everything inventoried yet. For those of you thinking of having an inventory system (Ryann and Jay) 🙂 , why not start now. Do one bin a day, one box a day, one self a day. Whatever floats your boat. We are hoping once we are doing with all the inventory we can depend on someone to send the item while we are on vacation. Glad to have this forum to be able to come and whine….just for a moment.
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06/17/2017 at 7:47 am #19502
Yes, missing an item is very frustrating since it means a failure of inventory. We will be numbering stuff soon. It’s on our list.
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07/09/2017 at 11:27 pm #20169
Anonymous
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I have bankers boxes all labeled 001 to 099
Plus I have a few bookcases and each shelf is labeled A to Z and AA to ZZ when I get more.I made 1 x 1 labels on my DYMO printer .. it will auto print in sequence 001, 002, 003 to infinity.
I assign each item a SKU.
So if I list a camera .. the SKU might be 027-657 .. that would be box #27 and the item has the sticker 657 on it. (removable labels)
A book might be BB-231 .. shelf BB and on the book binding it has the removable label 231
It not only makes it easy to find things, but eliminates shipping errors, especially for similar items.
Multi piece items or lots I bag first – they get one label too.
Then the icing on the cake is to customize the MANAGE ORDERS AWAITING SHIPMENT page –
I add the SKU field to the listing..Now it’s simple to find stuff.
On higher value items I might also add something like Q80 to the SKU.. telling me I paid 80$ for it…
I have the option to add SKU to shipping labels set to OFF
It works *GREAT*
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07/11/2017 at 4:27 pm #20271
@theMezz – Like your system, I have a similar system but use Ziploc bags for everything – do you have the part number of the Dymo labels you use? I have tried other labels in the past, but they leave residue and switched back to the bags which are obviously more expensive.
Another thing I do is for items I 100% know will sell, I just pack them up in a box/envelope and write the code on the box/envelope where I would add the shipping label. Saves a lot of time as well when you need to ship in a pinch.
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07/11/2017 at 7:32 pm #20281
Anonymous
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I use these labels and set my dymo to number them in sequence
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07/12/2017 at 1:32 pm #20312
Thanks! I have ordered some and will give them a try.
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07/12/2017 at 5:32 pm #20315
Anonymous
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I fold the top over a tiny bit
that makes then really easy to remove before shipping
sometimes I just leave them on too -
02/07/2018 at 12:55 pm #32426
Regardless of which method you use to enter the location in the listing, the key is to get started.
Contrary to what you may think, you don’t have to do it all at once. I would start with new items as you list them. Put the location code in the listing with the other information. I generally have a plastic tote next to me, when I’m listing. As I list the item, I place it in the tote, which is numbered. Every new listing, needs to get inventoried now for the system to work.
Later, when I notice a half filled numbered tote, I’ll bring it in the house with me and fill it as I list.
If you have other unnumbered totes, filled with listed items, don’t sweat it, just don’t fill those up until you’re ready to inventory what’s left in them. This will usually happen when you are down to 2 or 3 items in the tote. Then, it’s no big deal to inventory them. Before you know it you’ll have more numbered totes than unnumbered ones.
To this day, I still have a couple of unnumbered totes, one is full of maps and the other shot glasses. It’s not worth it yet, to inventory what’s left, but all new map listings and shot glasses get inventoried and placed in new bins.
It sounds crazy, but having unrelated goods stored together, makes it easier to find what you are looking for, when it’s time to ship. Of course use common sense, don’t store bowling balls and wine glasses together.
Just changing the way you currently list will eventually get all your items inventoried.
Good Luck.
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02/07/2018 at 1:55 pm #32432
I think it makes sense too to think outside the big bins. After hunting and losing a couple of small things, I bought some (used, thrifted) smaller plastic bins to keep very small items in. I also have a filing system for loose paper items.
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11/09/2018 at 11:38 pm #51467
I just came here to complain I lost a clothing item. I listed it 2 years ago and I think it got tossed in a purge. I canceled it, which is so annoying. I keep a good system, but crap happens on occassion.
I am thinking about doing a reverse inventory audit – going through the bins and checking if they are listed. I usually go through my active listings and check the SKU, and then physically go look at the item.
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11/10/2018 at 10:36 am #51474
I don’t label my shelves, I label my items. I created categories and assigned a letter to them, then printed labels in alpha-numeric sequence: A1; A2; A3, etc. I only have about 6 categories, so it’s not overwhelming. I print out the letter page size label page, which has 30 labels per page, and keep them in one of those slip-in-sheet plastic books at my listing table. Each item I list gets a number slapped on it which goes into my SKU field. The items are then stored by the alpha reference (all A items together, all F items together) and the bins labeled with the sequence. So the first bin has A1 to A36, for example. When bins run low in the same alpha sequence, I combine them and just relabel the bin.
Using this system, I don’t have to think about anything at all. The label pages are pre-printed, so I don’t have to remember the last number. The shelves aren’t numbered, I don’t have to remember where they go, or change the numbering sequence if I move shelves around. A simple piece of packing tape slapped onto the front of the plastic storage totes or drawer has the number scrawled in Sharpie, and a new piece of tape slapped over it if I need to change the numbering.
As a person with severe ADHD, this is the easiest, no-brains-needed system I could come up with and it has worked for me now for two years. Not a single item lost yet – touch wood!
Also, if I ever want to check inventory bc I don’t trust eBay, I can do it by alpha category (e.g. all the A items) or within a group in an alpha category. For example, the other day I wanted to check my projector listings against what I actually have in stock. The projectors are all listed in the range F145 to F156. So I just needed to count up what I had in that range, and then compare to eBay. It’s such a simple system, but it really works.
A final advantage – I never send the wrong item because EVERY item has its own unique SKU. So if I have two identical black shoes, or two pairs of same brand shoe but one is navy and one is black/one is size 7 and one is size 8, each one has its own SKU.
The only mistake I have made to date was sending two caps to one person because I was rushing and not paying attention when I picked them up. That wasn’t an inventory error, it was an ID ten T error.
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11/12/2018 at 10:29 am #51514
Totally love this topic!
We use unique SKU numbers for every listing, then a dash, then the location at the end. We are in the 13000 series of numbers now (wild to think we have listed that many items since 2015 when we started using this system).
We label each item with the number and the SKU-Location, so that when we are ready to put it up, we know where it goes.
PS – Yes, think outside the big bins. We use file drawers for clothing, and we buy shoe racks for the shoes as they are very efficient at storage.
Since going to this, we haven’t lost a thing, and we can find items very quickly. Also helps us when we have a new employee next year to take over shipping. Makes them efficient and we aren’t paying them to hunt items down. Just pick and ship!
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11/14/2018 at 7:05 pm #51706
T-Statt, so your SKU is not the location entirely? So your SKU could be
12345 – Location
Interesting as I only use the SKU FOR the location. So my SKU says “bin 5.”
What do you use the other inventory number for in practice?-
11/15/2018 at 8:08 am #51728
Correct. You can put a lot of information in the SKU if you like. Look at Mike, he has cost, location, and a ton of other items in the SKU.
The first 5 digits are always a unique number. Our SixBit software always needs a unique SKU, so every listing gets a new first number. We have a Google Doc listing of all numbers, and when we create a listing, we add it to the Google Doc to get the next number.
then we use the -<location>. While this is mostly for finding the item, this also helps us in SixBit, as I can see how many items are in each location. I put -SW3 in the top of the grid of all inventory and I can see how many items are stored there. I can use that the do inventory checks as well as to see where I have available space to store new items.
I we also use -PM and -GL to show any items that are crossposted to Poshmark and Grailed (so that when something sells on eBay, I can see to remove them from those sites). Veronica will ALSO put -PTY at the end if an item is prepacked (in the warehouse) so show that she packed it up in a Priority Box (so when we print the label, we make sure we print a Priority label).
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11/14/2018 at 11:22 pm #51719
i just went to my listings page and am now able to add the sku / inventory tag from this page rather than opening every listing. Now is my opportunity to get this problem under control. I really like Amatino’s way, i’m gonna try that.
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11/15/2018 at 7:27 am #51724
This is how I manage my inventory as well. When a bin gets low, I just search by SKU number to get only the items in that bin, then just move them individually to other bins and change the SKU as I go. It’s really easy and quick.
Once upon a time, you could also edit the price on this screen. They took that option away. There ebay goes again, taking away functionality. Grrrr….
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11/15/2018 at 8:55 am #51739
bcfol440 – I used to use my bin number as a SKU, but then you have (x) number of items all with the same SKU. This was a problem, for example, when I had two shoes that were the same color and the same brand, but a different size. Also, if 2 bins got down to the point where I wanted to combine them, I had to log in to each item and change the SKU.
All my bins are labeled with the SKU range and I try to keep them together, so all the S bins (shoes) go on the same set of shelves, all the K bins (clothes) go together on another set of shelves. I keep all my hard goods in filing cabinets. Clothes tend to slide around, so I like to keep them corralled in the large plastic totes, but hard goods are all packed into filing cabinets and loaded to the hilt! I load from the bottom up, so that the cabinets are base weighted. All my breakables are pre-packaged in bubble wrap and protective covers so that I can just pop them straight into a box for mailing (bc it is more accurate to get shipping) so there’s no issue with breakage.
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11/15/2018 at 9:00 am #51742
Amatino: true statement on the SKU, and a warning for anyone that wants to move to a SixBit or Wonderlister. One listing, one unique SKU. This rule can’t be broken…
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11/15/2018 at 10:18 am #51747
Thank you all for the lesson!
While my clothes are in the bin system currently, my hard goods/smalls are becoming problematic. I also sell vintage linens which quickly turn into a sliding tower of cloth. That is my next project to wrangle it!
The filing cabinets you speak of – I am imagining the metal, heavy cabinets from yesteryear that pull out long ways or a side pull out.
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11/15/2018 at 11:56 am #51754
Yep! Troll craigslist for them.
I don’t use the lateral (side) ones, as they won’t work as well. I also like the legal size as they fit more.
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11/17/2018 at 8:49 am #51843
Awesome! I like the idea of it all being tucked away.
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11/18/2018 at 11:14 am #51886
Yep! Feels good!
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