Glossary
Key terms and definitions used throughout Ardent Seller
28 terms grouped into 7 categories
This glossary defines the inventory categories, transaction types, recipe components, financial metrics, and business concepts used throughout Ardent Seller — including the terms most often confused by new users (ingredients vs. finished goods vs. products, COGS vs. cost of goods, depreciation methods, and batch tracking). Search by term or filter by category to find a definition; the entries are also grouped by category below for browsing.
Financial
COGS (Cost of Goods Sold)
The total cost of materials, labor, and overhead directly tied to producing the goods you sell. Tracked automatically through purchases, recipes, and production runs.
Depreciation
The gradual decrease in value of equipment over time. Ardent Seller tracks depreciation schedules for your equipment to help with tax reporting and replacement planning.
Schedule C
An IRS tax form (Schedule C - Profit or Loss from Business) used by sole proprietors. Ardent Seller can categorize expenses and generate reports aligned with Schedule C line items.
Tax Category
An IRS Schedule C expense or income category used to classify transactions for tax reporting. Helps organize your financial data for end-of-year tax preparation.
General
Account
Your organization or business in Ardent Seller. All data is scoped to your account, ensuring complete isolation from other businesses on the platform.
Entity
A location (primary, secondary, storage, production, sales) or a contact (vendor, customer, charity) in your business. Locations are used to scope inventory and transactions.
Location
A physical place where inventory is stored or business is conducted, such as a home kitchen, workshop, storage unit, or market stall. Inventory is tracked per location.
Unit Conversion
The automatic conversion between different units of measure (e.g., pounds to ounces, cups to milliliters). Allows purchasing in bulk units and using smaller units in recipes.
Inventory
Attributes
Custom properties you define to describe your inventory variants, such as color, size, scent, or material. Attributes help organize and filter your product catalog.
Finished Goods
Products you have manufactured or assembled from raw ingredients and components. These are the completed items ready for sale to customers.
Ingredient
A raw material or component purchased from vendors and used in recipes to produce finished goods. Examples: flour, beads, essential oils, fabric.
MRO (Maintenance, Repair & Operations)
Supplies that support your production process but don't become part of the finished product. Examples: cleaning supplies, equipment lubricant, disposable gloves, packaging tape.
Packaging
Materials used to package your products for sale or shipping. Tracked as inventory so costs are included in your product pricing and COGS calculations.
SKU (Stock Keeping Unit)
A unique code assigned to each product variant for identification and tracking. Helps organize your catalog and is commonly used in barcodes and inventory management.
Stocktake
The process of physically counting inventory at a location and comparing it to recorded quantities. Variances are reconciled by creating adjustment transactions.
Subassembly
A component that is produced from raw materials and then used as an input in another recipe or assembly process. Allows multi-level bills of materials.
Variant
A specific version of an inventory item distinguished by attributes like size, color, or scent. Each variant can have its own SKU, price, and stock level.
Production
Batch/Lot Number
A unique identifier assigned to a production run or group of items produced together. Enables traceability from raw ingredients to finished products for quality control and compliance.
Bill of Materials (BOM)
A complete list of ingredients, components, and quantities needed to produce a finished good. In Ardent Seller, this is represented through recipes and their ingredient lists.
Production Run
A recorded instance of producing goods using a recipe. Deducts ingredients from inventory, adds finished goods to stock, and tracks batch/lot numbers for traceability.
Recipe
A defined set of ingredients, quantities, steps, and equipment needed to produce a finished good. Recipes automatically calculate production costs based on current ingredient prices.
Reports
Audit Trail
A chronological record of all changes made in the system, including who made each change and when. Used for accountability, compliance, and troubleshooting.
Inventory Valuation
The total monetary value of all inventory currently in stock, calculated based on purchase costs. A key report for understanding the assets held in your business.
Traceability
The ability to trace a finished product back to its source ingredients, production run, and batch numbers. Critical for food safety, quality control, and regulatory compliance.
Sales
Pricing Tier
A named pricing configuration (like retail, wholesale, or market) that applies a markup or adjustment formula to calculate prices. Useful for selling at different price points.
Transactions
Adjustment
A transaction that corrects inventory quantities without a purchase or sale. Used for damaged goods, waste, samples, or other non-sale removals from stock.
Transaction Method
The payment method used for a transaction, such as cash, credit card, PayPal, or Venmo. Can include fixed or percentage-based fees for accurate cost tracking.
Transfer
The movement of inventory from one location to another within your business. Creates records at both the source and destination locations.