How early should I line up inventory financing for Q4?

Start in May, have a decision by July, and treat August as the deadline rather than the target. The mistake almost everyone makes is starting when the deposit is due, which puts underwriting on the same clock as your supplier and leaves only the fastest and most expensive option standing.

• May to June: gather twelve months of statements, a current inventory listing, and last year's sell-through by SKU
• June to July: applications out — a bank line takes two to six weeks, an SBA line considerably longer
• July to August: facility in place and tested with a small draw before the real deposit
• October to December: sell, and keep the borrowing base reported on time

On the numbers, inventory lenders typically advance 30% to 50% against finished goods at cost, occasionally more for branded, fast-turning product with an obvious resale market. The warning is turn rate: financing inventory that does not sell converts a cash flow problem into a debt problem, and January is a bad month to discover which one you have. Finance the reorder you are confident in, not the aspirational buy.

Inventory Financing is the direct instrument, and a Business Line of Credit is frequently the better one because it is still available in February when receivables are slow. Call the desk in the spring — the same file gets a materially better answer in May than it does in August.