What is the Custom label (SKU) on eBay?
When you create or revise an eBay listing, the Custom label (SKU) field holds your own reference for the item. It's for you, not your buyers: it doesn't appear on the listing page. In Seller Hub you can see it next to your listings and orders and search by it, which is why it's the natural place to keep an inventory code.
“SKU” stands for stock-keeping unit. For a store selling many copies of the same product, a SKU identifies the product. For a reseller with one-of-a-kind items, a SKU usually identifies one physical item, and often where it is.
Common reseller SKU systems
| System | Example | Good at | Breaks when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Location in the SKU | BIN4-17 · SH1-104 | Finding a sold item fast | You move items between bins: the SKU is now wrong |
| Sequential number | 10482 | Simple, unique | You still need a separate way to know where it is |
| Date or batch code | 2610-08-012 | Aging and cost by batch | Same location problem as a plain number |
| No SKU | (blank) | Nothing | Every sale starts a search |
The location-in-SKU system is popular because it answers “where is it?” at the moment of sale. Its weakness is that a SKU is supposed to stay with the item while locations change.
Keep your SKUs. Track the location separately.
A sturdier setup keeps the SKU as the item's permanent ID and records the location as its own fact, one that can change when the item moves. That's how LotLifter works:
- Your SKUs are kept. When you import your eBay store, each listing's Custom label becomes its LotLifter ID. A listing without one gets IMP- plus its eBay item number. The free import
- Locations are labels, not SKUs. Name the boxes, bins and shelves you already use, print a QR label for each, and assign items to them. Move an item and you scan it into the new place; the SKU never changes.
- Pick names the location. When an item sells, LotLifter shows which location it's in.
- Nothing gets lost. Items without a location are listed in Needs Put Away until they have one.
Already using location SKUs?
Keep them. They'll come in as your IDs, and you can label the same bins in LotLifter so the location is also tracked properly from now on. You don't have to relabel anything you've already listed.
A simple starting checklist
- Give every new item a Custom label before it goes live.
- Label your storage: one label per box, bin or shelf, not one per item.
- Record where each item is when you put it away.
- When it sells, pick by location; when you move it, rescan it.