I still wake up in a cold sweat thinking about April 2021. It was tax season, and my "inventory system" consisted of three notebooks, a chaotic Google Sheet that hadn't been updated in six weeks, and a shoebox full of crumpled Goodwill receipts. I spent three straight days drinking stale coffee and manually entering numbers, swearing I would never do this again.
If you are a reseller, you know this pain. The sourcing is the fun part; the bookkeeping is the soul-crushing part.
That experience was the catalyst that forced me to look for software that could save me from my own disorganization. I stumbled upon Flipwise during a late-night YouTube binge, watching a reseller break down their profit margins. It promised to kill the spreadsheet and automate the boring stuff. But after using it, I realized that while it’s powerful, it’s not a magic wand for everyone.
What Actually Is Flipwise?
At its core, Flipwise is an inventory management and accounting suite built by resellers, for resellers. Unlike generic accounting software like QuickBooks, which requires a degree in finance to set up correctly for flipping, Flipwise speaks our language. It knows what "death pile" means. It understands that shipping labels are expenses, not just numbers.
Here is where it gets interesting. Most apps try to do too much—cross-listing, photo editing, and social sharing all in one. Flipwise stays in its lane. It is primarily a financial dashboard. It syncs directly with your eBay account to pull in active listings and sales data automatically.
When I first connected my account, it populated my last 90 days of sales in about three minutes. Seeing a graph of my actual net profit (after fees and shipping) was both terrifying and clarifying. I realized I was losing money on heavy winter coats because I wasn't accounting for the shipping variance correctly.
The Truth About the Flipwise App Experience
I’ll be honest: if you are looking for a flashy, native flipwise app in the App Store that looks like Instagram, you might be confused. Flipwise functions largely as a progressive web app (PWA). This means it’s a mobile-optimized website that acts like an app on your phone.
My Experience on Mobile vs. Desktop:
-
Desktop: This is where the power is. Importing spreadsheets, analyzing graphs, and bulk editing inventory is seamless.
-
Mobile: It’s good for quick updates. When I’m at a thrift store, I can pull up the flipwise app interface on Chrome/Safari to check if I already have a similar item in stock.
However, a limitation I found is that the mobile experience can feel a bit cramped if you have "fat fingers" like me. Tapping the small "edit" pencil icon on a 6-inch screen sometimes leads to misclicks. It’s functional, but I do 90% of my heavy lifting on my laptop.
Navigating the Flipwise Login and Dashboard
Once you get past the flipwise login, the dashboard is the star of the show. It gives you a "commander's view" of your business.
Key Metrics It Tracks:
-
Total Inventory Value: How much money is sitting in your closet?
-
Average Days to Sell: This was a wake-up call for me. I thought my items sold in 30 days; Flipwise showed me the average was actually 68 days.
-
Real-Time Profit: Not just gross sales, but actual profit after COGS and fees.
The ease of entry is the selling point. When you buy something, you don't have to create a full listing. You just enter "Nike Hoodie," "Cost: $5," and "Date: Today." Later, when you list it on eBay, Flipwise matches that entry to the eBay listing.
Now the tricky part... syncing. Occasionally, the sync between eBay and Flipwise can lag. I once panicked because a $200 sale wasn't showing up on my dashboard. It appeared four hours later. You have to learn to trust that the data will arrive eventually.
Breaking Down Flipwise Pricing
Is it expensive? That depends on how much you value your time. Flipwise pricing is tiered based on the size of your store, which I find fair compared to flat-rate competitors.
-
Hobbyist (Free-ish): There is often a free tier for very small sellers (0-24 listings), which is great for dipping your toe in.
-
Starter: Around $9.99/month for under 100 listings.
-
Growth: Around $19.99/month for up to 500 listings.
(Note: These prices fluctuate, so always check the site).
For me, paying ~$20 a month is a no-brainer. If the software saves me one hour of tax prep, it pays for itself. However, if you are a very casual seller moving 2-3 items a month, the subscription might eat into your lunch money.
Hunting for a Flipwise Promo Code
Everyone loves a discount. If you search for a flipwise promo code, you will usually find them floating around YouTube. The founder, Justin (from the channel Justin Resells), often drops codes like "CONSIGN25" or seasonal codes for Black Friday.
Pro Tip: If you can't find an active code, sign up for their email list. They are pretty generous with "come back" offers if you start the sign-up process but don't finish.
Is Flipwise Good for Part-Time Sellers?
People often ask, is flipwise good if I don't do this full time?
In my opinion, it is better for part-time sellers than full-time ones. Why? Because full-time sellers usually have rigid systems already. Part-time sellers are the ones who lose receipts, forget what they paid for an item, and mix their personal finances with business money.
I use Closo to automate cross-listing my inventory to Poshmark and Mercari – saves me about 3 hours weekly – but I rely on Flipwise to tell me if those sales were actually profitable. Closo handles the "growth" (getting items on more sites), while Flipwise handles the "health" (making sure I'm making money). They are different tools, but they work in harmony for my workflow.
Common Question I See: Is Flipwise Worth It?
People always ask me... isn't a spreadsheet free?
Yes, Google Sheets is free. But Google Sheets doesn't automatically pull your eBay fees. It doesn't automatically adjust for partial refunds. It doesn't generate a Schedule C tax report with one click.
Is flipwise worth it?
-
YES if: You sell primarily on eBay and hate math.
-
NO if: You sell mostly on Depop or Vinted (the integration isn't as strong yet) or if you are extremely proficient with Excel.
I personally found that the mental load relief was worth more than the subscription cost. I no longer dread the "how much did I make this month?" question because I can answer it in 10 seconds.
Integrating Flipwise into a Multi-Platform Business
Here is the elephant in the room: Flipwise is an eBay-first tool.
If you are a Poshmark-only seller, this might not be for you yet. However, most of us sell everywhere. Flipwise allows you to manually enter sales from other platforms.
My Workflow:
-
Source item -> Enter into Flipwise app immediately (Cost & Date).
-
List on eBay -> Flipwise auto-syncs.
-
Cross-list to Poshmark using Closo.
-
Item sells on Poshmark -> I go into Flipwise, find the item, and mark it "Sold on Poshmark" manually.
It adds a step, but it keeps my inventory count correct. If you forget to do this, you risk the "Ghost Inventory" problem where Flipwise thinks you still have an item you sold weeks ago.
Comparison: Flipwise vs. The Rest
(Parenthetical aside: I tried My Reseller Genie for a month. It’s also fantastic, but I preferred Flipwise's visual interface. It felt less like a ledger and more like a dashboard.)
The "Death Pile" Feature
One specific feature I have to highlight is the inventory aging report. Flipwise highlights items that haven't sold in 90, 180, or 365 days.
I used this report last January to run a "clearance event." I filtered for everything older than 180 days and slashed prices by 30%. I moved 15 items in a week—items that had been sitting in a bin for a year. I wouldn't have known to do that without the data staring me in the face.
People Always Ask Me...
Can I import my old data?
Yes. If you have been selling for years, Flipwise can import your active listings from eBay instantly. However, for pastsales (sold items from last year), you usually have to upload a CSV file from eBay. It’s a bit of a headache to do the initial historical import, but you only do it once.
Does it track mileage?
Flipwise has a section for expenses where you can log mileage, shipping supplies, and other overhead. It’s not an automatic GPS tracker (like MileIQ), but it’s a good place to centralize the data so your tax accountant doesn't hate you.
Conclusion
Flipwise is one of those tools that feels like a luxury until you use it, and then it feels like a necessity. It turned my chaotic hobby into a measurable business. While it has limitations—specifically the manual work required for non-eBay sales—the clarity it provides on flipwise pricing and profit margins is unmatched for the price point.
If you are tired of guessing your numbers, give the free tier a shot. Just be warned: seeing your actual hourly wage after sourcing and listing might be a sobering experience.
If you are ready to get your operations in order, getting your inventory tracked is step one. Step two is getting that inventory in front of more eyes. Check out my guide on Cross-listing to see how to take those tracked items and multiply your sales channels.
And if seeing your fees laid out in Flipwise gave you a heart attack, you might want to read my breakdown of Poshmark Fees to understand where the money goes on other platforms.
