Inventory Lists for Your Polymer Clay

Inventory Sheet

I add pictures of the items to my inventory sheets that I send to galleries with my items. It takes time, but makes things a lot easier for all of us. Especially if the work is on consignment, there won’t be any question about what you sent, what you get paid for and what comes back to you if it doesn’t sell.

Shops and Galleries are going to want item numbers too. You need them for your records as well. You could just name everything if you don’t mind that sort of thing. But I have a hard time thinking of clever names.

The shop owner can list the inventory number on your item and be sure you get proper payment. They’ll be delighted that you have prepared your work this way.

I make my lists in Adobe InDesign, just because I like working in that program. Not everyone has that program, but you can make a list in Filemaker Pro, Word or Access or Excel. In fact the data base programs are probably the best way to do it. If you don’t know how, ask a friend to show you.

First thing is to make sure the name of your business, your name and your contact information is listed clearly on your inventory sheet. You should have a place for the retailer’s business name, their name and contact information and a place for them to sign acknowledging that they have receive all the items listed. You might have them initial each item as well.

For my inventory numbers, I use letters and numbers. The letters usually say what the item is. The top item on my list above is –

1. Item # – BRWF-210 (BRacelet With Face)

2. Description – 2″ Bracelet With Face.

I’ve assigned the 200s to 2″ bracelets with face canes. The next BRWF will be #211. So all 2″ bracelets with faces will have the prefix BRWF and they will be in the 200s.

3. Wholesale price is next. In this case the gallery will be marking the items up by 40%.

4. Quantity

5. Retail Price   –  For the owners use, they actually may want to mark it up even more. A long as they pay you what you agreed to, they can sell it for whatever the traffic will bear. Just make note of the price  they are getting,  so that you can adjust your wholesale pricing if you see a trend. Make sure that they  actually sell the item at the higher price before you consider raising your prices.

I take this one step further. I provide display cards and tags with all my items and I’ll show you how I do it and some sugestions to follow in the next posts.

Part 1 Selling Your Polymer Clay Artwork
Part 2 Pricing Polymer Clay Artwork to Sell Wholesale
Part 3 Mermaid Bracelet Listed on Etsy
Part 4 Inventory Lists for Your Polymer Clay
Part 5 Display Cards for Polymer Clay Pins and Necklaces
Part 6 Creating Tags for Your Polymer Clay Creations