Vendors & Manifests

Manage your supply sources and track inbound inventory with manifests for accurate receiving.

Admin Lead

A vendor in ListerLeo represents the source where your inventory comes from — liquidation companies, retailers, consignment clients, or any other supplier. Every item scanned in ListerLeo is linked to a vendor, which enables tracking, reporting, and manifest matching.

Creating a Vendor

Navigate to Vendors in the left sidebar.
Click Create Vendor.
Enter the vendor name (e.g., "Amazon Returns Midwest", "Target Overstock").
Optionally add contact information: email, phone, and address.
Set any vendor-specific default settings (see Vendor Settings below).
Click Create.

Tip:

Create specific vendor entries for each source, even if they are from the same parent company. For example, "Amazon Returns - Electronics" and "Amazon Returns - Housewares" as separate vendors makes reporting and pricing much more granular.

Vendor Settings

Admin

Each vendor can have default settings that cascade down to lots and items associated with that vendor. These defaults save time when processing large shipments from the same source.

Configurable Vendor Defaults

Default Starting Bid — The opening bid price applied to items from this vendor unless overridden at the lot or item level.
Default Category — The product category assigned to items when no specific category is detected.
Default Condition — A default condition code applied to items (e.g., if a vendor always sends "New / Open Box" goods).
Cost per Item — The average acquisition cost per item from this vendor. Used in profit margin calculations.
Description Template — A default description template applied to lots from this vendor. Use placeholders like {{item.title}} and {{item.condition}}.
Photo Required — Whether photos are mandatory for items from this vendor.
Auto-Lot — Whether to automatically create a lot for each item scanned from this vendor.

Tip:

The settings cascade in ListerLeo flows: Item > Lot > Parent Lot > Vendor > Organization. Setting defaults at the vendor level means you only need to override on exceptions.

Uploading Manifests

Lead Admin

A manifest is a spreadsheet (CSV or Excel) provided by a vendor that lists the items in a shipment. Uploading a manifest before receiving lets you verify that all expected items arrive and track any discrepancies.

How to Upload a Manifest

Navigate to the vendor's detail page.
Click the Manifests tab.
Click Upload Manifest.
Drag and drop your CSV or Excel file, or click to browse.
Enter a manifest name or reference number (e.g., "PO-2024-0847" or "Truckload #15").
Click Upload.

Supported file formats include .csv, .xlsx, and .xls. Files up to 50MB are supported, accommodating manifests with tens of thousands of rows.

Important:

Ensure your manifest file has a header row. ListerLeo uses the headers for column mapping in the next step. Files without headers will require manual column identification.

Column Mapping

Lead Admin

After uploading a manifest, ListerLeo presents the column mapping screen. This is where you tell the system which columns in your spreadsheet correspond to which fields in ListerLeo.

Mapping Fields

ListerLeo auto-detects common column names (like "UPC", "Title", "MSRP") and suggests mappings. You can adjust any mapping by clicking the dropdown next to each column header.

ListerLeo Field	Common Column Names	Required?
UPC/Barcode	UPC, EAN, Barcode, GTIN, SKU, ASIN, FnSKU	Recommended
Title	Title, Product Name, Description, Item Name	Recommended
MSRP	MSRP, Retail, Price, Retail Price	Optional
Quantity	Qty, Quantity, Count, Units	Optional
Category	Category, Department, Product Type	Optional
Brand	Brand, Manufacturer, Make	Optional
Condition	Condition, Grade, Status	Optional

Tip:

ListerLeo remembers your column mappings for each vendor. The next time you upload a manifest from the same vendor with the same format, the mappings are applied automatically.

Manifest Matching

Scanner Lead

Once a manifest is uploaded and mapped, ListerLeo matches scanned items against the manifest to track receiving progress.

How Matching Works

When you scan an item at the Processing Station with a manifest-linked vendor selected, ListerLeo checks the barcode against the manifest. Three outcomes are possible:

Match Found — The barcode matches a manifest row. The item is linked to that manifest entry and the manifest data (title, MSRP) is used to supplement barcode lookup data.
Already Received — The barcode matches but the expected quantity has already been scanned. ListerLeo warns you that this may be a duplicate or an over-shipment.
Not on Manifest — The barcode does not appear on the manifest. The item is flagged as "unmanifested" and is still created normally.

Receiving Against a Manifest

Scanner Lead

The manifest receiving view gives you a real-time overview of how much of a shipment has been received.

Go to the vendor's Manifests tab and click on the manifest.
The manifest detail view shows every row with its expected quantity and received count.
Rows are color-coded: green for fully received, yellow for partially received, and white for not yet received.
Use the progress bar at the top to see overall receiving completion percentage.

Manifest Discrepancies

Lead Admin

Discrepancies occur when the items received do not match the manifest. ListerLeo tracks three types of discrepancies.

Missing items — Items listed on the manifest that were never scanned. These could indicate short shipments or items lost in transit.
Over-received items — More units scanned than the manifest specified. This may indicate a vendor error or bonus items.
Unmanifested items — Items scanned that do not appear on the manifest at all. These need investigation.

View discrepancies by clicking the Discrepancies tab on the manifest detail page.

Important:

Document discrepancies promptly. Many vendor contracts have a window (often 48-72 hours) for reporting missing or damaged items. The discrepancy report can serve as documentation for claims.

Vendor Performance Data

Lead Admin

Vendor performance data is available in Analytics > Vendor Performance. This report lets you compare vendors side by side on metrics like revenue, sell-through rate, and manifest accuracy.

Vendor Activity

Lead Admin

Vendor-related activity (manifests uploaded, items scanned, lots created, settings changes) is tracked in the system's activity log. Each entry shows the timestamp, action, and the user who performed it.