Managing inventory levels

Managing products you have purchased to resell online can be a profitable business venture if done correctly. Platforms like eBay, Craigslist, and Facebook Marketplace provide ample opportunities for individuals to easily sell their products to a large audience. However, to be successful in this business, it is important to have a strategy in place for managing your inventory. In this chapter, we will discuss some tips and strategies for managing products you have purchased to resell online.

1. Develop a system for tracking inventory: As your inventory grows, it can become difficult to keep track of everything. It is essential to have a system in place for tracking inventory. This can be as simple as a spreadsheet or as complex as inventory management software. The important thing is to have a way to keep track of how much inventory you have, where it is stored, and when it needs to be restocked.
2. Set up a workspace: It is important to have a dedicated workspace for managing your inventory. This could be a spare room in your house, a garage, or a storage unit. Having a designated workspace will help you stay organized and make it easier to find and manage your products.
3. Clean and prepare products for sale: Once you have purchased products to resell, it is important to clean and prepare them for sale. This involves inspecting each item for damage, cleaning it, and taking quality photos for your online listing. Taking the time to properly prepare your products for sale will help you sell them faster and for a higher price.
4. Price products competitively: After or while cleaning your products, research the MSRP of the product. As a general rule of thumb, pricing your products competitively is essential for making sales, so you always want to price below MSRP but above your cost for the product. However, many liquidators have difficulty knowing what their true cost for a product is. An easy solution is to count how many items you have acquired, in a bin or a pallet, and use the following equation: (cost of pallet)x(number of items in the pallet)(0.75). This should give you a good rule of thumb number to use as the cost you paid for all of the items you mean to sell. You should always assume that not all items in the pallet will sell, or some are in too poor of a condition to sell. It is important to consider the condition of your item, the demand for it, and the competition when pricing your products.
5. Monitor your inventory levels: As your inventory sells, it is important to monitor your inventory levels. This will help you know when to restock and how much inventory to purchase. It is important to strike a balance between having enough inventory to sell and avoiding excess inventory that can tie up your money. A good way to handle this is to sell 2 or 3 pallets first, and keep track of how long it takes for the inventory to sell out. Average these timelines, and expect that all pallets will sell out, on average, within this span of time. This way you know that you should buy a new pallet a number of days before the selling out of the old pallet, so that you can be doing pricing and inventory and listing creation for the new stock and never have unplanned work days where you have no product to be selling.
6. Manage your finances: Managing your finances is critical for any business, including managing products you have purchased to resell online. Keep track of your expenses, such as the cost of inventory, shipping, and fees associated with selling online. It is important to price your products in a way that covers your expenses and provides a profit. Many liquidators, when they first begin, fail to account for the cost of their time to manage this new business. A good rule of thumb is to pay yourself $15 an hour for the labor involved in reselling liquidation. If you find that the profits from reselling cannot cover your costs plus this small hourly wage, you need to reconsider your product mix, pricing, or both.
7. Ship or deliver products promptly: Once a sale is made, it is important to ship the product promptly. Providing fast and reliable shipping will help you maintain positive feedback and encourage repeat business. But there is another reason to offload sold inventory quickly: it is taking up the space of more products to sell!
8. Handle returns and customer service: In liquidation and in reselling, ‘no returns or refunds’ is the traditional method of operating, for a variety of reasons. Whatever you want your individual policy to be, it’s best to make this clear and well-understood upfront. If you intend to offer returns or refunds, bake the cost of this into your pricing strategy.

In conclusion, managing products you have purchased to resell online can be a lucrative business venture if done correctly. It is important to develop a system for tracking inventory, clean and prepare products for sale, keep track of costs and profit, account for your own wages and time, and decide how you will handle returns or refunds.