Getting Started with Manifests

Introduction to why and how to use the manifesting system for stores and e-commerce

Rain Gilbert avatar
Written by Rain Gilbert
Updated over a week ago

Overview

A manifest is a digital representation of a list of items a supplier will be sending to an e-commerce operation for sale online.

After a store or supplier identifies items to sell online, creating a manifest is the first step in getting items sold on online marketplaces. Once a manifested item is sold, the sales price is tracked back to the supplier, and can be used for store incentive programs, assigning sales credit, etc.

Upright Labs’ Lister manifesting system provides visibility into what stores are sending and allows an e-commerce team to set up a feedback loop to improve sales outcomes.

  • Transparency → manifests allow stores to see the complete life cycle of the product. Using the "All Manifest Items" report, store admins will be able to see if the item was accepted or rejected and why, if the item has been listed, if it sold and how much it sold for, and more!

  • Efficiency → manifests streamline the process of QA and intake of products allowing e-commerce teams to process greater volumes of products

  • Loss prevention → manifests allow you to better track where the items are in the transportation process

This article provides an overview of the benefits of using manifests in your operation, along with links to related help center articles for stores and e-commerce teams.


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Table of Contents

Manifesting Overview Video

Data Visibility for Stores

Since items rejected by e-comm never get listed, it’s hard to get a complete picture of a supplier's performance based on listings and sales alone. Manifest reporting allows you to drill down into every item that's sent to e-commerce, as well as zoom out to identify larger-scale trends.

Data Visibility for E-commerce

The Manifest overview page provides at-a-glance information on how many manifests have been created by stores and the current status of each manifest.

A manifest state is as follows:

  • Created: Represents a manifest that has been started but may not be ready for transfer to e-commerce

  • Ready for Pickup: Used by store teams to indicate that the manifest is ready to be shipped to e-commerce for processing

  • In Transit: Indicates the manifest has been collected by the transportation team and is on the way to e-commerce

  • Received: Used by e-commerce teams to indicate that the manifest has arrived at the facility

  • Missing: If a manifest can’t be found, stores, drivers, or e-commerce can mark the manifest as missing to help with loss prevention investigations

    • In addition, e-commerce can mark individual items as missing from within a manifest

  • Partially Processed: A manifest received by e-commerce and being inspected

  • Processed: A manifest that has been fully inspected by e-commerce

Manifest states provide visibility on the current status of store items

The in-app Manifest report visualizes manifest data from any time period to help track trends, highlight outstanding sales numbers, and many other metrics useful to leadership teams and data gurus.

Example Manifest report data

Instant Feedback For Stores

  • Manifests are a great way to provide instant feedback to suppliers

  • Accept products that will sell, and reject items that don’t make the cut

  • You can also place a hold to let a store know why an item was not immediately accepted

Preferred Items

Manifesting on Lister

The clipboard icon in the top right corner of Lister is a quick link to the manifests page

Manifest manager
  • View each manifest to edit and process when inventory arrives at the warehouse

Adding a Manifest

💡Operational Tip: Create one manifest per container of items to to help speed up the processing and posting of items online.

Opening a Manifest

  • Click the "eye" icon to open an existing manifest

Searching for a Manifest or Manifest Item

  • Use the top search bar to look up a manifest by barcode number

  • Use the “Search manifest items” link to search for specific items

Processing a Manifest

Generating Manifest Reports

Related Guides

Have questions? Reach out to us at support@uprightlabs.com or via chat anytime between 9am-6pm ET, Monday to Friday

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