When is a spreadsheet the right choice?

When you sell a dozen things a month, buy them one at a time, and nobody else needs to see the numbers. A spreadsheet is free, it is yours, and nothing about it has to be learned. Most resellers outgrow it the first time they buy a lot for one price, and most makers the second time a bag of materials comes in at a different price.

What is the first thing that breaks?

The cell that cannot say “not known yet”. A storage unit bought for $600 with 40 things listed so far gives a cost of $15 each, which will be wrong by the time the last box is open — and that guess becomes the profit figure forever. Intakes keeps the purchase open, marks what sells meanwhile as provisional, and reprices everything when you close it.

Can I bring my spreadsheet into Intakes?

Yes. Export it as a CSV, drop it on the import page, match your columns to Intakes’ fields, and each row becomes an item and a line on a draft purchase at the cost you paid. The preview says exactly what will be created before anything is, and a second import of the same sheet adds nothing twice.

Can I get my data back out?

Any list exports as a CSV from its own menu, with the filters you had on, and Settings builds an archive of the whole workspace as spreadsheets whenever you ask. Nothing is locked in.

Intakes vs a Spreadsheet — When Google Sheets Stops Working for Inventory

Side by side

	Intakes	A spreadsheet
A lot bought for one price	✓ One open purchase; sell while unpacking with the cost marked provisional; spread the price and freight by value; every piece repriced at close, sold ones included.	— Price ÷ items counted so far, rewritten by hand each time a box is opened — or never.
“Not known yet”	✓ A cost that is not computed yet is absent, never zero or a guess, and every report says so.	— A cell holds a number. An empty one reads as zero in every formula.
Freight, fees and discounts on a purchase	✓ Recorded on the purchase and spread across its items automatically.	◐ Possible with a formula, kept up by discipline.
Marketplace sales and fees	✓ eBay and Etsy orders arrive within a minute with the fees the marketplace charged, by name.	— Typed from payout reports, or reconciled in March.
Stock by quantity	✓ Lots by the yard, pound or piece beside individual units; split and merge keep cost history.	◐ A quantity column, until a lot is split, merged or partly sold at two prices.
Making things	✓ Recipes and work orders; each batch costed from what it actually used.	◐ A recipe tab dividing a bag by a yield, blended across bags that cost different amounts.
Corrections	✓ Reopen a purchase, add the forgotten fee, close it; every affected cost recalculates, sold items included.	◐ Find every row the fee should have touched.
Who did what	✓ Every change recorded with who and when, per record and as one feed; roles and permissions for a team.	◐ Version history, if you look.
Tax time	✓ Inventory valued on any day; a year-end packet with cost of goods worked two ways and placed on Schedule C.	◐ A count you type and a formula you trust.
Cost	$49 a month after a 90-day trial.	Free, plus the hours.

The honest split

Where A spreadsheet is the better choice

You sell a handful of things a month, bought one at a time.
Nobody else needs to see or edit the numbers.
You want a layout nobody designed but you, and no monthly fee.
You are not sure yet whether this is a business.

Where Intakes is the better choice

You have bought a lot, a pallet or a storage unit, or are about to.
You sell on eBay or Etsy and are tired of reconciling fees from payout reports.
You hold stock by quantity, or make what you sell.
Someone else works in the business, or an accountant asks you for figures.
You want to know your true profit while the year is still happening, not in April.

Pricing

Intakes

$49 / month

One plan, every feature, unlimited people.
1,000 items and 300 completed sales a month included; beyond that $0.02 per item and $0.10 per sale.
90-day free trial, no card needed.

A spreadsheet

Google Sheets is free; Excel comes with Microsoft 365.
The real cost is the hours: entering fees, splitting lots by hand, and finding the row a forgotten receipt should have touched.

Questions people ask

When is a spreadsheet the right choice?: When you sell a dozen things a month, buy them one at a time, and nobody else needs to see the numbers. A spreadsheet is free, it is yours, and nothing about it has to be learned. Most resellers outgrow it the first time they buy a lot for one price, and most makers the second time a bag of materials comes in at a different price.
What is the first thing that breaks?: The cell that cannot say “not known yet”. A storage unit bought for $600 with 40 things listed so far gives a cost of $15 each, which will be wrong by the time the last box is open — and that guess becomes the profit figure forever. Intakes keeps the purchase open, marks what sells meanwhile as provisional, and reprices everything when you close it.
Can I bring my spreadsheet into Intakes?: Yes. Export it as a CSV, drop it on the import page, match your columns to Intakes’ fields, and each row becomes an item and a line on a draft purchase at the cost you paid. The preview says exactly what will be created before anything is, and a second import of the same sheet adds nothing twice.
Can I get my data back out?: Any list exports as a CSV from its own menu, with the filters you had on, and Settings builds an archive of the whole workspace as spreadsheets whenever you ask. Nothing is locked in.

Intakes vs a spreadsheet