posted on May 14, 2001 11:03:37 AM
I have finally taken the plunge and purchased QuickBooks Pro to try and streamline my business practices and records, but my partner and I are having a tough time figuring it all out. We want to use it to track each inventory item from purchase through the auction process. Seems fairly straightforward until: (1)you start doing high volume and/or (2) you buy loads of little, unique items in box lots.
I would love the input of posters like Executive Girl who have some experience with this software, especially the inventory and purchasing part, which of course, is directly related to the auction and sales part.
For instance, if you buy a box lot of 100 different widgets, do you add a new item to your Item List for each widget? Appears to be the correct procedure, but I am being eaten alive by boxes and boxes of books and textiles and refuse to shop for more merchandise until this behemouth is tamed!
Thanks is advance for any assistance you experienced QB users can offer!
posted on May 14, 2001 11:25:08 AM
I've been using quickbooks since the day they were born, so I have a pretty good feel for the program.
I don't buy boxlots so to speak, but I do bookkeeping for an individual who buys clothing in bulk so what I do for her is just type in the check, then below there will be a secondary tab. In that I create a new item (I lot numbers that we've created for her). Then I just put in the number of items purchased, put in the total and it tallys the amount for each item for the COGS. That's really all there is to it. It's very simple like you said, so don't let the monster that is Quickbooks scare you, it really does all the work for you, IF YOU LET IT. I'll check back if you have any other questions.
I'd be glad to help if I can. I am a high volume seller and use Quickbooks exclusively for my auctions - I love them! However, I do not use the inventory part because I rarely sell duplicates of the same item.
Here is a link to another Quickbooks thread where I commented a lot on (and so did other posters):
posted on May 14, 2001 11:40:16 AM
Thanks, Angela & EG! I suppose we are struggling with whether or not we should use the Inventory part of QB. EG, do you list your inventory in Excel or some other program & import totals? Like you, we never have the same item twice.
Angela - If you assign one item number to the entire lot, how do you track each piece of inventory through the sales process? That's part of our confusion, because we might have 100 different book titles (for instance) in one lot and each will get sold and invoiced individually. If we give it one item number, then I'm not certain how to reconcile when a portion of that item (eg one book) is sold.
Thanks again, I look forward to your replies,
Jeanne
posted on May 14, 2001 11:46:59 AM
I sell lots of identical items (trading cards), and I keep my inventory and monthly activity in Excel rather than in my accounting software. I can do queries in Excel to generate activity reports, which then are input via journal entries into my accounting software, along with monthly postage bills, fees, purchases, etc.
I keep a ledger book at my desk to record each purchase of inventory or office supply at the time of purchase, and then update my inventory spreadsheets in Excel as needed, with a reconcilation at the end of each month to verify everything is correct. I print off my monthly reports, write up those journal entries, enter them into my accounting software (Clarisys) and print my financials statements for the month.
I also keep track of all my open receivables in my Excel spreadsheet rather than the A/R module in the accounting software, and I use MS Money to handle the credit card used for auction stuff and Paypal., importing THOSE in once a month.
I don't cut checks out for anything, so don't need a program to cut checks - so even though my system MAY seema bit complex, its working very smoothly for me.
posted on May 14, 2001 11:53:28 AM
If it's really important to know the individual cost on any given item then you will need to set up each item in the item list, unfortunately. If it's not that important to you what each and every item sold for, then you can just do what I do for my friend.
If you do want to at some future time find out how much you sold a particular item for out of any given lot you can search the invoices in Quickbooks very easily to find that information out, as long as you do a detailed enough invoice using the title or author's name.
Quickbooks will reconcile for you the cost of goods sold based on the amount you have already put in for the check amount for each item, so you won't have to worry about that part.
The only problem with using one number for a given box lot is you can't then sort the item list looking for that item if it's in a huge lot of other items.
It really all depends on just what you want Quickbooks to do for you. I use it for inventory and bookkeeping for taxes purposes.
I don't use any other program to take care of inventory. (I don't use inventory whatsoever).
For example, when I go to a thrift store, I take my receipt when I get home and go to "enter bills". I enter the information from that receipt, and under "account" I enter it as COGS under expenses. That is as far a "inventory" goes for me. The items I have just purchased have just been accounted for. There is no need to enter each item you purchased individually.
Then, as my auctions end, I print out that sheet (showing all my high bidders' email addresses) and enter the invoices from the auctions that ended with bids. For "customer name" I enter the buyer's email address. For "class" if I was selling a men's suit for example, I would enter 1310 (that is the number I have set up for men's suits). If I was to sell something that wasn't already in my "classes" I would just make up a number and then it would ask me if I want to add it to my classes, and you click YES. That's all there is to it!
posted on May 14, 2001 12:38:03 PM
Exec Girl - so you are expensing all the things you purchase directly to COGS at the time of purchase, rather than at the time of sale? So you are doing your accounting on the Cash Basis method of accounting, not Accrual I take it.
I have my inventory based on several categories - I have 7 categories of trading cards and 2 categories of plushes. Within my accounting software I just have the $ total of that inventory. I keep my more detailed records in Excel, where I can produce many more reports to see where I am and what I have out there, etc. With my cards, I'm less interested in tracking it from arrival to departure, so to speak.
With my plushes, though, I have to keep very good track of arrivals & departures, because one of my sources of inventory is paid a commission on my sales of those plushes - so I have to track when I sell one, is it one from Supplier A or Supplier B, and the COGS of that particular plush. This can be quite complicated especially right after a new set comes out - I end up buried under plushes... 8) But they move fairly quickly - usually what I bring into inventory one week is gone back out within 1-2 weeks.
