| One of the biggest issues that can face a seller of | | | | notification and it is a simple process to pull the item |
| physical products through an online auction or store | | | | from stock and mail it out. |
| can be tracking and storing inventory. I have a friend | | | | The second step is to track your inventory. Particularly |
| that sells books on eBay, and she has boxes piled in | | | | when using a PayPal, or other payment processing |
| every corner of her house, full of books. I don't know | | | | button on an individual sales site, it can be hard to |
| how she manages to keep track of everything. A well | | | | remember to input inventory quantities when you set |
| thought out inventory control plan can help take your | | | | the button up. Most sales sites let you input quantities |
| online business from headache to well oiled machine. | | | | available. If you tell the system that you have 10 gold |
| I spent 20 years in retail sales and management, and | | | | hoop earrings available for sale, it will automatically |
| along the line I ran the in store warehouses and | | | | update your online quantities for you, and stop sales |
| inventory control in 2 separate jobs. I have seen the | | | | when the quantity hits 0. You need to be sure an |
| best and the worst of organization systems, or | | | | update for any new stock received or any offline |
| non-organization systems as the case may be. You | | | | sales made to ensure that your quantity available is |
| know how embarrassing it is to go to a customer who | | | | correct at all times. |
| just bought a product and tell them, sorry it isn't here, or | | | | Once everything is organized and quantity tracked you |
| I can't find it. I have seen it happen more times than I | | | | need to track your sales, so you know what to order. |
| care to think about. A good system can help eliminate | | | | Either your payment processor can do this for you, or |
| this happening in your online business. | | | | you can set up a simple spread sheet to track your |
| The first step is to organize your products. A friend of | | | | item sales. If an item isn't selling, let it sell down and |
| mine who sells costume jewelry online keeps | | | | replace it with something new. If an item is selling well, |
| everything in plastic drawer organizers. The drawers | | | | make sure you have at least enough stock on hand to |
| are divided into separate product compartments and | | | | cover your reorder time plus a week. This will ensure |
| the individual items kept in plastic zip bags. She assigns | | | | you are never out of your top sellers. |
| each item a product number, and this number is used | | | | Organization is the key to a successful business. Keep |
| as the product identifier online and noted on both the | | | | your inventory control in hand and you will have a |
| front of the drawer and the individual product bags. | | | | much easier time achieving your goals. |
| When a sale comes in, the product id is right on the | | | | |