Inventory Management Independent Study

Our Inventory Management Course is here to teach owners and book buyers all of the ins and outs of ordering, buying, restocking, returning, curating, and budgeting, plus tips and systems to increase the bottom line and make the job easier.

Inventory Management Course for Certification/Self-Study - coming in Fall 2025!

You may also choose to purchase individual classes:

Buying Criteria - You can’t stock everything! Reduce decision fatigue, unconscious bias, etc. by creating buying criteria in advance and fine-tuning them over time. ($65)

Buying to Constraints - Buying books is fundamental to running a bookstore, so you'll need a plan to keep purchases within your budget goals is vital. Learn strategies from successful buyers, as well as tips and tools for considering time and other non-monetary concerns. ($65)

Frontlist Buying Through Edelweiss - This class is designed to help book buyers learn to improve discounts and margins by shifting frontlist buying directly to publishers using Edelweiss in conjunction with a publisher rep. It includes Edelweiss terminology, using markup catalogs, and how to create Edelweiss export rules. ($65)

The Power of Ingram - This class shows book buyers all the ins-and-outs of ordering through Ingram. You'll learn Ingram terminology, Ingram Publisher Services, how to choose primary and secondary warehouses, and strategies to meet the minimum requirement for reduced shipping. ($65)

Restocking, Events, and Pubeasy - How do you decide what to restock and what to let go?  Are you taking advantage of the myriad publisher backlist promos to stock titles for your upcoming seasonal displays or backlist books for your upcoming author events at an extra discount? This session will include a presentation on Pubeasy by MVB, the company that operates the Pubeasy and Pubnet services, which enable booksellers to efficiently place electronic orders directly with publishers. ($65)

Sidelines - This class considers everything you might sell other than trade books: used books, gifts, textbooks, remainders, and adding a cafe. ($65)

Special Orders, Pre-Orders, and Website Fulfillment - Taking, ordering, receiving, and selling special orders is vital to a healthy, thriving bookstore! This class will you build a solid system for processing special orders, pre-orders, and web orders in a way that is clear to staff and will get the books your customers want into their hands as quickly as possible. ($65)