Track finished products, materials, hardware, and shipping supplies
Track optional stock for finished products, filament, hardware, and real shipping supplies by location, with audits, reorder points, and scan or manual updates.
What is seller inventory in PlyOps?
PlyOps seller inventory adds optional, explainable counts to the product, variant, material, and packaging records a 3D print seller already uses. It is for knowing what is on hand and where, not for running a warehouse or controlling marketplace quantities.
Updated
- Trackable records
- Products, variants, materials, hardware, and packaging supplies
- Location detail
- Bins, shelves, rooms, drawers, packing stations, and finished-goods areas
- Count inputs
- Manual entry, keyboard scanners, or camera scanning
- Marketplace boundary
- No live marketplace quantity management
Method: turn on only the counts you need
Start with a record that already describes the thing: a finished product or variant, a filament or other material, a piece of hardware, or a physical packaging supply. Enable inventory for that record, choose a stock unit, record the opening balance, and assign a location when location detail is useful.
After setup, use stock movements instead of replacing a number without context. Receipts, additions, removals, transfers, set-count corrections, and audit corrections leave a history that explains how the current quantity was reached.
- Choose the item and its counting unit
- Set an opening balance and optional location
- Add a reorder point and target when replenishment matters
- Review movement history or run an audit when the shelf and record disagree
Count finished goods and the supplies you actually stock
Finished-product counts are optional. A made-to-order shop may track only ready-to-ship variants, while a small batch seller may count every finished color and size. Materials can include filament and hardware such as screws, magnets, or inserts.
Packaging inventory means the physical boxes, mailers, bags, padding, inserts, and labels on the shelf. That count is separate from assigning suitable packaging to a product or using a packaging-fit suggestion. A product can recommend a box without pretending that box is currently in stock.
Use locations and audits to explain the number
Locations can represent the way a small shop is actually arranged: a bin, shelf, room, drawer, packing station, finished-goods area, or another named place. Transfers move a quantity between locations while preserving the reason for the change.
An audit can cover all enabled items or a selected group and can be narrowed by location. Blind-count and review steps help the seller count what is physically present before accepting corrections. Completing an audit records the reviewed correction rather than quietly rewriting history.
Update counts by scan or by hand
PlyOps can generate QR and Code 128 labels for inventory records. At the workbench, a seller can use a keyboard-style scanner, a supported device camera, or manual code entry, then choose the intended receive, add, remove, transfer, set-count, cycle-count, or lookup action.
Scanning is an input shortcut, not an autonomous stock system. The seller selects the record, quantity, location, and reason and can review the resulting movement. Manual updates remain available when a label is missing or a scanner is inconvenient.
Worked example: a wall-hook variant ready to ship
A seller keeps the Black PLA wall-hook variant in a finished-goods bin and enables an each count for the ready-to-ship pieces. The same workspace tracks black filament by weight, screw packs as hardware, and 6 × 4 × 2 inch shipping boxes as physical packaging supplies.
The seller sets a reorder point for boxes and screws, receives a delivery into the packing-station location, and scans a box label when supplies move to the workbench. During a monthly audit, the physical black-hook count is one lower than the record; the reviewed audit correction explains the difference without changing any Etsy, Shopify, or eBay quantity.
Limitations: seller counts, not warehouse control
The inventory workspace keeps seller-controlled counts and movement history. It does not run purchasing, financial valuation, warehouse automation, or print-job dispatch.
Inventory does not manage live marketplace quantities and does not silently deduct stock from marketplace sales. Marketplace actions remain seller-reviewed. Use the movement, scan, and audit tools for the internal counts you choose to maintain, and use the marketplace itself for its live availability rules.
Common questions
Do I have to track stock for every product and supply?
No. Inventory is optional per record. Turn it on for the finished products, variants, filament, hardware, or shipping supplies where an on-hand count helps, and leave it off elsewhere.
Can I use a barcode scanner?
Yes. PlyOps supports QR and Code 128 labels plus keyboard-scanner, camera, and manual code entry workflows. The seller still chooses and reviews the stock action.
Does PlyOps update Etsy, Shopify, or eBay quantities?
No. PlyOps inventory is an internal seller count. It does not manage live marketplace inventory quantities or silently deduct stock because a marketplace sale occurs elsewhere.
Is this a warehouse, ERP, or accounting system?
No. PlyOps provides practical counts, locations, audits, reorder points, labels, and movement history for a maker or seller. It is not a generic warehouse management system, ERP, or accounting ledger.