Dispatch Day and how I track my stock

I thought I would share a typical days dispatch. Today I had 24 packages of clothing items, 3 different boxes of mixed job lots of children's toys, 1 faux fur jacket and a further 7 packages consisting of a garden hose pipe, a toy train, maths flash cards and an electronic hair remover.

This is a an easy day, some days I can have 50+ packages. The most I have done in one day is 145, I tend to stagger auctions now so I avoid that amount of packages in one day.

I manage my stock quite well, so picking for dispatch is an easier task, I usually package my items ready for dispatch as I list them, particularly clothing items.

They are all kept in their own boxes as below.

Each client has their own box, as does my own stock, when I list, I list in order of whatever is on the top and transfer it from the transport container to the listed container, with a reference number on each item which corresponds to the ebay stock listing reference or to be correct the Custom Label SKU. as can be seen below.

Which could be something like MT Box 1 - 24 - which would stand for Maine Trading Box 1, item number 24 in the box, see an example below.

So when it comes to dispatching items the job is straight forwards, I print a list of what needs to be dispatched from eBay and then create the labels for each one (size and weight is on each listing to save time) then I can just go and pick the items and attach the labels. 

Having reasonably small and not too large storage boxes means that the item in the box can be found quickly and easily and I try to keep them in order of number within the box so that I can instantly put my hand on the number I need, without having to rummage through trying to find the number I need.

It works well and takes little time to do, the only drawback to this is that if a customer asks a question about an item and it is all packaged up ready to go, then it means opening the package to answer the question, I usually ensure I enter as much information in the listing as possible, that way a customer does not need to answer any questions as it is all in the listing, as this wastes time, and time is money.