When creating or editing an item, you use the Items section to identify basic information about the item. This article reviews how to enter basic details for an item.

Description

The Description sub-section establishes the SKU name and other essential values.

• SKU: The main item identifier, referred to throughout the inventory process
  

  Please note that special characters are not recommended in SKU names, as they can cause issues when importing orders, sending orders electronically (e.g., via EDI), or searching for SKUs.

   
• Sell Price: The sell value of the item (required for fulfillment invoicing)
• Product Cost: The price value of the item (required for international SmartParcel shipments)
• Classification: Labeling mechanism used to group similar items (configured under Items > Manage Classifications)
• Item Description: Basic description of the item
• Secondary Item Description: Optional secondary description of the item

Tags

Item tags let you assign short descriptive labels to item definitions in 3PL Warehouse Manager. You can use tags to organize items in a flexible way and make them easier to find later. For example, you might tag items as fragile, allergen, promo, or cold-chain. 

Tags appear as pill-style labels on the item details page, making them easy to review at a glance. 

The Manage Items grid includes a Tags column. Hover over the +N indicator to view all tags for an item.

Add tags on an item

1. Go to Items > Manage Items.
2. Select the item you want to edit. Click Edit. 
3. Locate the Tags section on the item details page.
4. Click + Add tag, enter the tag value in the text field, and confirm the entry.
5. Click Save. 

Tag rules and limitations

Search using tags

You can use item search to find items by tag value.

Item Export / Update Items

To update or export item data, go to Items > Manage Items, select an item, then click Manage.

You can add multiple tags by separating them with commas. The exported file uses this same comma-separated format.

Inventory Options

The Inventory Options sub-section defines several fields related to inventory allocation and counting.

• Allocation Method: Defines allocation logic based on item attributes (FIFO/FEFO/LIFO)
• Min on Hand: Specifies the minimum on-hand quantity for the item, used for notification alerts to report available quantities
• Max on Hand: Specifies the maximum on-hand quantity for the item, used for informational purposes
• Storage Temp: The recommended or required storage temperature for the item
• Reorder Quantity: The quantity recommended when reordering the item via a receipt or purchase order
• Days Between Counts: The number of days recommended for recounts when generating a Cycle Count Report
• Cycle Count Type: A grouping mechanism used to assign cycle count types (used for reference purposes—see Counting Inventory for more information)
• Receive Onto Hold: When checked, automatically place this item on hold upon receiving. 
  
  You can also update this field through Items > Manage Items: select an item, then click Manage. The column is named AutoHoldOnReceive. 

Tracking Options

The Tracking Options allow you to enable, disable, or require specific track-by's for an item.

Track-by's allow you to associate a specific value — such as a Lot Number, Serial Number, Expiration Date, or Cost — with a SKU when it's received into your warehouse. These values can then be used to trace inventory within the warehouse and validate it during the pick and pack processes.

Each track-by offers the following configuration options:

Required at Receipt: When enabled, the track-by value must be entered when receiving inventory. The receipt cannot be completed without it. If not enabled, the value is optional during receiving.

Validate at Pick: When enabled, SmartScan Pick requires the picker to scan or confirm the track-by value during picking. The scanned value is checked against the allocated inventory. If it doesn't match, an error is returned and the pick is rejected.  

Validate at Pack: When enabled, SmartScan Pack requires the packer to scan or confirm the track-by value during packing. The scanned value is checked against the allocated inventory. If it doesn't match, an error is returned and the pack is rejected. 

How These Options Work Together

Default Behaviors by Track-By Type

When you enable a track-by on an item, the following defaults are applied. These defaults only apply when newly enabling a track-by — existing item configurations are not affected.

Lot Number: Options to track item by lot number 

Serial Number: Options to track item by serial number value

Inbound 

Outbound 

Expiration Date: Options to track item by expiration date value 

Hold Threshold Days: Specifies the number of days before the expiration date to automatically place the item on hold and prevent it from being allocated to orders 
Once you enter a value for this field and save the item, the system looks for any received items that, based on their expiration date and the threshold value, fall into that threshold window and does four things:

1. Places the received item on hold
2. If configured, sends a notification that the received item has been put on hold
3. Unallocates the contents of that received item from any orders it’s allocated to
4. Attempts to reallocate an item that isn’t within that expiration threshold 

Cost

Shipping Documentation

• Country of Origin: The documented manufacturer location
• NMFC: The National Motor Freight Classification grouping ID used for freight costs (configured under Items > Manage Commodities)
  • NMFC Class: The associated commodity class, auto-populated based on NMFC selection
  • NMFC Description: The associated commodity description, auto-populated based on NMFC selection
• Harmonized Tariff Code: Standard number to recognize and classify globally traded products

Directed Putaway

The Directed Putaway fields are used to configure this item for directed putaway. For more information, please see Getting Started with Directed Putaway.

Hazardous Material

The Hazardous Material fields are used if an item poses health or safety risk when transported. This sub-section does not display if you do not have HazMat enabled for your account.

• Hazardous Material: When checked, enables a HazMat flag
• Material Flag: Label affixed to shipping form, used to identify hazardous materials
• Class: Number that defines the hazard class for hazardous materials
• Shipping Name: Standard technical name that describes the hazard properties of the material
• Material ID: Standard identification number for hazardous substances (begins with UN or NA and contains 2 or 4 digits)
• Label Code: Number required to display on the hazard warning label required when packaging HazMat products
• Packaging Group: Grouping that indicates the level of danger presented by hazardous materials
• Flashpoint: The temperature or condition in which the item is considered dangerous

Item Qualifiers

The Item Qualifiers sub-section is used to identify qualifiers for an item. Qualifiers function as SKU separations and are useful when you want to specify size, color, or other distinguishing characteristics for an item.

Once differing qualifiers are added to items, 3PL Warehouse Manager will view these as completely different items. With this possibly impacting multiple functions, please consider carefully whether or not these should be used in your unique situation. Please reach out to our Support team with any questions regarding impacted functionality.

To specify a qualifier, enter a value in the 'Enter Qualifiers' field, then click Add Qualifiers. Repeat for each qualifier associated with the item.

Once you've entered basic details for an item, you can continue to the next configuration section—Defining Units of Measure. If you'd like to come back and edit the item at a later time, don't forget to click Save.