Can one app track both inventory and sales for resellers?

Yes, and it should — splitting them across two tools causes most reseller tracking to break. A reseller item exists in three states: new (bought, not yet listed), listed (live on one or more platforms), sold (sale recorded with platform and date). The same record carries through all three states. Apps that separate inventory from sales force you to re-enter the same item, which fails within weeks.

What's the difference between an inventory app and a sales tracker?

A pure inventory app tracks what you own — quantity, location, value. A pure sales tracker tracks transactions — who bought what, when, for how much. Resellers need both views of the same item, plus profit calculation that combines purchase price, listing platforms, sale price, and expenses. A reseller-specific app like FlipperHelper unifies the workflow; general inventory or accounting apps handle one side but not both.

How do you track inventory and sales together for free?

Three options: (1) a free reseller app like FlipperHelper that handles both views in one record; (2) a Google Sheets template with item rows and status columns — works under 200 items but breaks down at scale; (3) eBay Seller Hub plus a notes app, but you lose multi-platform and expense tracking. For market-sourcing resellers, option 1 saves hours per week.

What information should I track for each item?

Photo, purchase price, market or source, seller (if known), date purchased. When listed: which platforms and the listing date. When sold: sold price, sold platform, sold date. Across the business: entry fees per market, transport costs, packaging. Without expenses tied to items or sourcing trips, the profit calculation is wrong.

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Last updated: 2 May 2026

App to Track Inventory and Sales for Resellers (Free, iOS)

2 May 2026 Guide 7 min read

The point of an app to track inventory and sales is that the same item record carries from purchase through listing to sale — without you typing anything twice. Resellers who use one app for inventory and a different one for sales (or worse, a different spreadsheet for each) almost always abandon tracking within a few months. The data drift is too much work.

Here's how the unified workflow actually looks for someone sourcing at car boot sales, charity shops, and estate sales, then selling across eBay, Vinted, Facebook, and Depop.

"Inventory and sales are the same data, viewed at different points in time. If your tools split them, you're doing twice the work for half the accuracy." — Oleksandr Prudnikov, FlipperHelper developer

The three states of a reseller item

Every item you flip moves through three states. A good app handles all three in one record.

State 1: New (purchased, not yet listed)

You picked it up at a car boot for £3. It's now sitting in a box at home. The record needs: photo, purchase price, market, seller, date bought. This is the "inventory" view — what stock you currently own.

State 2: Listed (live on one or more platforms)

You photographed it properly, wrote a description, and listed it on eBay and Vinted on the same day. The same record now has: listing date, listed platforms, asking price (optional). Stock is still yours, but it's now visible to buyers.

State 3: Sold (sale recorded)

It sold on Vinted for £28 a fortnight later. The same record now has: sold price, sold platform, sold date. Profit calculates automatically — sold price minus purchase price minus the share of expenses (entry fees, transport, packaging, platform fees).

If your tools force you to re-enter the item between any of these states, you'll stop tracking. The whole point of a unified inventory + sales app is the record carries through.

Why splitting inventory and sales fails

Tracking inventory and sales in separate tools is the single most common reason reseller tracking falls apart. Three failure modes show up:

Double entry burns out

Every item gets typed once into the inventory tracker and again into the sales log. After 100 items, you stop. By 200, you're guessing at month-end profit because the data doesn't match.

Items get lost between tools

You list something on eBay, mark it sold, but never remove it from inventory. Six months later your "stock value" is wildly off because dozens of sold items are still counted as inventory.

Profit math doesn't reconcile

Inventory tool says you own £1,200 of stock. Sales tool says you sold £3,400 last month. You can't tell what fraction of that £3,400 came from items in the inventory tool vs items you forgot to log. Real profit becomes a guess.

The fix is one tool, one record per item, status that updates as the item moves through states.

What a reseller inventory + sales app should track

Beyond the basic per-item fields, the app needs three layers of context to produce honest profit numbers.

Per-item data

Photo (one or more)
Purchase price + currency
Market or source
Seller (if known)
Date purchased
Listed platforms + listing date
Sold price + sold platform + sold date
Optional: SKU, description, condition, asking price

Per-trip data (Hauls)

A sourcing trip costs entry fees + transport + sometimes meals. The Sunday car boot run costs £5 entry + £8 petrol + £6 lunch = £19 before you sell anything. A unified app should let you group items + expenses into a "haul" so you can see whether the trip paid for itself across all the items as they sell over weeks. More on tracking sourcing trip profit.

Per-business data

Total stock value (sum of unsold purchase prices)
Total revenue (sum of sold prices, by period)
Total expenses (entry fees, transport, packaging, platform fees)
Real profit (revenue minus cost of goods sold minus expenses)
Days-to-sell, sell-through rate, profit per platform

How FlipperHelper handles inventory and sales in one record

FlipperHelper is a free iOS app where each item is a single record that updates as its status changes.

The workflow

At the market — tap +, snap a photo, type the price (£3), pick the market (auto-suggested by GPS if it's a saved one). Item saves with status New. Takes 8 seconds
At home, listing day — open the item, mark as Listed on eBay and Vinted (with today's date). Status changes to Listed. The item still counts in your stock value but is visibly "out for sale"
When it sells — open the item, tap Mark Sold, enter the sold price (£28) and platform (Vinted). Status changes to Sold. Profit is calculated automatically. Stock value drops by the £3 you originally paid
End of month — open Money Flow. See revenue, costs, expenses, and real profit by week, month, or custom date. Filter by platform or market

Inventory + sales together — what you can see

Home screen stock value — total £ invested in unsold items, count, percentage already listed
Items grouped by date — tap the stock value to see purchase-date groupings with markets
Top Flips — most profitable sales for any period (3+ sales required)
Money Flow — revenue, costs, expenses by category, profit, days-to-sell, percentage listed, all in one view
Per-item profit — sold price minus purchase price minus allocated expenses, shown on the item card
Hauls — per-trip ROI updating live as items from that trip sell

What about cross-listers and accounting apps?

Two adjacent categories of tool show up in this conversation:

Cross-listers (Vendoo, List Perfectly)

These automate listing the same item across multiple platforms. They're complementary to a tracker, not a replacement. A cross-lister pushes your listings out; a tracker tells you what each one earned. Tracker vs cross-lister comparison.

Accounting apps (QuickBooks, FreeAgent)

For UK resellers crossing the £1,000 trading allowance (see HMRC's official trading allowance guidance), an accounting app handles tax, invoicing, and books. It doesn't track per-item inventory or sourcing trips. Many full-time resellers use a tracker (per-item, per-trip) plus an accounting tool (per-tax-year). FlipperHelper exports CSV to Google Sheets which most accountants can import.

Frequently asked questions

What's the simplest free app to track inventory and sales?

FlipperHelper for iOS — one record per item, three states (New/Listed/Sold), profit calculated automatically. No item cap, no ads, no subscription. For Android users, the simplest free option is currently a Google Sheets template, though it's painful on mobile at markets.

How many items can the app track?

FlipperHelper has no item cap — active resellers track thousands of items over time. Many free inventory apps cap at 100–500 items, so check before committing.

Can I track multiple platforms in one inventory record?

Yes — an item can be marked listed on eBay and Vinted simultaneously, with the sale recorded against whichever platform it eventually sells on. This is the main reason a unified tracker beats single-platform tools.

Does the app calculate profit including fees?

Profit = sold price − purchase price − allocated expenses (entry fees, transport, packaging). Platform fees can be entered as expenses per item or as totals per period. Real-profit tracking explained.

What happens if I reinstall the app?

FlipperHelper backs up to iCloud automatically and offers restore on a new device. Optional Google Drive sync also stores photos and CSV exports. ZIP file export is available manually. Data survives device changes and app reinstalls.

Track inventory and sales free with FlipperHelper

Free iOS app for resellers. One record per item, from purchase through listing to sale. Real profit after fees and expenses. Works offline at every car boot. No item cap, no ads, no subscription.

Not right for you if: you're on Android, you want automated cross-listing instead of tracking, or you only sell under 20 items per month and a Google Sheets template is doing the job — in that last case, switching tools costs more time than it saves.

Download Free on the App Store

About the author

Written by Oleksandr Prudnikov — developer of FlipperHelper. The app started as a tracking tool for his wife's reselling at UK car boot sales, charity shops, and antiques fairs. The "single record, three states" model described here is the same data model the app actually uses internally — not an idealised workflow invented for the article.