Selling on Instagram, WhatsApp and TikTok moves fast. A Reel takes off, twenty people ask for the same dress in DMs, and by evening three of them have been promised a size that sold out at lunch. Inventory management for social sellers is about one thing: never promising what you do not have. This guide covers a simple system that works for small teams, from one product list to daily stock habits, using Karobar Inventory.
Step 1: One product list everyone uses
The first rule is a single product list that every channel and every teammate reads from. Not a notebook, not a spreadsheet on one person's phone, and not memory.
- Every product, with its name, price, photos and SKU.
- Every variant, with its own stock and SKU. Total stock is added up from the variants.
- A status: Active for what you sell now, Draft for what is coming, Inactive for what you have stopped.
Already have a spreadsheet? Import it: only the name and price are required, and Karobar matches your columns. See Add products and manage stock.
Step 2: Record stock coming in and going back
Stock is only right if every movement is written down. In Karobar, a stock purchase records goods arriving from a supplier, with quantity and unit cost, and a stock return records goods going back. Save it as a draft while you count, then confirm it to update the numbers. Each document can be downloaded as a PDF for your records.
Recording unit costs has a bonus: the Profit & margin report shows what you really earn per product. See Build and schedule a business report.
Step 3: Know where the stock is
If you keep stock in more than one place (a shop, a store room at home, a supplier's godown), add each as a warehouse with its address and the person in charge, and choose a default. Then each purchase or return says where the goods went, and you stop sending a rider to the wrong place.
Step 4: Stop promising what is gone
- AI drafts check stock. Karobar AI reads your product list before drafting a reply, so it does not offer a product that has sold out. It does not quote exact counts to customers.
- Low stock alerts. Set an alert on products that sell fast, and check the Low Stock view every morning.
- Say "last few". When stock is low, tell buyers honestly; it also helps them decide.
- Take orders in one place. Record each order from the chat so the team sees what has been sold today. See How to take orders from Instagram DMs.
Step 5: Keep your WhatsApp catalogue in step
Customers who browse your WhatsApp catalogue expect it to match what you have. Karobar can import your catalogue from Meta, push your products to it, and sync it. How to keep the two in step, and turn catalogue carts into orders, is in How to sell from a WhatsApp catalogue.
Pre-orders, made-to-order and bundles
- Pre-orders. Keep products that have not arrived as Draft, and tell buyers the expected date in every reply. Switch them to Active and record the stock purchase when they land.
- Made to order. Stitching, printing or baking to order? Record the materials as stock, and give buyers an honest lead time instead of a stock promise.
- Bundles. If you sell a set (a three-piece suit, a gift box), make sure each piece in it has enough stock before you promote the bundle.
- Returns. When a customer returns an item in sellable condition, add it back to stock the same day, so it can be sold again.
A daily and weekly routine
| When | What to do |
|---|---|
| Every morning | Check the Low Stock view and tell the team what is nearly gone. |
| After packing | Update the stock of what went out today. |
| When goods arrive | Record a stock purchase before putting anything on sale. |
| Every week | Count your top 20 products by hand and correct any differences. |
| Every month | Run the Stock health report: what runs out soon, what is not selling. |
Products that do not sell for weeks tie up cash. Use the Stock health report to decide what to promote, bundle or stop reordering.
Mistakes to avoid
- Counting only the total. Track each size and colour, or the total looks fine while the popular size is gone.
- Posting before recording. A product shown in a Reel before it is in your list cannot be checked by anyone.
- One person holding the truth. If only one person knows the stock, sales stop when they are away.
- Never counting by hand. Small errors grow; a weekly count of the best sellers catches them.