How to track what’s selling best each week
Jun 29, 2025
Mastering Weekly Sales Tracking: A Beginner’s Guide
For resellers, understanding which items fly off the shelves is the difference between steady growth and wasted effort. Tracking what’s selling best each week helps you restock smarter, focus your marketing, and maximize profit. Fortunately, you don’t need to be a tech whiz or own a warehouse full of gadgets to implement a system that works. Here’s a simple, actionable guide to get you started—even if you’re brand new to reselling.
1. Centralize Your Inventory & Listings
The first step is to avoid chaos: centralize your inventory and listings. This means organizing all your products, whether they’re on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Etsy, or your own site, in one place. A central system keeps everything in sync and helps you avoid double-selling or forgetting what’s available.
Spreadsheet (Google Sheets, Excel): Start with a simple table. List the item name, SKU, selling platform, date listed, and quantity. It’s free and easy to update.
Inventory Management Tools: If you’re ready for an upgrade, consider beginner-friendly tools like Gavelbase (especially for multi-platform sales), or apps like Zoho Inventory and Ecomdash.
Sync Listings Automatically: With tools like Gavelbase, you can link your selling platforms and keep inventory levels up-to-date everywhere as sales happen.
2. Assign Basic Team Roles
Even if you’re a solo seller, define who does what—this helps avoid confusion and burnout as your business grows.
Listing Manager: Handles adding and updating product listings.
Sales Tracker: Records sales and fees, and compiles weekly summaries.
Shipping Coordinator: Manages order fulfillment, shipping, or pickup arrangements.
If you’re doing everything yourself, schedule blocks of time each week for these roles. If you have help, assign clear responsibilities.
3. Track Sales and Fees Efficiently
To know what’s hot each week, you need to record every sale—quickly and accurately. Here’s how to do it with minimal hassle:
Manual Method: Add a new row to your spreadsheet for each sale. Include the item, date sold, platform, sale price, and any fees (like eBay or PayPal).
Automated Method: Tools like Gavelbase or GoDaddy Online Seller Tools can import and track sales across platforms automatically, saving you tons of time.
At the end of each week, sort your data by quantity sold or total revenue to see which products performed best. For extra insight, calculate your profit by subtracting fees and shipping costs from each sale.
4. Handle Shipping and Pickup Smoothly
Quick, organized order fulfillment keeps buyers happy and protects your reputation. Here’s how to keep it simple:
Shipping: Print labels in batches at the end of each day or as orders come in. Use tools like Pirate Ship or ShipStation for discounted rates and easy tracking.
Pickup: Set clear pickup windows, confirm with buyers, and mark items as picked up in your central inventory system.
Record Fulfillment: Update your spreadsheet or inventory tool as soon as an order is shipped or picked up. This avoids mix-ups and keeps your weekly sales data accurate.
5. Review and Act on Weekly Results
Every week, set aside 10–15 minutes to review your sales data. Ask yourself:
What were the top three bestsellers?
Are some items consistently slow to sell?
Did you run out of stock on any hot products?
How much did you earn after fees and shipping?
Use these insights to restock popular items, adjust prices, or rethink your sourcing strategy. Over time, you’ll spot trends—seasonal hits, surprise winners, or products that aren’t worth relisting.
6. Keep It Simple, Keep It Consistent
The most important part of weekly sales tracking isn’t fancy software—it’s consistency. Pick a central system you’ll actually use (even if it’s just a spreadsheet) and update it religiously. As your business grows, you can upgrade to more advanced tools or invite team members to help. The key is to build habits now that make scaling easy later.
Recommended Next Steps
Set up your central inventory list today—start with your current listings.
Schedule a 15-minute weekly review on your calendar.
Try a free inventory management tool like Gavelbase if you’re ready for automation.
Read up on inventory management best practices for deeper tips.
By tracking what’s selling best each week, you’ll quickly get a handle on your reselling business—and set yourself up for long-term success, without overwhelm or wasted effort.