How to Use Custom SKUs with ScanLister

What is an Amazon Seller SKU

A SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) is a unique number assigned by the seller when listing an item.  This is a number that only you can see, and you use it to track an organize your Amazon business.   It can contain any number or letter combination that you want, but there is a 40-character limit.  You could just keep it simple and use a sequence like 00001.  Then move up increments of one every time you list a book.  However, if you’re a little creative, you can use this code to impart the following information.

Information to Include in the SKU

Supplier – You can include where you purchased the item.  For example, if you bought a book at Goodwill, you can include the abbreviation “GW” in your SKU.  In this case, your SKU would look like this: GW-00001

Date Purchased/Listed – You can include the date you listed the item.  That way, when an item sells, you can see how many days, months, or years it took to sell.  Here’s an example: GW-00002-7-24-2017

Sales Rank – I’m surprised more people don’t use this.  I always put rank at the end of my SKU.  For example, If I sell a book, and the SKU number shows rank of 4,321,849, I can look at the date purchased and see how long it took this long-tail book to sell.  Here’s an example of a SKU with sales rank embedded.  GW-00003-7-24-2017-4321849

Location – This can be beneficial to a merchant fulfilled seller.  Knowing where your items is at can make your life easier.  You can use a 2 or 3-digit code for location.  For example 1B3= First Bookcase 3rd shelf down.  A SKU example could look like this: GW-00004-7-24-2017-1B3-4321849

Cost per Unit – It can be helpful to know what you paid for an item after it sells. That way you will know the exact profit. An example would look like this: GW-00005-7-24-2017-2.20-4321849

Condition – Use a one or letter code to identify the condition of an item. N=New, VG=Very Good.  This can be useful if you want to know if any of your “acceptable” items are selling.  Or if your repricer is matching the lowest price for that sub-condition.  GW-00006-7-24-2017-2.20-VG-4321849

Automatically Add Custom SKUs

On ScanLister, go to Settings - SKU Pattern.  The following is there by default.  You can change this but we recommend keeping the Sequence because that will create a unique SKU for every item.

You can add more information to the SKU by selecting the + button.  Here are the following options: