Have you ever sold something and couldn't find it.

[musicyouneed]

I sell CD's and have about 10 thousand in my place in boxes.  I usually put the ones listed on ebay in a couple of CD shelving units but sometimes for whatever reason they never made it in there.  I sold something yesterday that wasn't where it was supposed to be and I spent a good 8 hours looking for it.  I found it finally and am relieved.  This has happened only a couple of times before and each time I say to myself, I will file this right away.  I thought I would post a pic of my ebay CD shelving organization.  

Has this ever happened to you?  Do you have a good method for keeping track?  What's does your system look like?

[momcqueen]

Yep. Only yours is about a million times more organized than mine.

My 1140 items listed represent only a fraction of what I have on-hand and theoretically available, and my inventory system is like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I dropped a case of diecast cars on my own face this week because I tried to move a whole stack of cases at once instead of just one at a time like a smart person might do. Sometimes, I have to clamour awkwardly to reach across a tall-boy dresser after climbing on my desk to get there. I have also fallen off my desk doing this. It is a task left to someone more nimble than I am. With more room for storage. Or fewer items to sell. 

There was only once where I searched for hours and still couldn't find something listed. I sent the buyer an identical item with a note of apology and a bonus gift. (This was back in the day where each item sold was exactly the one depicted as opposed to a self-taken image of that character.) The buyer was still pleased. Given the statistical law of averages, it's bound to happen again. 

[momcqueen]

(Oh, and of course, I found it the next time I went looking for something else. It was in a box I had forgotten I had moved to another section.) 

[kitschnvintage]

I have no patience so my system looks like this every two weeks:

[cumos55]

My books are coded based on content.... and in relation to my store categories.  I have bookcases arranged by province... and then other categories..... such as art... bird .... mammals....  and then categories in relation to military... and on and on

In your r situation  each item can be coded on the basis of the order it was listed.

Some booksellers place books in a bookcase based on when it was listed....  As the book sells  the books are moved over..... leaving empty spaces in the code sequence... but not in the bookcase

Your storage sequence could have started with number 001, as the very first item listed on eBay....  while your most recent listing would have been 1121.... or what ever it is

The code number is recorded in your listing... and you will never lose track of inventory available

[cumos55]

OP..... Your store categories  can help you organized your listed inventory...

and then your inventory that has not been listed.

If I have more than one copy of a listed book, the listed book has a slip of paper sitting  on the inside of the front cover...

All  of the same book are stored side-by-side....

Nothing gets lost.... However, sometimes  it takes sometime to find the right book  that sold....

The books do not get lost.... I am the one that gets lost.

[ricarmic]

My stuff is all in ebay item number order. (my items are all in envelopes or boxes or something that I can write the item number on and file accordingly)

Because I sell stuff from wee single stamp to bankers boxes full of stamps, there are 7 "locations" a given item can be found.

Each location is sorted in eBay item number order.

Generally heart palpitations come from me writing 201799242124 instead of 20179924142 on the item number and filing in the wrong spot  (mod, these are fake item numbers) or because something is in a different location than is normally the case. Sometimes I've put something small in a very much larger envelope, for whatever reason.

Also some days it seems mysterious elves put the item back in the location it was supposed to be in when I checked it the second time....

[momcqueen]

Without trying to diminish your collective excellent organizational skills, I think some items are easier to keep organized than others. Books, CDs and stamps are easier to keep stacked, for example, than unboxed shoes, knick-knacks, and oddly-shaped used toys.

My diecasts are stacked in factory-packed cases or on shelves like the following post....

[momcqueen]

[momcqueen]

But oddly-shaped toys without their own stackable packages get repacked into storage boxes so that my a majority of my storage area looks like this:

Except not sideways. That's a mobile device deficiency using the Community site.

[femmefan1946]

Dress patterns-- Four bankers'boxes by manufacturer then by pattern number.

Books- Four shelving units (down from 10 back in Ottawa) by author.

Stamps and postcards- redboxes (it's a philatelist thing, you wouldn't understand) each marked by type : Commonwealth, USA & Foreign, Canada & Newfoundland, postcards, Smalls.

And two totes of stuff I really should get listed RSN.

And four bankers' boxes of postage that still needs to be packaged.

Ian gets back from the auction tonight and I shudder to think what he will have brought home for me to list.

[ricarmic]

My filed listed items are unimpressive because they're scattered through several locations at several sites.....and they're boring in their stacks anyway...an example of one place...

[momcqueen]

I am sorry to say that I cannot view your pic.

Oh wait, I think you're editing your comment at the same time as I am posting.

[ricarmic]

Yes I'm (re) learning how to properly insert pictures.

My bigger problem, which many other stamp dealers and likely others here suffer from is called "acquisition syndrome" where one just buys too much stuff....

These are pics from the largest warehouse, its all stuff that will "someday" be listed....

[rosscd57]

Holey Moley

[momcqueen]

You have REAL shelves, I'm envious.

[ricarmic]

I had to get shelves, the previous storage model caused far too many cave-ins when I tried to extract something.

I still have "bonks on the head" from time to time because I try to move too large a pile off the tops.

Unfortunately as you can see in the pictures, while they are shelves, they aren't standing up to the weight on them, you can see the top ones bowing in the middle. The shelves are Costco ones and are about 10 years old, I'm wondering what day I'll go in to find one of them having let go....

Also unfortunately I can't restrict myself to the shelves, the condition is pretty good right now, I can actually walk down the "aisles"....that isn't always the case.... because you see I have acquisition syndrome quite bad......

[femmefan1946]

Ian got back from the auction late last night.

And at breakfast announced "I have more postage for you!".

My next husband will be a philanderer not a philatelist.

[i.am.vivian]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

Ian got back from the auction late last night.

And at breakfast announced "I have more postage for you!".

My next husband will be a philanderer not a philatelist.

---

You might not always like what he brings home either.    🙂  

[momcqueen]

SNORT!