About materials

Add or import materials, set purchase and tracking units, and specify low stock quantity limits to keep track of your inventory in Craftybase.

In this article, we will cover:

• How we define a material
• Adding or importing your materials
• Viewing your material details
• Uploading images
• Material unit costs
• Tracking units
• Low stock quantity limits
• Inventoriable materials
• Non-inventoriable materials
• Preferred Vendors
• Usage and Purchase Activity

What is a material?

A material is any raw material or ingredient used to make a product. These may be:

• Beads, wires, or clasps
• Lye, fragrances
• Fabric
• Wood
• Any other material used or consumed to make a product

Adding or importing materials

You can add materials individually or import them in bulk using a CSV (spreadsheet) file.

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on adding materials manually, please see our Introduction to Materials.

Viewing a material

Each material has a summary page containing a summary of stock levels and a description of the material. To find your Material summary page:

1. Go to your Materials List page.

2. Search or filter to find the Material you would like to view, then click the link for the Name of the Material.

3. The page that appears is your Material summary page.

Uploading an image for a material

To add an image for a material:

1. Navigate to your material summary page.

2. Click on the Edit button in the top right-hand corner of the page.

3. Select the Choose File button and upload your image.

4. Click the Save button to save the changes.

Material Unit Costs

Your material unit costs are calculated for you automatically using your complete purchase history. 

Learn more about material costing here ».

Tracking Units

Your material's tracking unit is the unit of measurement you want to track your manufactures and stock levels in. 

Your material's purchase unit is the unit of measurement in which you commonly purchase this material. This can be the same as your material's tracking unit or a different unit completely. You can use a standard measurement unit (such as Pound or Kilogram) or define a unit that better describes how you buy the material (i.e., Jar, Bag, or Strand). 

Learn more about material tracking and purchase units here ».

Low stock quantity limits

Each of your materials can be set with a low stock quantity limit for each material. If your stock level falls below your set limit, the material will be displayed as "low stock."

Inventoriable materials

Inventoriable materials hold a quantity and value that increases and decreases based on stock changes.

• Enter an expense → Total inventory value increases
• Create a manufacture → Total inventory value decreases

Read more about inventoriable materials here.»

Non-inventoriable materials

If you want to track items not directly used in your manufactures (such as tools or equipment), you can set these as non-inventoriable materials. Unlike inventoriable materials, they don't hold a cost value in the system nor are included in any manufacture or cost of goods sold calculations. 

Read more about non-inventoriable materials here.»

Preferred Vendors

The supplier you purchase this material from most regularly can be set as your "Preferred Vendor." Each time you enter a new expense for this material, you can nominate the vendor you purchased it from.

Usage & Purchase Activity

You can summarize your usage and purchasing activity on your material page. This provides a view of the rate at which you purchase and manufacture this material.

This data can be helpful when creating inventory forecasts (i.e., planning for future purchases and manufacturing).

The summary will display totals for the following periods: 1 week, one month, three months, six months, 12 months, and all time.

Usage and Purchase Activity breakdowns are available in INDIE+ plans.