Add Inventory Item

Most of the fields for creating/editing an inventory item may seem self-explanatory, but there are a few fields that may benefit from some explanation and/or tips. There are also some special settings and features that may allow some store owners to complete very specific tasks and needs. Self-explanatory fields will not be explained since we do not want to put you all to sleep.

Also, with the many available fields, one could sell a variety of items from books, comics, movies, video games, computers, electronics, antiques, collectables, various physical multimedia (DVDs, records, movies, music, etc.).

Inventory (First Portion of Page)

• Seller ID: This is a unique ID for the product that also serves as the SKU. This field is required. A relisted product may use the Seller ID that it previously used.
• Author/Artist Name: This may seem self-explanatory, but there is a small hidden feature here. For stores selling items that do not have an "author" nor "artist" per se can type the name of the manufacturer, distributor, etc.
• Date Available: This feature is great if there is an item that is not to be sold until a future date and it would be convenient to create the item entry now. The item will be displayed and show up on searches, but it cannot be purchased. Customers can look, but not buy yet.
• Tax Class: Some items may have a different tax rate than the usual sales-tax for the shipping/buyer location. Choose from one of many tax classes that the store owner creates themselves on the tax page.
• Feature this item?: If the store has a "Featured Items" widget enabled on the store, the item will appear among the featured items. This is perfect for drawing the attention of customers to that item.
• Add Images: The feature to point out here is the text that indicates the max-file size. In this screenshot from a test/demo store, the max size is "2M" (where "M" stands for megabytes). Be sure that each individual image that is uploaded with the product is under the specified file-size. Otherwise, it will not upload. To get images within the uploadable size, try using image editing software to shrink the image.

Inventory (Second Portion of Page)

• Description: This field supports HTML tags/markup as well as plain-text. HTML syntax errors will be reported on the top of this inventory page upon submittal. Such error messages will indicate the line number and a description of why the syntax is wrong.
• Keywords: These keywords are used by search engines, the store's search bars, and social media sharing. To make the most optimal keywords, try out some of the below tips.
  • Do not include the title of the item nor the author. Search functionality (search engine's and the store search fields) will already know where to get the title and author.
  • If the item is a book titled "Baking Cakes" and it describes how to bake a cake as well as provides recipes, some good keywords would be "recipes,sweets,diy baking,home baking". This will allow customers to find the said book when searching "home cake recipes", for instance. In other words, keywords provide special flags that can help a customer find a book if the title and description do not already specify those key/essential words.
  • When making keywords, ask yourself, "If I did not know the name of this item nor that it existed, but I needed/wanted something that this item would satisfy, what would I type on Google or in the search box to find something like this?".
  • Think of keywords like vague descriptors of the item. For illustration, if selling an art kit, good keywords could be "paints,artist kit,craft kit,crafts for children,art supplies".
  • Another great use for keywords is general descriptions of the book. For instance, imagine a grandparent somewhere has a grandchild that likes books about military-style video games. If the grandparent types in "military video game", then items with any, most, and all of the keywords will more likely appear.
  • If many products on a store have sentences listed after "Keywords", then there is the perfect opportunity to revamp the store and increase traffic by following the above tips.that field and revamp

The next area of the page has fields that are more specific to a particular set/type of items. One may utilize a combination of the fields in these different tabs to describe a single item. For instance, if selling books, one could utilize the Multimedia field "genre" to describe the book. This also allows one to search and find other items within that genre.

Book-Specific Fields

Book-specific Inventory Fields

Electronic-Specific Fields

Electronic-Specific Inventory Fields

Multimedia-Specific Fields

Multimedia-Specific Inventory Fields