BY SELLER TYPE
The inventory problem is not the same problem twice
A record seller matches a pressing against a catalogue. A thrift seller cannot know what anything cost until the register. A collector holds a piece for years before deciding to sell it at all. The channels underneath are the same three; the work above them is not. These 18 pages describe that work, one seller at a time.
START HERE
The three that cover most sellers
Not the most-visited pages — the three whose subject the others build on. eBay is the channel that reports sales back, Discogs is the one with a catalogue to match against, and a team is what changes when the inventory stops belonging to one person.
- 01 eBay resellers The channel that reports sales back by webhook, so a sale can reduce quantity elsewhere without you touching it. Fees and net land on the item they came from. eBay order webhooksFee and net per saleQuantity push-out
- 02 Record sellers Pressing-level detail against the Discogs catalogue, with grading held separately for sleeve and media and per-copy margin after Discogs fees. Discogs catalogue matchSleeve and media gradesPer-copy margin
- 03 Small business teams What changes when more than one person touches the inventory: shared records, who did what, and channels that stay in step without a shared spreadsheet. Shared recordsMulti-channelTeam seats
BY WHAT YOU SELL
Pages organised by the thing itself
What has to be on the record before a listing is safe to publish changes with the category: a grade, a pressing, a region code, a set of measurements, an accessory checklist. These pages start from that field list.
- 01 Thrift resellers Written around the sourcing run rather than the item: cost is only knowable at the register, no two runs produce the same stock, and the pile is the real inventory problem. Cost captured at the registerRun-by-run intakeBacklog as a queue
- 02 Vintage clothing sellers Written around the garment: measurements instead of a size, flaws disclosed before they are returned, and one of one — nothing here restocks. Measured, not sizedFlaw disclosureOne of one
- 03 Collectors One catalogue where a price and a channel are optional fields, so the cost you wrote down at acquisition is still attached years later when a piece becomes stock. Cost stamped at acquisitionProvenance kept through saleFor-sale as a state
- 04 Book resellers Track ISBN inventory, edition detail, and per-title margin across a catalogue that turns over slowly and unevenly. ISBN and barcode captureEdition-level detailDead-stock visibility
- 05 Sports card sellers Track graded and raw card inventory with set-level metadata, break cost allocation, and margin that survives volatile comps. Graded and rawBreak cost allocationSet and parallel detail
- 06 Sneaker resellers Track size runs, deadstock condition, and holding cost per pair across a category where the price curve starts falling after release. Size-run variantsDeadstock conditionHolding-time visibility
- 07 Video game resellers Track completeness, region and platform across cartridges, discs and sealed copies where the same title has four different prices. Loose · CIB · sealedRegion and platformManual and insert tracking
- 08 Comic book sellers Track issue, variant and grade across raw and slabbed comics, with the submission economics visible before you send a book off. Issue and variant detailRaw and slabbedSubmission economics
- 09 Toy resellers Track boxed and loose toys with accessory completeness and packaging condition, the two things that decide the price. Boxed and looseAccessory checklistsPackaging condition
- 10 Antique dealers Catalogue one-of-a-kind pieces where no barcode exists, provenance carries value, and shipping is a real constraint on what you buy. No-catalogue itemsProvenance notesDimensions and fragility
- 11 Electronics resellers Track model variants, tested function, serial numbers and data-wipe status on stock that loses value while you hold it. Model and variant detailTested and wiped statusSerial tracking
BY HOW YOU SOURCE
Pages organised by where stock comes from
Sourcing decides when a cost can be recorded and how much arrives at once. A booth takes cash at a table, a receipt makes cost exact to the cent, an online order is paid for weeks before it is stock. Each one shapes intake differently.
- 01 Flea market sellers Keep one record across a booth and your online listings, with cash purchases captured at the moment they happen. Booth and online in one recordCash purchase captureFast intake
- 02 Garage sale flippers Turn a Saturday of mixed boxes into catalogued stock, with a triage habit that keeps the unsellable half out of your garage. Fast burst intakeTriage before cataloguingBacklog visibility
- 03 Retail arbitrage sellers Track in-store buys with real receipts, replenishable stock and per-store sourcing performance across clearance cycles. Receipt-backed costReplenishable SKUsPer-store performance
- 04 Online arbitrage sellers Track inbound orders, landed cost after fees and cashback, and stock you have paid for but not yet received. Inbound order trackingLanded cost after rebatesSupplier reliability
WHAT EVERY ONE OF THESE PAGES ASSUMES
Three channels, and they do not behave alike
Every page above describes the same connections: eBay, Shopify and Discogs. None of them is a general cross-poster, and the three do not sync in the same direction — an eBay sale reports back by webhook, a Discogs sale is read on a schedule, and a Shopify order is not read back at all.
That distinction decides how much of your inventory work Instica can actually take off you, so it belongs on a page of its own rather than in a footnote on eighteen.
- Cross-listing across eBay, Shopify and Discogs One record, three channels, and a matrix stating which way each one syncs — including the direction that does not.
- What each connection actually does Channel by channel: what connecting it gives you, what it asks for at OAuth, and what it leaves you to do by hand.
- eBay compared with Discogs Fees, audience and catalogue depth on the two channels most sellers here run at the same time.
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