We've all had these days where you spend eight hours searching high and low for that thing you sold

I just had the most frustrating day.

 

I spent almost seven hours searching for a single item.

 

I looked through every one of 350 boxes in my work area and came up empty-handed on the item that sold that I was certain I still had here. Accepting defeat, I gave up finding it after Hour Four and then left the house to see if I could find another at one of my fairly-reliable local suppliers. Nope. Two hours shot on that. Could I dropship it from an online retailer? Nope. None to be found within a reasonable delivery timeframe.

 

Back to looking through every box a second time. It must still be here. It's a popular item item and I keep a close eye on quantities even if I don't always know where something is within the minute. I am sweating like a pig by now, both with the physical exertion of moving all these boxes twice and with the implication of having to cancel an order for being out-of-stock. 

 

Fifty per cent of the way through looking into all those boxes a second time, I find it. In a cardboard box WHICH WAS CLEARLY LABELED and which apparently I didn't look at or inside but set aside to get to the pile of boxes behind it.

 

Argh.

 

Yargh.

 

Yeeargh. 

 

Oh well.

 

Problem solved. 

 

Except for the sore butt I now have from kicking myself. 

 

I'm not sure what lesson I have to share from this. Just keep looking? Label your boxes? Read the labels on your boxes? 

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We've all had these days where you spend eight hours searching high and low for that thing you sold

An out of stock cancellation is far worse, especially if there are not a lot of sales to offset it.

 

Go to your seller dashboard and expand each area to see the % allowed and then use that to figure out what yours would be based on the total sale numbers given

 

Out of stock is one of the worst and you are only allowed .005% whereas late shipping you are allowed 5% if my memory serves me.

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We've all had these days where you spend eight hours searching high and low for that thing you sold

I can't remember if I've posted this before, but here is my virgin form letter for an out of stock situation if it is of use to anyone down the road:

 

Hi! Thank you very much for your purchase!

 

I humbly apologize because I cannot find the item you have purchased.

 

I can provide a number of options to resolve this:

-I have a similar item. I can send it instead, with a free bonus to make up for the fact that it won’t be exactly the same as the item you purchased

Or

-if you see any other lots in my store that you are interested in that are valued anywhere up to $XX I can send it instead. (please just advise me of the title and item number you do not need to purchase it)

Or

-if you see an item that is worth more than $XX send me a question about that lot and I will send you an offer reducing the price by $XX which you can accept and then follow the normal payment process

Or

-I can provide a full refund

 

I apologize again for being unable to provide the item, let me know which option above you prefer when you have a chance. Thank you very much for your understanding and have a great day!!

 

I expect the XX will be 2x the value of the MIA item.

 

The form letter is still virgin because so far I've been able to find the items.......so far...... but if they pick anything except the last option, I avoid the defect....

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We've all had these days where you spend eight hours searching high and low for that thing you sold

hlmacdon
Community Member

Yep, been there in earlier times when starting off. Although not quite the marathon you had to endure. These days I use a combination of standardized sizing storage bins labelled with inventory locations along with a dedicated inventory program which has its own invoicing and purchasing system. Since then I still manage to temporarily misplace the odd item (I'd make a really poor warehouse robot), but everything is tracked in inventory. Getting everything off excel into something more transactional was a huge help.

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We've all had these days where you spend eight hours searching high and low for that thing you sold

 

If I find myself in such a situation... I stop  .....have a cup of coffee... and then continue with a quick look...  

 

and... There it is.

 

------------------------------------

A unique reality........

 

It is always in the last place you look!

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We've all had these days where you spend eight hours searching high and low for that thing you sold

Coffee... yeah... that's what I call it too....

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW_zi8n4HDQ

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We've all had these days where you spend eight hours searching high and low for that thing you sold

I have had the same thing happen to me several times.  I sell CD's and have over 10,000.  Luckily I have found all of them.  There only was one pattern that I sold that I couldn't find.  So I can totally relate.  I keep kicking myself and say, you have to put things back in the right place or file it right away.  

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We've all had these days where you spend eight hours searching high and low for that thing you sold

It is one thing to remember   where you put it... That special place.....

 

But then  where is that special place.

 

If I do move things around  I do a little bit at a time... change a little  here and there and then adjust... then do it again... make the adjustment...... adjust the brain and then continue as if everything was normal

 

But then... Abnormal is Normal.....

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We've all had these days where you spend eight hours searching high and low for that thing you sold

amcdc79
Community Member

I can relate, been there done that, hopefully we learn, and adjust when it happens.

 

Of course, it's the buyers fault for buying something we haven't seen in a long time, or forgot where we put it.

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We've all had these days where you spend eight hours searching high and low for that thing you sold

This was 100 per cent my fault. If I had read the label I had put on that box instead of simply picking it up and moving it aside, I would have had my item inside of three minutes.

 

It was really the dumbest of errors.

 

Although I admit there are times where my bottomline on a Best Offer isn't as much about the price as it is about how long it will take me to dig out the item in question and whether I have time to do so. Motivation, as it were. But Best Offer is another topic altogether. Don't get me started on that....

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We've all had these days where you spend eight hours searching high and low for that thing you sold

Oh my gosh, it's happening again

 

I cannot find this item a buyer purchased today. 

 

Normally, this might happen once a year. It's now twice this week. 

 

Again, here I am sweating with exertion from moving a metric tonne of boxes, and the possibility I will have to issue a Cancellation due to being Out of Stock. 

 

Again, I will do a second sweep through everywhere I looked already and then expand my search to other locations where it would only have gone if severely misfiled.

 

Which is worse for a seller? A Late Shipment Report? Or an Out-Of-Stock Cancellation? Considering I have one of the former and none of the latter on my record.

 

 

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We've all had these days where you spend eight hours searching high and low for that thing you sold

An out of stock cancellation is far worse, especially if there are not a lot of sales to offset it.

 

Go to your seller dashboard and expand each area to see the % allowed and then use that to figure out what yours would be based on the total sale numbers given

 

Out of stock is one of the worst and you are only allowed .005% whereas late shipping you are allowed 5% if my memory serves me.

Message 10 of 12
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We've all had these days where you spend eight hours searching high and low for that thing you sold

All clear. I found it. Again, it was in a place I looked at the very beginning but without seeing it. That's so frustrating. There is some lesson to be taken here, I just can't think what it might be. Open your eyes? Or one that I say to the kids 100 times a day, "Look with your eyes, not your fingers."

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We've all had these days where you spend eight hours searching high and low for that thing you sold

I can't remember if I've posted this before, but here is my virgin form letter for an out of stock situation if it is of use to anyone down the road:

 

Hi! Thank you very much for your purchase!

 

I humbly apologize because I cannot find the item you have purchased.

 

I can provide a number of options to resolve this:

-I have a similar item. I can send it instead, with a free bonus to make up for the fact that it won’t be exactly the same as the item you purchased

Or

-if you see any other lots in my store that you are interested in that are valued anywhere up to $XX I can send it instead. (please just advise me of the title and item number you do not need to purchase it)

Or

-if you see an item that is worth more than $XX send me a question about that lot and I will send you an offer reducing the price by $XX which you can accept and then follow the normal payment process

Or

-I can provide a full refund

 

I apologize again for being unable to provide the item, let me know which option above you prefer when you have a chance. Thank you very much for your understanding and have a great day!!

 

I expect the XX will be 2x the value of the MIA item.

 

The form letter is still virgin because so far I've been able to find the items.......so far...... but if they pick anything except the last option, I avoid the defect....

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