Every online seller knows, that perfect service is the key to more profit. By perfect service, I mean that the whole fulfilment process has to be flawless. For instance, your customers have to receive their orders before the estimated delivery date, you shouldn’t accidentally run out of stock and you need to keep up with customer service. That is why you need to figure out how eBay out of stock control works and what are other ways to avoid overselling.
Why you need to avoid running out of stock?
As mentioned before, you need to complete each sale step perfectly in order to satisfy your customer. Basically, running out of stock might be the reason why your customer will never come back to your store. It could also:
- Impact your reputation. It could force your customer to leave a negative review
- Create a fake order. Without knowing that a particular item is out of stock, your customer can order it.
- Ruin your inventory management. When you cannot predict your stock levels, you cannot reorder the right amount of each item.
Free eBay out of stock control tool
In order to avoid the situations mentioned before, eBay created a free tool that helps keep the process under control. This option is called “Good ‘Til Cancelled” listings. When you set this listing duration, it shows up to buyers, only if you still have that item in your stock. Basically, eBay automatically hides your listing, when you sell all your items. This option prohibits your customers from ordering items that are not in stock and protects you from having to deal with the backlash.
eBay automatically hides your listing when you sell all your items
In order to turn it on, you need to go to My eBay, then click on “Account” and choose “Site Preferences”. Under the “Selling Preferences”, click on the “Show” button. Finally, select the “Edit” next to “Use the out-of-stock option” and click on “Apply”.
What are the other ways to avoid running out of stock?
Another tip to improve eBay out of stock control is to use “Reorder points”. Unfortunately, eBay does not provide this feature, so you have to choose third-party software. Multiorders inventory management software does not have any additional charges for this feature, and it instantly updates your inventory after each sale.
Multiorders provides you with an option to set different reorder points for each of your products. When a particular item’s quantity drops to that level, you will get a “Low Stock” alert, so you will have enough time to reorder it. This and all other Multiorders features can permanently remove the risk of overselling and disappointing your customer.
