Important points in purchasing and selling goods

Both in purchasing and selling goods, there are several points to consider. Goods receipt inspection and, for large trade volumes, electronic sales recording are very important.

Goods Purchasing

As soon as the ordered goods have arrived, you must promptly check them for the following points (so-called goods receipt inspection):

• Has the correct goods arrived?
• Does the quantity match that on the delivery note?
• Are there any quality defects?

After this inspection, the following data should be recorded, preferably on a computer system:

• Item number
• Cost price
• Quantity

Today, orders are often transmitted electronically via the Internet to the supplier to save time and costs. The delivery data are also sent electronically by the supplier to the purchaser. Although the merchant still must perform a goods receipt inspection, the data recording occurs automatically. Such internet solutions are referred to as b2b (business-to-business).

Goods Selling

In cases of large trade volumes, it is certainly advantageous to also record sales electronically. This is typically done by a scanner, which reads the barcode on the respective product. If there is a computer system available in which the items along with their selling and cost prices are noted, the bookings can be done automatically.

• Revenue from goods = Sold quantity x Selling price
• Cost of goods = Sold quantity x Cost price