All guidesUpdated 6 minute read
Good books for a reseller come down to one habit: write every purchase down when it arrives, with the units and the full cost, and link it to the product you list. Everything else, from profit to stock value, follows from that.
What to record for every purchase
- The supplier or shop, and the date.
- The product, and how many units.
- What you paid for each unit, after discounts.
- Delivery and any other charge on that order.
- When it arrived, and how many arrived. Part deliveries are common.
- Where the receipt or invoice is kept.
Online arbitrage
Online arbitrage means many small orders from many shops. The price that matters is the price after the discount code and after cashback, because that is what the unit really cost. Record the order when you place it and mark it delivered when it arrives, so stock on the way is not counted as stock on the shelf.
When you send something back to the shop, take those units out again and record the refund against the purchase.
Wholesale
Wholesale means fewer, larger orders with an invoice. Check the units that arrive against the invoice, and record damaged or missing units on the day, while you can still raise it with the supplier. The delivery charge for a pallet belongs to the cost of the units on it.
Car boots, clearance and cash
A boot full of stock bought for cash has no invoice, so the record is the one you make. Write down the date, the place, what you bought and what you paid, the same day. A photo of the stock with a note is far better than a memory.
One product, one code
Give every product one code of your own (a SKU) and use it on the listing. Then a sale can be matched to the product, and the product to its purchases, without reading titles.
A month end routine
- Make sure every delivery of the month is recorded.
- Check that every sale is matched to a product.
- Enter the costs that are not tied to an order: packaging, subscriptions, storage.
- Compare what you earned with what eBay paid out, and explain any gap.
- Count a few products on the shelf and compare with the records.
- Close the month, so later changes show up as changes and do not rewrite it quietly.
What your accountant will ask for
Sales, fees, postage and refunds for the period, the cost of the goods you sold, the value of the stock you still hold, and your other costs. If each of those comes from a record you can open, the conversation is short.
This guide is about keeping records. It is not tax or accounting advice.
How Sellcount does this for you
Sellcount has a sourcing and stock sheet for exactly this: suppliers, purchases, deliveries in batches, stock counts and adjustments, with a month end checklist, period locks and an audit report in Excel or PDF for your accountant.