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Getting the most out of a sku name

  • May 31, 2012
Reading time: 2 minutes
Each product in your inventory must be given a unique stock keeping unit, more commonly known as a SKU. It might be easy to just number your SKUs, starting with 0000001 and just incrementing each time you add a new inventory item. But SKUs can be incredibly valuable, if you know a few simple tricks.

Information to Include in a SKU:
 
  • Product Identifier – Since every SKU has to be unique, use the UPC number or the ASIN as part of your SKU.
  • Date Purchased/Listed – Use 2 letters for months, 2 numbers for the day and 2 numbers for the year. This can be used to let you know at a glance how long an item has been listed on Amazon.
  • Location Purchased – Create two letter abbreviations for your sources. WM = Walmart, EB = eBay, for example. In case you forget, this can be a handy way to remember where your inventory is coming from.
  • Your Cost – Use 4(or more) digits (no decimals) to represent your cost. 4995=$49.95, 0900=€9,00. You can even use an additional symbol for currency if you source in various currencies.
  • Warehouse Location – If you’re fulfilling the item yourself, knowing where it is in your warehouse (or home) can make your life easier. Who hasn’t searched high and low for a product that needs to be shipped! Use a 2 or 3 letter/number code. DR=Dining Room, W1=Warehouse1, for example. Just don’t go moving things around too much!
  • ConditionProducts can only be listed on Amazon if… More – Use a one or two-letter code to identify the condition of the item. N=New, VG=Very Good

 

Putting it All Together

Say you bought a brand new baseball glove from the Salvation Army for $13.50. It’s being stored in your spare bedroom and you’re listing it today, May 31st, 2012. Here’s what your SKU would look like:

B0030FMAJQ-MY3112-SA-1350-SB-N

That’s ASIN-Date-Purchase Location-Purchase Cost-Storage Location-Condition. And all in 30 characters! And, according to Amazon, a SKU can be up to 40 alpha-numeric characters. That leaves room to spare!

The value of naming SKUs in this way is that it lets you see a ton of information about a product in one place. No more searching databases or hunting for receipts. Make a habit of naming your SKUs in a way that’s valuable to you. Once you start, you’ll wonder how you ever did without it!

And I’d love to know how you name your SKUs. Leave a comment here to share your ideas.

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  • Posted in: Amazon, Fundamentals, Resources, Seller Help

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16 Responses

  1. Kerri says:
    October 30, 2012 at 12:00 pm

    Hi Paul,
    This is a great (and timely) post – thank you! I’m getting set up to start selling my maternity support pillow online and I have a question. What’s the difference between the SKU number and the model number?
    Right now I just have one color and one size pillow. But I want to be keeping track of when the pillows were manufactured. For example, if I have a quality control issue with a pillow, I want to know which batch it was in from my manufacturer. Should I be creating a new SKU for each batch of pillows they make for me – even though right now they will be the same color/size? Should I be reserving the model number for when I begin to add new colors and sizes? I want to make sure I do this the best way possible the first time around so that I’m organized now! Thanks for your help!

    Reply
    1. Paul Cole says:
      October 30, 2012 at 2:31 pm

      Hi Kerri,

      Thank you for commenting! I love hearing from readers!

      A model number is assigned by the manufacturer, but SKU numbers are for your own internal reference.

      Each SKU should correspond to one ASIN, so don’t use multiple SKUs for the same ASIN. You’ll need to come up with an alternative way to keep track of different batches of pillows.

      It might be best to have a “batchID” stamped on your pillows’ tags for quality control among different batches.

      Hope this helps!

      -Paul

      Reply
      1. Kerri says:
        October 30, 2012 at 6:02 pm

        Thanks for your quick reply, Paul! Yes, very helpful. That makes sense. I’ll have to get creative about how to have a batch # printed somewhere on the pillow…

        Reply
  2. Bob Morley says:
    March 13, 2013 at 9:02 am

    Actually this seems like a pretty bad idea to me if your Amazon inventory is of any reasonable size (and you replenish). The same product may come from different sources and at different costs. Moreover, you can move your inventory from one location to another and you would have to again change your SKU.

    If you had an inventory tracking system of any sort, you would have to manage a whole set of SKUs for the same product to get an accurate total for that particular product.

    That said it would work well for the very small working out of your house type seller.

    Reply
    1. Paul Cole says:
      March 13, 2013 at 9:18 am

      Great point!

      I do agree that a system like this is best for new sellers.

      Thanks for your input!

      -Paul

      Reply
  3. Agustin Caceres says:
    July 1, 2013 at 12:23 pm

    Dear Paul,
    We need to buy some UPC codes for our products we manufacture and distribute but I don’t see the companies that sell UPC codes asking for any description of the product where the codes will be used at. Would that be necessary or each store creates their own database once they purchase our products? So basically it is just the number we are buying which can be used for anything. I hope you understand my question.
    Thanks,
    Agustin Caceres
    LE Group Industries, LLC

    Reply
    1. Paul Cole says:
      July 2, 2013 at 8:35 am

      If you have a lot of products you need bar-codes for (thousands), you should be going to GS1 http://www.gs1us.org/. They are a nonprofit group that sets standards for international commerce. Here you register as a company and you get your own identification number that appears as the first part of the UPC. You’ll pay an application fee of a few to several hundred dollars, then a much smaller annual fee. The exact amount of the fee depends on your answers to application questions, including a revenue projection for the next 12 months, and the number of products for which you expect to need individual UPCs in that time. Description of the product may be required. They will also ask for information about the company.

      If you have a short range of products, there are other sites which resell-up UPC bar-codes where you can buy bar-codes individually or in bulk ranging from $8 each to $29 each. You will be paying for the use of that company’s identification number — not your own. That means your products’ UPC will begin with another company’s ID number. No description of the product is required if you decide to buy them from third parties.

      Examples: http://www.buyabarcode.com and http://www.barcodestalk.com
      http://www.nationwidebarcode.com – they are reliable and pretty cheap

      If you have more questions, please write in to services@SellerEngine.com!

      -Paul

      Reply
  4. Floris L says:
    October 28, 2013 at 6:18 pm

    Hello Paul,

    I am just building an online store and I am learning how to create SKU #s for my items. You mentioned something on the beginning about the SKU including the UPC or ASIN #. I don’t mean to sound like a dummy but I would like to know where the UPC or ASIN comes from. I am thinking (and this is just a guess), it comes from the manufacturer. Could it be the number manufacturers give to the product? Also what is the easiest way to keep track of the SKU via computer, as opposed to writing it down in a notebook? I am sorry to ask so many questions. I just want to make sure I am doing this right, and most importantly understand it right. Thank you and hope to hear from you soon 🙂

    Reply
    1. Paul Cole says:
      October 29, 2013 at 4:10 pm

      Hi Floris,

      The UPC is the numbers below the barcode. The ASIN is the number/letter combination used to identify the product on Amazon. For example on this item:

      http://www.Amazon.com/Plus-Matrix-Driver-Mens-Right-Handed/dp/B000A0S46M

      The ASIN is B000A0S46M.

      A spreadsheet or an inventory management/listing program is the best tool for tracking SKUs.

      Starting out with a simple excel spreadsheet will help you build good habits as far as being organized goes.

      But when you’ve grown a little bit and need more help, listing software like SellerEngine Plus could be a big help.

      If you ever need any help in the future, please write to me directly, paul.cole@SellerEngine.com

      -Paul

      Reply
  5. Abhishek Kumar says:
    June 1, 2014 at 2:29 pm

    Sir
    I want to know the SKU for the list of ASIN for the Amazon products

    How can I get the SKU for the corresponding ASIN for the products

    Waiting for your quick response

    Reply
    1. Paul Cole says:
      June 2, 2014 at 3:09 pm

      On Amazon SKU is something that is for a seller’s reference. It’s not something that’s available publicly.

      If you have more questions, email us, support@SellerEngine.com.

      Reply
  6. Maxwell says:
    May 5, 2015 at 6:30 pm

    Hello,
    thank you so much Paul for this interesting article, i have a problem and I’m waiting for your help please as soon as you can pleaaase…

    I’m looking for the stock codes/model numbers to be converted to Amazons ASIN so we can sell our products on their website. for example Model Number 90039 is ASIN B00G29PICI
    I mean if you know a free tool to convert SKU to ASIN or something like that or just how I can do it myself
    please help me.

    Best regards

    Maxwell

    Reply
    1. Paul Cole says:
      May 11, 2015 at 3:33 pm

      Unfortunately, I don’t know of an automated tool that can do what you’re looking for.

      Sorry!

      Reply
  7. Ausic says:
    December 6, 2015 at 9:24 pm

    Hi Paul,

    I’m running an ebook store where we sell epubs and we want to be able to give ID numbers like ASIN to ebooks on our platform that do not have ISBN number.
    Of course I know this will be unique tous, can we follow the approach you put up there?

    Many thanks.

    Reply
    1. Maria says:
      December 7, 2015 at 8:32 am

      Hi,

      Of course you can, you just have to think of sequence that makes sense to your business.

      Reply

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