Slow-Moving Items - Operations Guide

Published by Give.Gives · Updated April 2, 2026

Slow-Moving Items - Operations Guide

1. Significance & Business Context

Management Frequency: Operations staff must review and process items on this dashboard at least once a week to maintain platform health.

Why does this page exist?
Physical storage space at store venues is one of the most critical constraints for the platform. When donated items sit on the shelves for too long (reaching their price floor or exceeding their maximum listing duration), they become "Slow-Moving Items."

These items act as a bottleneck: they take up valuable space that could be used for fresh, newly donated items, and they indicate a mismatch between the item's appeal and its price or audience. The purpose of this page is inventory turnover and space management. By consistently acting on slow-moving items, the operations team ensures the marketplace remains dynamic and attractive to buyers while preventing physical overflow at venues.

Why are the specific actions important?

• Discard: Sometimes an item simply has no market demand. Discarding it is a necessary operational cost to reclaim physical space.

• Relist: Certain items might just have had bad timing or need another cycle. Relisting restarts their price-drop cycle (putting them back to Week 1 pricing), offering them a second chance to catch a buyer's eye.

• Notify Donor: This is a key community management tool. Instead of unilaterally disposing of an item, this puts the responsibility back on the donor. It enforces a 3-day pickup window, after which the platform has the full right to discard the item, minimizing donor disputes.

• AI Suggestions: Reviewing hundreds of items manually is incredibly time-consuming. The AI analyzes item history, views, likes, and price drops to suggest the most numerically sound action (e.g., if an item has 0 views and 0 likes after 4 weeks, AI suggests Discard). This drastically improves operational efficiency.

2. Operational Procedures

Accessing the Dashboard

Navigate to Items > Slow-Moving Items in the admin sidebar.

[Placeholder: Screenshot of the complete Slow-Moving Items dashboard with search and item list]

Reviewing Items

The system auto-populates items needing attention. You will see important metrics across each item card:

• Listed: How long the item has been active.

• Price Drops / Current Price: Shows if the item has bottomed out in value.

• Views / Likes: Indicators of whether the item has any market interest.

Following System Suggestions

Look for the gray [SYSTEM] block on the item card. This text represents the AI's recommendation based on the item's data.

To process items efficiently, admins can use the batch processing buttons at the top:

1. Click "Run Analysis" to force the AI to evaluate any new items that recently became slow-moving.

2. Click "Apply All Suggestions" to automatically execute the AI's recommendations across all eligible items, saving significant manual review time.

[Placeholder: Screenshot of the "Apply All Suggestions" button and an individual item's [SYSTEM] recommendation text]

Taking Individual Actions

If you choose to bypass the AI or handle an item manually, you will use the action buttons at the bottom of the item card:

1. Discard (Red Button)

• When to use: The item is in poor condition, out of season, or has absolutely zero engagement (no views/likes).

• How it works: Click "Discard". Confirm the prompt. The item is immediately unlisted from the public marketplace. You must then instruct venue staff to physically dispose of the item. No notification is sent to the donor.

2. Relist (Blue Button)

• When to use: The item is high-quality and has good engagement (many views) but perhaps hit its floor price too quickly, or you believe it deserves another cycle.

• How it works: Click "Relist". The item's publish date is reset to today, and its price cycle restarts from the original starting price. It remains visible on the marketplace.

3. Notify Donor (Yellow Button)

• When to use: The item has sentimental value, was a high-tier donation, or you want to maintain a positive relationship by giving the donor a chance to retrieve it before it is thrown away.

• How it works: Click "Notify Donor". Read the confirmation prompt which explains that an email will be dispatched. Once sent, the item is unlisted, and the donor is given exactly 3 days to collect it from the store. If they fail to do so, venue staff can safely discard it.

[Placeholder: Screenshot showing the three action buttons localized at the bottom of an item card]