Make sure that whatever you do can be scaled up when you have more inventory and adjusted as things sell. While it may not be for everyone, this is the method that weve found to keep our eBay inventory organized! Made a storage space reservation at Life Storage? Moving out after living with parents or the dorms is an exciting and stress-inducing experience. Upon their arrival at your facility, label the items. However, if capital and space are limited, youll have to get creative with how you store and keep track of your inventory while also growing your business. This can be a small storage unit, if your business is making $60-100 in profit every month to cover the cost. Soon enough, youll be handling and tracking your inventory in a way that drives your business instead of holding it back. We live in Utah with 105-degree summers and -20 degree winters which can take its toll on storage. Separating our home life from eBay as much as possible has given us the real freedom we were looking for in a small business. Time is money, and you dont want to be stuck trying to sort through 20 pairs of Levi jeans that all look the same. Ive found that when trying to find inventory, its easier for me to move bins that are filled to capacity when they only hold about 56 quarts. The further out from the city you go, the monthly rates may be lower, but there needs to be some thought given to your quality of life and your ability to get work done quickly. 5 Models Under $200, How to Take Good eBay Pictures Under $100 A Beginners Guide, How to Install Running Boards on a Jeep TJ or YJ (for $100! Everyones operation is a little bit different, but I definitely recommend metal racks as opposed to plastic. This is actually used by Amazon and many other retailers to prevent errors. Its also good because all you need to do is look up and down to find the correct container instead of walking down long aisles that contain boxes or totes on the floor. Customer reviews can be savage when this happens, so you will want to avoid having a messy warehouse. Stay on the lookout for anything that feels burdensome or inefficient and find a suitable workaround. We dont use a climate-controlled unit and lose some inventory (usually shoes) to the weather every year. We hope this article inspired you to revamp your small business inventory management system. Instead, everyone knows exactly which product youre talking about when you say its product name. Since I sell clothing, I know I can fit about 20 items per bin, so my first bin is labeled A01-A20, the second being A21-A40. For small business owners, storing your inventory might not be a problem but finding it once orders start pouring in can be a challenge. Poshmark reseller and YouTuber @TheEmptyHanger recommends these bins from Home Depot in her reseller inventory storage & organization video. Keeping an organized inventory is one of the best ways to track what you have, how every item is selling, and when you need to purchase more. Does your inventory require some form of climate control? We dont cherry-pick items! Lauren Thomann has written about self storage and moving since 2015, making her our storage expert. About Us Affiliate Disclosure Privacy Policy Contact Us, ResellingRevealed.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com, 2022 ResellingRevealed Built with GeneratePress, 3 Bonus Tips For Handling Your Reseller Inventory, 2. Even if you do find a storage facility that offers in-unit electrical outlets, most storage facilities have policies about what kind of work is allowed in their units, so just be up-front and ask before signing your storage lease. An open shelving system is one where the shelves are not enclosed by doors, making it easy to see whats on each shelf. As your small business grows, the complexity of tracking grows along with it. First and foremost, make sure you have a system for how your store inventory. This way, you can devote time to other integral components of growing your business. These tips and tools are specific to small businesses and can help alleviate some excess work, create a harmonious working environment, and make sure youre able to organize inventory effectively. Depending on the cash flow you have, you could hire part-time or full-time employees, or you could look for independent contractors. Remember: If you decide to use a virtual office, make sure that business information is identical to the information you have on your corporate documents. Most importantly, it just needs to work for the particulars of your business. However, as your business grows, it can be tempting to intermingle work and home life out of laziness or convenience. She earned a Bachelors degree in English and Linguistics and has published over 150 articles on moving, storage, and home organization. This system will grow with you, and is actually similar to how Amazon assigns inventory numbers from what Ive read. This extra step will take you time upfront, but it will cut down your time spent updating your inventory because you wont need to account for items youre not using. we find its easy to organize and store eBay inventory that is in polymailers. For smaller items, open shelving systems are ideal. Also, look at how far the storage unit is to the nearest post office or another shipping facility. You cant efficiently get work done when your office space is cluttered with excess inventory. This post originally published on 10/26/15 and was revised on 11/27/19 with new information. Look for signs that your storage unit facility is clean and well maintained. As a buyer, I always appreciate when my item is presented to me in clear plastic it just seems more professional. You will basically need to transform 180102 to look like 1/2/2018 in excel. Another popular mode of storing apparel items is vertical storage. You can start with a small 4 x 10 unit, and evolve to a climate-controlled 10 x 10 unit, which I recommend. So whether you have a single store or are managing a global operation, we have the right solution for you. So Ill show you what we do and you can take it from there for your own situation! If youre new though, I know it can be overwhelming to set up. While this method is mostly for storing clothing, we use a similar method for hard goods. Every few days we pack all of the items from that bin into poly mailers, assign them an inventory number, and take them to our storage unit. Having a designated spot for unlisted inventory was instrumental in streamlining our processes. Starting a small business is a brilliant accomplishment considering the whirlwind of details involved. This one made by Seveille Classics is their #1 bestseller. If you are currently running your small business out of your apartment (like I was), the first part of organizing your inventory is to set aside a dedicated room or space. Write the next inventory number on the masking tape and add it to the listing. There are two main ways that this happens: Having a solid and reliable way to organize and store eBay inventory is the major difference between having a frustrating hobby, streamlined side business, or a full-time living. This mistake can be costly come tax time. There are so many things to do and methods to consider. This is particularly useful for resellers that source their clothing from wholesale markets, because this inventory generally arrives already in boxes. They keep buying things that dont sell well and dont have enough runway to plan when certain categories or brands gain popularity and start selling out. Make a list of the items you want to keep doing yourself (or what you realistically have time to do). We now rent a 12x30 unit which can easily support a 2,000-item store. This type of storage uses racks that are tall and skinny, allowing you to store a lot of items in a small space. Not every small business has the funds to set up an expensive inventory management software system. There is a lot to know, and plenty of mistakes to avoid. Small business inventory management systems dont need to be complicated and expensive to be effective. Include detail such as: When you are finished, any warehouse operatives looking for items should be able to find them easily and tell what they are without opening any packaging. Many sellers lose money on unlisted inventory and never even know it. It also makes you aware of when to replenish brands or a certain category of clothes. Keeping your resale clothing inventory well-organized will help streamline your business and make shipping, tracking, and sourcing more efficient. Instead, we try to keep inventory moving and keep any truly sensitive or expensive items at home. If you arent organized and diligent, unorganized and untracked inventory can quickly turn the bookkeeping process into a nightmare. If you dont have the budget for an office, you can make your home office much more efficient by setting up a virtual office. Thats all right, but keep the rest of your inventory stacked vertically. N41 ERP will save you time and money by automating many of the tasks associated with keeping track of what you have in stock. After investing money in your new business venture, youre probably afraid to throw anything away in case you might need to use it again. If youre not sure how to get started with your own spreadsheet or what to track, plenty of resellers out there have created resources to get you started. Many small businesses get by with simple spreadsheets on computers to track inventory. These are just a few items I recommend, and where you can pick them up at: When selling clothing or other small items, I use masking tape as a low-cost alternative to buying labels for inventory. Vertical storage makes sense because it saves space. There are several methods for doing this, and we are going to go over a few, including stacking vertically, clustering items with relationships, and keeping the best-selling items close to the front. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. You can look for things like signs of rodent issues, and ask the facility whether they have a pest maintenance plan. We pay $250 a month for our unit but it has repaid us many times over with peace of mind and a home we can relax in. Organize products by type and in the same place, so theyre easy to find. Open shelving systems come in a variety of sizes and can be customized to fit your needs. Whether you are selling on eBay or Shopify, Im going to share a simple inventory system that you can implement to take your small business to the next level on a very small budget. Also, youll never have to send that dreaded email, Im so so so sorry.Ive looked everywhere but I cant find the item you bought from me. However, you take some risks with this method, especially if your stock is high-value fashion items. If you can find things quickly youll be able to ship things faster and with much less headache. link to Mini Storage Sizes: How Much Space Do You Need? Sometimes she takes soap from her inventory and uses it in her home without tracking it. If youd like to store your inventory in the shipping boxes it arrives in, a helpful tip is to cut the top flaps off of each box before shelving. If you have a warehouse, arranging them in rows may be a good idea. Once the item number is assigned, place the item in a clear poly bag, and write the number of a piece of masking tape to stick on the bag. The more organized you can keep your eBay inventory, the better off youll be. I keep it simple and assign a letter and a number to each item. Need a Cheap Thermal Printer for eBay or Amazon? As your business grows and your needs change, you can change your inventory management technology as well. For me a fixture is the same as a 5-shelf rack. I always make sure I enter January as 01, instead of 1, for reporting purposes. Or a shelf. Whatever options you ultimately decide on, clothing inventory management for resellers is a constantly changing process that gets tweaked as you grow. I find that most of the time, you can pick these items up a bit cheaper online than you can at Staples or even Walmart. I arrange mine clockwise around the perimeter since I use a storage unit, so it gives me room to walk around. If you are not full-time, I would find a location near your full-time or part-time job, so its easy to drop by in the mornings, or after work when you need to pick up inventory that sold. The right system and storage management process can turn a struggling resale business around or help your successful business grow faster and get to the next level. Artificial intelligence is reverberating throughout the fashion industry and changing the clothes in which we, The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the exciting idea that everything in the world, It's no secret that the fashion industry is a multi-billion dollar powerhouse. Its helpful to put these habits into place when a business begins, but no time is too late to improve upon a system that is no longer working for your business. Too many resellers struggle with inventory management. Now that you have a basic inventory system, in place in excel, Ill explain what the parts to this system actually mean, and how to assign labels to individual items. (Without Getting Scammed), Can You Sell On eBay Without PayPal? For a small operation, say a few racks or shelves in a big garage or a mini-warehouse, you can get by with a spreadsheet. Now that youve put your inventory away, youll need to track it. Learn how your comment data is processed. For a while, after we started, wed go thrifting, bring the items home, and they would become one with our carpet. Things were impossible to find when they sold and we had no room for new inventory. When youre taking a manual inventory, its wise to start with the items that experience the most change. Trying to find one sized 34W x 38L is a pain, when youve got 50 random items scattered on the floor. Heres where the masking tape and poly bags come into play. Weve had to redo our entire inventory system twice which takes several days and is super unproductive. If you are keeping inventory in a storage unit, you dont really have to worry about dust or debris getting on your items. Most clothing resellers incorporate boxing storage on some level with their inventory management. With our flexible and scalable solutions, you can track an infinite number of items and SKUs across multiple locations. Most companies with a vast and varied product inventory operate on a system that uses SKUs on the outside of containers or boxes. If our shoe bin is too full, well list only shoes for a few hours. Here are a few different clothing inventory containment ideas: Depending on your inventory items and their average size, you may be able to get away with keeping them stacked on open shelving units. If you buy them in bulk, you can get them for a few cents a piece. When we bring items home, everything goes into one of 3 areas: When we list, we go grab a single tote to work on. For a lot of small and medium businesses, storage units provide a flexible, scalable inventory space. Typically, resellers approach this in one of these three common ways: Other companies find success creating unique names for each SKU, so youre not talking about a set of random numbers all of the time. Many small businesses run out of home offices and workspaces. Thats not how a business functions. As your business grows, you can authorize other people to retrieve items from storage without giving them your house key, and you can always move to a larger unit if needed. Keep high-selling items at the height thats easiest for you to access so youre not reaching up, climbing a ladder, or bending over to pick things up all day. I wouldnt advise purchasing everything right at once, but slowly start to add in more storage racks, bins, etc. What to Look for When Choosing a Storage Unit to Organize Your Clothing Inventory. On the other hand, the system can also help identify low sellers so that they can be moved the furthest from the front or prepare for an eventual phase-out. Now that weve gone over why its important to have an organized inventory lets talk about how to achieve it. If you rely on a lighting setup to get your best product photos and would also like to use your storage unit as a studio space, be sure to check with the facility. Nothing is ever set in stone, so remain flexible as you refine what works for you until you have a system that works for you and any employees you have now or hire in the future. If you have larger racks, you can probably fit 4 or 5 bins on each shelf, so you would have B1, B2, B3, B4, and so on.