A question for those of you that make Jewellery? How do you do your stock take?
Do you guess length of beading wire left for example?
When it comes to items you already have made up do you add up the value of each bead and finding?
When I started making I totally didn’t think about what a nightmare stock take might be. I have havent found any lengthy answers on the internet relating to Stocktaking for Crafters.
Tbh I don’t really. I know what I have and roughly what it’s worth by looking at my shop (from sales price know roughly what make price was) but I defo don’t work it out forensically - though if I saw the need I’d probably start keeping a spreadsheet record when listing things and keep it updated. I keep a mental note of what I’m running low on (sometimes a list on my phone) so I know what materials to order.
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Thanks. I keep thinking, do I really have to count every spacer or crimp! I can’t find a straight forward answer anywhere!
When I swapped from a hobby to setting up a shop I also set up a few basic excel spreadsheets. One is a rough guide - materials inventory for beads, gemstones, findings and wires etc. Just a basic description, cost, quantity and then divide quantity by cost to work out the pice per single bead etc. With regards to wire, I usually buy this in bulk and work out the cost per half meter. Sometimes you just have to guess how much you used on a piece when you are working back from memory. The one thing I haven’t done is keep track of what is left really. I just order more if I’m running low on something.
I recently inherited a lot of jewellery making supplies and I have too many to log and track. When it comes to pricing these I look at online and guess it’s value based on current prices of similar beads etc.
Another spread sheet is to keep tabs on completed pieces for inventory and sales. This is where I combine materials, labour, overheads etc to figure out what to charge. I find it easier to do this once a week. When I make something new I jot down what I use in a notebook so it’s easy to work out when I update the inventory. I hope that makes sense. I am not overly strict with it but it is useful to me.
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Thank you! That is so helpful🙏🏻 I have excel spreadsheets and it sounds like I have them set up similarly. I think part of the problem is its been my first year and I have bought stuff from lots of different suppliers. So in future I will definitely be limiting who I buy from.
A few websites mentioned cost price for what we make but only materials and didn’t even mention labour so that was confusing me too!
You’re welcome. It’s my first year too so I am winging it. Much like you I couldn’t find a great deal of information out there either.
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I don’t think I’ve ever done a stock check like you are describing so I guess my question is what are you hoping to gain from doing it? For my beads I wrote the cost per bead on the packet when I got them so when I make something I can work out how much the materials cost for an item but I don’t keep track of how many are left as I will have used some in a piece, scrapped some as too flawed to use and accidentally pinged some across the room to be found at some random point in the future when I least expect it.
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In theory you are meant to keep a stock inventory of raw materials and stock made and at the end of the accounting year it should be reported to HMRC in your tax return but no where does it explain the fine detail.
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Tanya I just noticed on your shop you are in Lichfield! I am in Coleshill, not that far away. Haven’t been to Lichfield for ages, need to come over and check out the bead shop! Your wire work is amazing by the way!
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Not far at all! Spellbound Beads is like a treasure trove! Once you step inside time stands still. I love it. I haven’t been in there for a while myself due to lockdown. 
Thank you so much. I am still learning as I go (started last year) but really love wire wrapping. I love your collection too. You take great photos. x
I did an online order with Spellbound during lockdown. I fear if I go in there I shall spend too much! Wow! you definitely have a talent for wire work as you have achieved a lot in a year! I have done a little hammering of wire to make clasps and I tried making some rings but I get so much pain in my hands with fibromyalgia that I think I will mostly have to stick to my beads.
I was a photographer before beading so that helps! I use boards from a company called Photoboards for my backgrounds and shoot mostly with natural light with a bit of LED. Here’s a link to Photoboards. The 40x40 ones are okay for jewellery. It’s worth keeping an eye out for when they have their seconds sale as you usually can’t see whats wrong with them.
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Those online shops soon mount up. Yes it can really hit the bank account when you see and want all of those shiny beads! 
Thank you for the lovely compliment. I do have to be careful with hand pain too and need to take breaks for the sake of my wrist (old injury). You can tell you are a professional at photography. 
Thank you for the link. I started using a faux leather mat and aquarium driftwood as my background. I will keep my eye out for the sales.
I must have my business set up differently and I make things from textiles but I have never had to report my stock to HMRC in my tax return. I do an inventory in January every year listing the finished stock I have but approx 50% of what I work with is scraps, offcuts or salvaged fabric/wool so would have to go by weight. Like Sasha I write down how much per item cost me originally. I would have thought the stock inventory is more for large limited companies and they would list their raw materials by the “box” unit. If you really want to use all your spare time counting then a spreadsheet would be the way to go (I have an accounting ledger I picked up in a charity shop) but I think you are overthinking this and making more work than needed. Good luck, I hope you don’t use seed beads😆
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I think we must be operating on different types of accounting/ tax return. I do my tax return as a ‘simple accounting’ and submit it as a number for expenditure and a number for income - they haven’t (yet) asked me to justify my numbers or do any sort of stock take. (something I’m thankful for as I don’t think there is a way to quantify silver saw dust (most of which is collected into a jar) or the waste generated from doing my lapidary (most of which is collected by the hoover))
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There are a lot of inventory trackers on E…y to download.
If your turnover is within a certain limit, cannot remember what that is now you only need to do a simple tax return. Two figures in , out and that is it.
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Thanks. It does sound like I am making more work for myself than I need to! Oh my! could you imagine counting seed beads! I suspect what I have read is perhaps more for bigger companies phew!
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Thanks. I think you might be right that perhaps you don’t need to do stock inventory for simplified accounts as there isn’t a box for it.
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As Sasha said if you are using the simple accounting tax return and operating as a sole trader you would be using the simplified tax expenses style accounting system and that is basically everything in and everything out.
Enjoy using your beads not counting them.
Good luck with the tax return.
My accountant came up with a rough figure of unused materials and stock, and stuck with that year on year, he told me to let him know if either went up dramatically at any point ie if I started using a lot more gold. So I guess the figures didn’t need to be too accurate.
Now my husband does my tax return and there is nowhere that asks for that info.
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Thanks for sharing.