Best spreadsheet for buying agents: what belongs in it

What the sheet is actually for

A haul tracker answers four questions. What did I order and from whom. What did it cost all the way to my door. What is still in the warehouse and how long has it been there. Which seller and which line worked last time. If your sheet answers those four, it is a good sheet.

Everything else is decoration. People add eight tabs of formulas and stop updating the file in two weeks. Start with one sheet and thirty rows, and only add a tab when you feel the pain of not having it.

The minimum set of columns

These fifteen columns cover almost everything. Order date, item name, seller or shop, marketplace, price in CNY, exchange rate used, price in USD, domestic shipping, agent service fee, warehouse arrival date, weight in grams, chosen shipping line, international freight, declared value and status.

Two of those deserve extra attention. The exchange rate column freezes what you actually paid, so a later rate move does not rewrite your history. The warehouse arrival date starts the free storage clock, which is the column that prevents a surprise storage fee.

The three formulas that matter

Landed cost equals price converted to USD, plus domestic shipping converted, plus service fee, plus freight, plus any duty you actually paid. That single number is what you compare between agents. It stops you from celebrating a cheaper item that cost more to ship.

Days in warehouse equals today minus the arrival date. Put a conditional colour on it so anything past day 70 turns orange. Cost per 100 grams equals freight divided by weight in hundreds of grams, which is how you find out that your light, bulky purchases are the expensive ones.

• Landed = (CNY price + domestic) / rate + service fee + freight + duty
• Days held = today minus arrival date
• Freight per 100 g = freight / (weight in grams / 100)
• Rate of saving = (retail price minus landed) / retail price

Which tool to use

A plain spreadsheet file is enough for almost everyone. It works offline, it is portable, and formulas are simple. Hosted sheets are better if two people share a haul, because you stop emailing versions. Notion-style databases are pleasant but slower to enter numbers quickly.

There is one more option: a web based agent spreadsheet where the rows are pre-built and the platform already knows the catalog. That wins on setup time and loses on customisation. If you order more than about ten items a month, the custom file usually wins.

Keeping the sheet alive

Update it at two moments only: when you place an order and when the parcel lands. That is ten minutes a month. If you try to update in real time you will quit, and an abandoned sheet is worse than none because you trust it when you should not.

Enter the QC notes in the same row while the images are still fresh. A month later, you will not remember whether the stitching on that jacket was acceptable, and the photo folder will be a mess of unsorted screenshots.

What not to track

Do not track wishlist items you have not bought. The list grows, it makes the sheet look busy, and it hides the real orders. Keep a separate note for ideas if you must.

Do not track other people's prices. Their rate, their currency and their line are different from yours, so the comparison is noise. Track what you paid, and let the oopbuy style sheet structure handle the rest.

When a spreadsheet stops helping

A spreadsheet earns its keep up to a point. Past about a hundred rows the formulas get fragile, the tabs multiply, and you spend more time maintaining the file than using it. At that stage the useful move is subtraction: keep the columns you actually read when making a decision, archive the rest to a second file, and stop tracking things you never look at.

The same applies on day one. Starting with twelve columns is a common reason people abandon the habit in week two. Start with six and add a column only when a real decision needs it. A sheet you update in thirty seconds will still exist in a year, and a perfect one will not.