FLUF / THE SELLER REFERENCE
Plain-English definitions for marketplace sellers, retailers and anyone managing physical stock. Understand listing terms, product identifiers, inventory metrics, item condition and shipping—with examples you can use.
92 terms, with 16 detailed explanations.
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As found: an auction-house abbreviation meaning a lot is sold in whatever state it was found, usually with known or suspected faults and no warranty of condition.
A clock catalogued “A/F” may be missing its key or not run. If you resell it, test what you can and describe the faults you found; repeating “A/F” does not tell an online buyer what is wrong.
The quantity currently available to sell after excluding committed or otherwise unavailable units.
Do not treat incoming deliveries as ready-to-dispatch stock. Decide how reservations, damaged goods and pending orders affect availability, and use the same definition across sales channels.
The average sales amount per order, calculated using a clearly defined revenue total divided by the number of orders in the same period.
£600 across twenty orders gives £30 per order under that definition. Decide how discounts, returns, tax and delivery charges are treated before comparing reports.
Average sales revenue per unit sold, using a consistent revenue definition.
£600 from thirty units gives an average selling price of £20. If those units were bought in twenty orders, the average order value would be £30. Units and orders are not interchangeable.
An order accepted for an item that is currently out of stock and expected to become available later.
A shop accepts an order for a sold-out mug with a clearly communicated restock estimate. This differs from accidentally selling stock that does not exist or taking a preorder for a new release.
A marketplace feature, best known on eBay, that lets buyers submit a price below the asking price for the seller to accept, decline or counter.
Setting an automatic decline below a floor price saves answering offers you would never take. Work the floor out from your cost, the marketplace fee and the postage, not from the asking price.
Buy It Now: a fixed-price listing a buyer can purchase immediately, as opposed to bidding in an auction.
A seller who runs a seven-day auction on a camera cannot also sell it at a fixed price elsewhere without risking two buyers. A BIN listing can be ended as soon as the item sells on another channel.
Brand new in box: an unused item supplied in its original box, which may or may not still be sealed.
Trainers that were tried on indoors and put back in the box are not BNIB. Say whether the box is sealed, opened or damaged, because collectors price those differently.
Brand new with tags: UK seller shorthand for an unused item with its original retail tags attached. It means the same as NWT.
A dress bought for a wedding, never worn and still carrying its swing tag, is BNWT. One that was tried on and had the tag cut off is not, even if it looks untouched; describe it as new without tags only if it was never worn.
Applying an action to several selected items or listings at once.
Changing prices across ten selected items is a bulk edit. Review the selection first, and check the results: supported actions and fields can differ between channels.
An action intended to give a listing renewed visibility; its meaning and cost depend on the marketplace.
Vinted’s paid Bump has its own conditions. Do not assume that bumping, editing and relisting are identical actions, or that any of them guarantees a sale.
Two or more products offered together in one purchase, sometimes at a combined price.
If three separately listed books are sold as a bundle, update the individual listings too. Check combined parcel size and weight before promising a shipping saving.
A percentage an auction house adds to the hammer price, paid by the winning bidder, usually with VAT charged on the premium.
A £100 hammer price with a 25% premium plus VAT on the premium costs £130 before any online bidding fee or collection costs. Use that total as the item’s cost.
A UK sale where people sell goods from their car boots or pitches, usually at weekends, used by resellers for both buying and selling.
Early buyers get first pick; late buyers get lower prices. Cash purchases are easy to forget, so note what you paid for each item that day so your cost of goods is accurate.
A shop run by a charity that sells donated goods to raise funds; a common sourcing ground for UK resellers.
Track what each shop’s finds go on to sell for, not just what you paid. A shop with higher prices can still be the better source if its stock sells faster.
Royal Mail’s online tool for buying and printing postage labels and managing orders from several selling channels.
Labels bought online can be printed at home and dropped off or collected. Check that the service on the label matches what the buyer paid for, especially between tracked and untracked options.
Clicks divided by impressions, expressed as a percentage, for a stated listing, link or advert.
Twenty clicks from a thousand impressions gives a two per cent click-through rate. It measures the step from being seen to being clicked, not whether visitors subsequently buy.
Sending several purchased items together, with shipping arrangements appropriate to the combined parcel.
Two books may fit in one parcel, but a larger order can cross a carrier’s size or weight threshold. Recalculate after packing rather than adding or discounting individual shipping charges blindly.
An arrangement in which an owner places goods with another party to sell, typically retaining ownership until sale, with payment and commission governed by their agreement.
A supplier provides a coat and a shop sells it for £100. Under an illustrative seventy/thirty split, the supplier receives £70 and the shop retains £30 before any separately agreed costs.
The proportion of a defined audience that completes a desired action, such as placing an order.
Ten purchasing sessions out of five hundred sessions gives a two per cent purchasing-session rate. A marketplace may use views rather than sessions, so check the denominator before comparing channels.
The cost attributable to the goods sold during a period, rather than the cost of every item purchased during that period.
Buying fifty items does not mean all fifty belong in the cost of goods sold if only twenty have sold. Keep unsold inventory separate and apply your accounting method consistently.
Offering a complementary product alongside the one a customer is buying.
Suggesting a protective sleeve with a laptop is cross-selling. Listing that laptop on a second marketplace is crosslisting. The similar names describe different sales activities.
Offering the same physical product on more than one marketplace or sales channel.
A seller lists one lamp on eBay and another marketplace. When it sells, the remaining offer needs updating or removing. Crosslisting increases places to buy; it does not create more stock.
In marketplace selling, another name for crosslisting an item on multiple platforms. In other contexts it means sharing the same social post in several places.
If someone says a chair is “crossposted”, it may sell through another platform. Confirm availability before arranging collection. This glossary uses the physical-product meaning.
Checking selected portions of physical stock on a rolling schedule instead of counting everything at once.
Count one shelf each morning, compare it with recorded quantities and investigate differences. Prioritise fast-moving or valuable products rather than repeatedly checking only the easiest boxes.
An estimate of how long current stock will last at a stated daily sales rate.
Forty units at an average of two sold each day represents twenty days of stock. If there are no sales, this calculation gives no useful depletion estimate; it does not mean zero days remain.
In inventory management, stock that is not selling and has little expected demand. In resale language, “deadstock” can instead describe unused older goods or unworn trainers.
An obsolete accessory that will not sell is a stock problem. An unworn collectible may be desirable. Explain which meaning you intend, and describe condition separately.
Removing an item’s offer from sale on a particular channel.
A seller may delist an item because it sold elsewhere, needs inspection or is no longer available. Removing a listing is different from cancelling an order that already exists.
A carrier’s weight-equivalent measure of how much space a parcel occupies, also called volumetric weight.
A large, light lampshade can cost more to ship than its scale weight suggests. Measure the packed parcel and use the divisor, rounding rules and service conditions of the actual carrier.
A finish deliberately made to look worn or aged, such as ripped jeans or a painted cabinet sanded at the edges.
If a buyer could mistake a design feature for damage, say so: “factory-distressed knees, no other wear”. Wear that happened after manufacture is condition, not a style, and should be described as such.
A retail product identifier commonly referring to GTIN-13, carried in an EAN-13 barcode.
Keep leading zeroes when saving identifiers in spreadsheets. Treat them as text so spreadsheet formatting does not shorten or alter them.
Excellent used condition: informal seller shorthand for a previously used item with limited wear.
EUC is not a universal grading standard. Describe actual marks, fading, pilling, missing parts or repairs in words and photographs so buyers can judge the item themselves.
A marketplace commission charged when an item sells, usually a percentage of the total sale amount.
On eBay UK, private sellers pay no final value fee on most categories, while business sellers do. Fees change and differ by marketplace and category, so check the current fee before pricing rather than relying on a remembered rate.
The work required to complete an order, including picking, packing, dispatch and related handling.
A paid order is not yet fulfilled simply because a shipping label exists. Confirm the right item and variant were packed and handed to the carrier.
Gross merchandise value: the total value of goods sold through a channel over a period, before fees, refunds and other deductions.
£2,000 of GMV on a marketplace in a month is not £2,000 earned. Subtract fees, refunds, postage and item costs to see what the sales were actually worth.
Gross profit expressed as a percentage of revenue: revenue minus cost of goods sold, divided by revenue.
An item sold for £40 with a £24 product cost has £16 gross profit and a forty per cent gross margin before other operating costs. This is not necessarily the profit left after marketplace fees and overheads.
Global Trade Item Number: a standardised identifier for a trade item, used to recognise the same product across businesses.
A shop’s internal SKU can differ from another shop’s, while the manufacturer’s GTIN for the same packaged product stays the same. A GTIN identifies a product type; a serial number identifies an individual unit.
The time a seller allows between receiving an order under the stated conditions and dispatching it.
A two-working-day handling time is separate from the carrier’s transit estimate. Explain cut-off times and dispatch days so buyers do not mistake handling time for the full delivery time.
Removing the entire contents of a property, often after a death or move, with the goods sold on, donated or disposed of.
A clearance can produce furniture, books, kitchenware and a few valuable pieces in one go. Sort what is worth listing individually from what is better sold as a job lot.
Hard to find: seller shorthand claiming an item is scarce.
“HTF” in a title is a claim, not evidence. Sold comparables show whether buyers actually pay more for it; if similar items sell weekly, the label will not hold the price up.
Bringing existing listing information into a catalogue or management tool.
Importing a live listing is different from publishing it to another marketplace. After import, review the item’s details and existing channel links before creating another offer.
Grouping stock by how long it has been held or available for sale.
A report might separate items into under thirty, thirty to ninety and over ninety days. Record the starting event consistently; changing a listing should not erase how long the business has owned the item.
A shortfall between recorded stock and the stock actually present, which can arise from loss, damage, theft or recording errors.
A record says twelve chargers but a count finds eleven. Investigate orders, returns and transfers before assuming theft. Correcting the count without finding the cause can allow the discrepancy to recur.
Keeping stock records aligned across connected sales channels as availability changes.
If one of three identical books sells, linked listings should reflect the remaining two. Coverage depends on the channels and setup. Sync reduces manual work but should not be treated as a guarantee against every oversale.
How many times the average inventory value is sold through during a period, commonly calculated as cost of goods sold divided by average inventory at cost.
If annual cost of goods sold is £24,000 and average inventory at cost is £6,000, turnover is four times per year. This is different from a percentage sell-through calculation.
In search of: a post saying what a buyer is looking for, common in Facebook groups and collector communities.
“ISO Levi’s 501 W32 L30” tells sellers exactly what to offer. Reply only with items that match, and complete the sale through a method that gives both sides protection.
Structured listing attributes such as brand, material, size or model that help describe a product and support marketplace filtering.
A title saying “blue wool jumper” does not replace filling in the colour and material fields. Use accurate attributes and leave uncertain information unclaimed.
A quantity of items sold together for one price, often mixed and unsorted, bought by resellers to break up and sell individually.
A £60 job lot of 40 tops costs £1.50 each, but if only 15 are worth listing, the real cost per sellable item is £4. Count the keepers before you count the profit.
A Royal Mail size format for flat items up to 35.3 × 25 × 2.5 cm and 750 g.
A folded T-shirt in a mailing bag can fit, but if the packed item is thicker than 2.5 cm it is a parcel. Measure after packing; a Large Letter format does not by itself include tracking.
The elapsed time between a defined starting event and a defined completion event, such as placing a stock order and having it ready to sell.
A supplier’s three-day production time plus four days in transit gives at least seven days before receipt. Include inspection or preparation if it delays sellable availability.
Goods sold off in bulk by retailers or their administrators, often customer returns, overstock or damaged items, typically by the pallet or lot.
A manifested pallet lists its contents; an unmanifested one does not. Budget for items that turn out faulty or incomplete before calculating the price per unit.
The amount added to cost to set a selling price, often expressed as a percentage of that cost.
Buying an item for £20 and pricing it at £30 gives a fifty per cent markup. The margin is only a third of the selling price. Confusing the two can leave prices below your target.
The smallest quantity a supplier is willing to sell under a particular offer, often shortened to MOQ.
A supplier might require twelve units per colour. Confirm whether the minimum applies per product, variant or total order; those conditions lead to very different stock commitments.
Manufacturer part number: a code the manufacturer uses to identify a particular part or product.
For a replacement appliance part, copy the manufacturer’s reference exactly and check compatibility separately. Your own stock code should go in the SKU field, not the MPN field.
Selling through more than one channel, such as an online store, a marketplace and a physical shop.
A ceramics business might sell through its own website and Etsy. It needs a reliable way to track orders and stock across both, even if the customer experience differs.
Profit after all costs, including item cost, marketplace and payment fees, postage, packaging and overheads, expressed as a percentage of revenue.
An item sells for £30. It cost £8, fees took £4 and postage and packaging £4, leaving £14, a net margin of about 47% before overheads. Gross margin on the same sale would ignore the fees and postage.
Older goods that remained unused, often from previous retail stock, commonly shortened to NOS.
An unused boxed camera accessory can still have degraded materials or damaged packaging after years in storage. Check and disclose its present condition rather than assuming unused means faultless.
New without tags: an unused item whose retail tags are absent. It does not mean worn but still looking new.
A gifted shirt with its tag removed may qualify if it has never been worn and meets the marketplace’s condition requirements. A shirt worn once should be described as used, however tidy it looks.
New with tags: seller shorthand for an unused item with its retail tags attached. BNWT means brand new with tags.
A tag alone does not prove an item is unused, genuine or free of defects. Inspect the item and select the marketplace’s actual condition option, then describe any storage marks or packaging issues.
Or best offer: a signal that the seller is willing to consider offers around an asking price.
“£50 OBO” invites negotiation; it does not promise acceptance of every offer. Confirm the final price and included delivery or accessories through the marketplace’s agreed process.
An approach that connects sales channels so customers can move between them with a more consistent experience.
Buying online and collecting in a shop is an example when orders and stock are coordinated. Merely listing products on several websites does not establish an omnichannel operation.
One of a kind: an item with no identical copy, such as a vintage piece, a handmade original or a sample.
A one-off item has a quantity of one on every marketplace where it is listed. If it sells in one place, the other listings must come down promptly, or the seller has two buyers for one item.
A product whose original packaging has been opened; the exact marketplace condition definition can vary by category.
Check functionality, accessories and signs of use before choosing this condition. An opened box does not by itself establish that the product is unused or complete.
Accepting orders for more units than you can supply.
Two marketplaces can each accept an order for the same one-off jacket. The seller has two orders but only one jacket. Accurate counts, connected listings and prompt stock updates all help reduce this risk.
A marketing term for a previously owned item, commonly used for second-hand goods.
Preloved does not establish a precise condition grade. A bag can be previously owned and barely used, or heavily worn. State the specific condition instead of relying on the label.
An order placed before a product’s release or stated availability date.
A maker accepts orders for a new print before production finishes. Buyers should understand the expected dispatch date. A preorder is planned availability, not a promise that the item is sitting on a shelf.
The offer buyers see for an item: its title, pictures, description, price, condition and purchase details.
One physical camera can have several marketplace listings. Those listings are separate offers for the same stock, not additional cameras you can sell.
A specific combination of a product’s options, such as a black T-shirt in size medium.
Three colours in four sizes can produce twelve variants. Track stock for each combination: having five small shirts does not mean a medium is available.
Paid placement on a marketplace, where the seller pays for extra visibility, often as a percentage of the sale price when a promoted listing sells.
A 5% ad rate on a £40 sale costs £2 on top of the normal fees. Include it in the price check before promoting thin-margin items.
Carrier evidence recording delivery, which may include a timestamp, photograph or signature depending on the service.
Check that the evidence belongs to the correct shipment. A delivery scan is useful evidence, but it does not by itself resolve every dispute over contents or condition.
A previously owned or handled product that has been inspected and restored as described by the seller or refurbishment programme.
Explain what was checked, repaired or replaced and who did the work. “Refurbished” does not automatically mean manufacturer-certified, new cosmetics or a particular warranty.
Putting an item back up for sale or refreshing its listing presence, subject to a marketplace’s rules.
Before relisting an unsold lamp, review its price, photographs and description. A refreshed listing cannot fix inaccurate information or guarantee a better search position.
The stock threshold that signals when to order more of a replenishable product.
At two units sold per day, seven days to replenish and six units of safety stock, a simple reorder point is twenty units. It tells you when to order, not how many to buy.
Buying goods through retail channels and reselling them where a different price can be achieved.
A clearance item may sell for more elsewhere, but delivery, fees, returns and eligibility rules can erase the difference. A higher listing price elsewhere is not evidence that buyers pay that price.
The proportion of sold units or orders returned, using a defined basis and time window.
Five returned items out of a hundred units sold gives a five per cent unit return rate. Do not mix unit returns with an order denominator, and allow time for recent orders to complete their return window.
Return on investment: profit divided by what you spent, expressed as a percentage.
Buying a jacket for £10 and clearing £15 profit after fees and postage is a 150% ROI. ROI compares against cost; margin compares against the sale price. They answer different questions.
Extra stock kept as a buffer against unexpected demand or replenishment delays.
If a shop normally needs twenty units while waiting for a delivery, keeping five additional units provides a buffer. That buffer costs money and storage space, so it should reflect actual uncertainty.
The percentage of a defined stock pool sold during a stated period.
Selling thirty of a hundred available units gives thirty per cent sell-through for that period. State the denominator and treatment of replenishment: reports do not all calculate the stock pool in the same way.
A Royal Mail service in which the recipient signs on delivery, giving proof of delivery.
A signature confirms the parcel was handed over at the address. It does not confirm what was inside, so photograph high-value items as they are packed.
Stock keeping unit: a code a seller assigns to identify and track a particular product or variant.
A blue mug and a green mug need different SKUs. Two identical blue mugs can share a SKU and have a quantity of two. For unique second-hand items, assign each item its own code.
Stock selling more slowly than the business expects over a defined period.
A seasonal decoration may move slowly in spring but sell well later. Judge speed against its category, season and intended selling window before classifying it as dead stock.
A Royal Mail size format for items up to 45 × 35 × 16 cm and 2 kg.
A pair of trainers in their box usually fits. Price the service, tracking and compensation level you choose separately from the size format.
Comparable completed sales used to assess what buyers have paid for similar items.
Compare the same model, condition, size, included accessories and sales period. Unsold asking prices show seller expectations; they do not establish achieved selling prices.
An item sold as not fully working, for parts or for someone to fix, rather than as a functioning product.
A games console that powers on but will not read discs is spares or repairs. List the fault you observed and what you tested, and choose the marketplace’s not-working condition rather than a used grade.
The stock physically held at a location, including units that may already be reserved or otherwise unavailable for sale.
Ten mugs on the shelf might include two committed to paid orders and one damaged mug. Physical stock is ten, but immediately sellable stock is only seven.
A situation in which a product has no stock available to meet demand.
A popular cable selling out is a stockout. An oversale happens only if you accept an order you cannot supply. Tracking stockouts helps distinguish weak demand from missed sales caused by unavailable stock.
Needs TLC (tender loving care): an informal description for an item that needs cleaning, mending or restoration.
A vintage chair with a wobbly leg and a stained seat “needs TLC”. Buyers will still want to know which leg, how bad the stain is and whether the frame is sound, so name the work required.
An identifier used to follow a shipment through a carrier’s tracking system.
Creating a tracking number does not prove the parcel has been collected. Check carrier acceptance and progress events if a buyer asks whether the item has actually been dispatched.
A product identifier commonly referring to GTIN-12, represented by a UPC barcode in retail.
Copy the identifier for the actual product and variant. A barcode on a different pack size is not an acceptable substitute simply because the brand matches.
Very good condition: informal shorthand for a used item with light, minor wear and no significant faults.
VGC on a wool coat still needs specifics: light pilling under the arms, all buttons present, no moth holes. Shorthand tells a buyer your opinion; photographs and a list of marks let them form their own.
Buyers who have saved a listing to follow it, shown as a count on some marketplaces such as eBay.
Ten watchers and no sale usually means interest at a lower price. Some marketplaces let sellers send an offer to watchers; check what you are willing to accept before you send one.
Selling goods to businesses, usually for resale, often in larger quantities or on trade terms.
A retailer buys a case of notebooks to sell individually. Compare the actual delivered unit cost and minimum order with expected demand; a low headline price is not useful if most of the case remains unsold.
Definitions focus on physical-product selling. Examples are illustrative. Marketplace condition labels and reporting formulas can differ: follow the linked primary references and the rules of the service you use. Acronyms are explained in their selling context, not every possible meaning.
