Replenishing stock levels for in-demand items you offer is just as important as identifying new products to sell. When your item stocks out, not only do you miss out on sales opportunities, but you also risk poor customer experiences that may affect your feedback score and performance metrics.
To avoid stockouts:
- Use a third-party inventory management tools to keep your inventory numbers up-to-date. This is especially important if you sell across multiple channels.
- Use your sales reports to stay on top of restocking. If your items are selling faster than usual, restock earlier.
- View your active listings in Seller Hub, and sort by quantity available to identify items that are currently or soon to go out of stock. Compare quantity available and page views and if you find that you have a high number of page views but low inventory, you might need to restock soon. If you’ve recently restocked, be sure to edit your quantity available.
Avoiding out-of-stock cancellations
Even more detrimental than a stockout is an out-of-stock cancellation. This occurs when a buyer makes a purchase, but the seller then cancels the order because the item is out of stock. Not only do out-of-stock cancellations provide a poor customer experience, they can potentially damage your brand reputation and negatively affect your seller standing.
To avoid out-of-stock cancellations, enable the out-of-stock option in your selling preferences. This setting will hide your listing from search results until you replenish the inventory.
Handling out-of-stock cancellations
- If you have to cancel an order because it is out of stock, make it right for your buyer by letting the buyer know when the item will be back in stock.
- If the buyer does not want to wait, offer a cancellation and full refund.
- If the buyer is willing to wait, offer free expedited shipping when the item is back in stock and communicate the expected timeframe.
- Consider sending a coded coupon for a discount on their next purchase as a thank-you for their understanding.
Read more on how to never be out-of-stock again by visiting our seller center - https://sellglobal.ebay.in/seller-center/never-be-out-of-stock-again/
Regards,
eBay INCBT Team
