The columns a stock list needs before anyone can act on it

The usual friction in surplus buying is not price — it is “I cannot read the sheet you sent me.” A stock list you can act on does not need many columns, but every column has a job. Below are the eleven we use, and the buyer question each one answers.

Identity: part number, brand, country of origin

Write the full ordering part number, not the short form.88PG867-B1-NNY2C000-T is not the same thing as 88PG867 — the suffix carries package, tape-and-reel option and temperature grade. A short form makes the buyer guess, and a wrong guess only surfaces on the receiving dock.

Keep brand and origin in separate columns.The same part is assembled in different countries, and origin drives customs treatment.

Form: package, packing method, quantity per pack

The package (QFN-20, BGA…) decides whether it can run on their line.Leave it blank and the buyer has to come back and ask — one round trip is usually a day.

Packing method and quantity per pack only mean something together.“Reel · 3000 pcs” states the smallest unit you will break to. “243,000 pcs available” without the reel size tells the buyer nothing about whether you can split to his volume.

Checkability: the lot code

The lot code is the hardest column to fake and the one most often left out.It lets the buyer line up the sheet, the photographs and the physical goods. Without lot codes he can only trust the whole sheet or none of it; with them he can pick one line and verify it.

Logistics: pack weight and dimensions

These two are for the freight forwarder, not the buyer.With weight and carton size he can get a freight estimate the same day. Without them the quotation takes another round.

Volume: quantity per pack and total must stay separate

“3000 pcs/reel” and “243,000 total” are two different numbers.The first is the split granularity, the second is availability. A sheet showing only the total looks bigger and tells the buyer less.

A good list also says what it does not say

Condition, whether packs are still sealed, the spread of date codes, whether any reels are partial — if those are not columns, the covering note has to say “see photographs” or “ask per line” rather than leaving blanks that read as absence. An honest list is not the one with the most columns; it is the one that accounts for its blanks.