How a small online reseller can track inventory cost, sales profit and expenses without spreadsheet sprawl
Log each purchase as a lot, work out cost of goods from the average cost, and keep expenses, receipts and mileage in one place.
SuperCat
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I resell collectibles, supplies and accessories online as a one-person LLC and want one simple bookkeeping tool to replace my Excel tabs. I keep YNAB for bank transactions.
Build one tool: Inventory with each purchase lot (date, supplier, item, quantity, total cost) and a running average cost per item, so a lot of thousands of items is one row, not thousands.
Sales: record each sale with price, fees and shipping. The tool takes the cost of goods from the average cost, lowers the stock count and shows profit per sale and per month.
Expenses: import my YNAB export as CSV and let me split one transaction across categories (inventory, supplies, equipment, software, shipping) with a note and a photo of the receipt. Spending in the inventory category creates or tops up a purchase lot so I enter it once.
Mileage: log trips with date, purpose and miles, with the IRS rate applied and a yearly total.
Reports: monthly and yearly profit and loss, inventory value on hand, cost of goods sold, and a tax-time CSV export for my accountant. Just me, phone-friendly, with a short checklist of what an accountant will ask for.
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What you get
- Purchase lots with a running average cost, so cost of goods is calculated for you on every sale.
- Split-category expenses with notes and receipt photos, imported from your bank or budgeting export.
- A mileage log with the rate applied and a yearly total.
- Monthly and yearly profit, inventory value and cost of goods sold.
- A tax-time export and a short list of what an accountant usually asks for.
What usually gets in the way
- Inventory cost, sales profit and mileage sit in separate spreadsheet tabs that have to be kept in step by hand.
- Expenses are categorised in a budgeting app, but nothing connects those categories to the cost of the stock that was bought.
- Big lots make per-item records impractical, so average cost is the only workable method and it needs a running calculation.
- It is unclear whether to split one transaction across categories, how much detail to write down and whether to keep receipts.
- Every spreadsheet duplicates something another one already holds, which makes it hard to trust any single number.
The longer story
A new seller buying inventory in bulk quickly finds that a budgeting app is good at categorising spending and poor at answering what a sale actually earned. The missing link is the cost of what was sold. With lots of thousands of similar items, tracking each one is not realistic, so the average cost of a lot is the practical method: the cost goes in once per purchase and every sale draws from it.
A common worry is whether a separate purchases tab duplicates the expense tracking. It does not have to, if spending in the inventory category is what creates the lot. Entering it once keeps the books and the stock consistent, and splitting a mixed transaction, such as stock bought together with packing supplies, keeps each category honest.
How much detail is enough is mostly a question of what the accountant needs: totals by category, cost of goods sold and a mileage log. A short note and a receipt photo per purchase usually cover it, with no need for a unique code for every transaction.
Send it as it is, or change anything first
SuperCat asks a question or two, then builds it.
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