Easy Jewelry Business
Inventory System

a free, do-it-yourself solution

© by Rita Juhlin; all rights reserved

I came up with an easy jewelry business inventory system while assisting a friend.

If you can right-click, copy and paste you can do it.

My friend and I purchase more than 90% of our cabs, beads and findings online, and have done so for years.

From the jewelry supply website where we order our items, we copy and save the supplier's photo of each item we purchase. We use this photo to create our super easy jewelry business inventory spreadsheet.

Rose quartz, created rubies, and
several feet of goldfill wire.
Centerpiece of necklace by Rita Juhlin.

Some time ago here on Rena's site there was a discussion about "counting beads" for year end purposes (plus a follow-up discussion, The KISS Theory).

Even though I do not do that, I thought I'd share an easy jewelry business inventory system that works for my friend and is enormously easy.

If you don't have a picture to copy and save from the supplier, you can take a photo of your inventory item after it arrives.

Resize the image with a simple program such as Paint (if you're on a PC), or the built-in Preview program (if you're on a MAC).

If you don't want to do that, you can instantly make thumbnail images as I describe in my blog post, Easy Thumbnails. Even a caveman can use that program, LOL.

You take care of the indexing and inventory at the same time, with the file name of the picture.

For example, if I purchase a string or two of the same bead, I would put this information in the file name:

• the date (month and year), such as 0808 for August 2008;
• the price, such as 250 for $2.50;
• the number of beads, if you want, such as 25 (for 25 beads total);
• include any other details you wish - such as the cost per bead, include cost of freight or not, etc.

My end file name would look something like: 08082502510 (Aug. 08, $2.50, count 25, .10 each) - or for clarity sake:

0808_250_25_10.

Another example, including a brief description of the bead in the file name:

0808_250_25_10_8mm_onyx.

Example of Rita Juhlin's
easy jewelry business inventory system.

There are two ways you can easily view this list of inventory images: as a list of file names, or as pictures.

For the purpose of transferring to a simple spreadsheet where you can total a column with a couple clicks, view it as the list of file names.

Copy and paste the file name of the picture, without the extension (such as .gif or .jpeg):

• use your mouse to highlight the image file name only
• right-click and choose "copy"
• go to your spreadsheet
• right-click and choose "paste" to add the image file name to a row in your spreadsheet.

It's quick, it's easy, and you will have every purchase documented your easy jewelry business inventory.

After you copy and paste a couple of times you can do it in your sleep!

If you really want to get carried away, you can include a column for the actual thumbnail picture in your spreadsheet too.

Spreadsheets are wonderful for keeping track of things; they can be easily sorted also.

If you buy a number of the same things at different times, all you would have to do is make a column for "type" and then sort from that column; just remember to highlight the entire page when you sort!

Carnelian beads with a fine thread of goldfill.
Earrings by Rita Juhlin.

As you use the beads in your inventory, you can enter a minus number and total again.

Your results will be a total cost of inventory on a day-to-day basis (running balance). This information can also be used to quickly calculate the cost of a necklace or bracelet.

Using a split screen you can view two spreadsheets at once, making it easy to copy and paste information from one to another. Anything you can view in a browser you can copy and paste.

So if you get an invoice online, you can copy and paste a description also. It's much faster and more accurate than retyping everything.

There are free spreadsheet programs available online in case you don't have one. I'm a DIY person and I don't buy anything I don't have to!