Guides for running an independent store
Procedures, not opinions. How to count a slice of the floor without closing, how to grade and price a scratch-and-dent unit, how to make a lease-to-own sale reconcile. Written for appliance, furniture, liquidation and specialty stores and for the trades, and free to read whether or not you ever buy anything from us.
If you want to know what we think independent retail should look like rather than how to run one, that is on the About page.
- Moving over9 min read
Move your stock off spreadsheets without losing serial numbers
Your stock comes across as a CSV. Your customer history does not. Clean the file before you import, run catalog and quantities as two passes, and count on day one.
Read it - Money in, money out8 min read
How to record a lease-to-own sale so your margin is right
Ring the full ticket, record the provider as the tender, and post the gap between the ticket and the deposit as a fee — not as a discount on the item.
Read it - Money in, money out9 min read
How to reconcile a Stripe payout against your books
A payout is a batch, not a day. It nets fees, refunds and disputes over a window that never matches your sales day. Match the batch, post the fee as an expense.
Read it - Money in, money out11 min read
How to price delivery zones and haul-away fees
Work out the fully loaded cost of one stop, draw zones off drive time instead of map radius, price haul-away as its own line, and cap free delivery by zone.
Read it - Run the floor9 min read
How to grade, photograph and price a scratch-and-dent unit
No industry-standard scale exists, so write your own — a three-grade definition built on where the damage is, five photos per unit, and pricing off today's street price.
Read it - Run the floor8 min read
Serialized or bulk: which of your stock needs a serial number
Serialize a unit when it is individually different, individually warrantied or individually expensive. Count everything else in bulk. Three questions decide it.
Read it - Run the floor10 min read
How to cycle count a two-person store without closing the floor
Count a slice of the floor every week instead of everything once a year — which slice, how often, and what to do when the number is wrong.
Read it