What the Heck is a Non-Inventory Part in Quickbooks?

[@QbuniversityOrg]

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[@brentsrx7]

Great video! Very clear and easy to understand. The short-form content is appreciated.

[@QbuniversityOrg]

You’re welcome!

[@magdelineramirez163]

Can I create items like office materials and supplies and put them into an expense account? I can create non-inventory part, example: plastic to wrap an inventory assembly or ribbons for decoration, etc., in this second case: should I mark: is the item used in assemblies? Or can I just assign it an expense account? What do you recommend?

[@QbuniversityOrg]

Yes you can. I would expense items like that if they are immaterial relative to the business and used up in the course of business

[@magdelineramirez163]

@@QbuniversityOrg Thank you for the answer.

[@QbuniversityOrg]

Welcome!

[@PolinVag2867]

I have a question. I work in a spa with inventory. We purchase products that we not sell, but we used/sell in therapies in small amounts each time. How should I enter that product to quickbooks, as inventory or non inventory, and how do I remove it later from inventory after we discard the empty bottle of that product? I’ll greatly appreciate your help, thank you.

[@QbuniversityOrg]

List it as non inventory. Inventory is only items you buy and resell. So I would just treat every purchase of this stuff as an expense

[@barbharkness99]

Thanks. I have always worked in services industries. And, my new company is quasi-service with some hardware items. But, we don’t have inventory. My CPA set everything up as inventory and it created a mess. Nothing ever came out of inventory because my boss didn’t know how to. This is so helpful.

[@QbuniversityOrg]

Ugh what a pain!

[@jillk4620]

As a bookkeeper, I have a client who does HVAC repair and servicing. She has several non-inventory items (motors, etc which she buys for each kind of unit as needed). The account associated with the non-inventory item is Sales. How is this entered when purchased and how is it categorized as COGS when purchased?

[@QbuniversityOrg]

If it’s associated with the Sales account it’ll be showing a negative amount in sales every time she buys some. It should be associated with a COGS account

[@ryan091186]

Hi, I build fixtures to stream line assembly for my small manufacturing business. If I buy parts for a fixture, for example a solenoid valve or drive rollers, how should I receive them? Also, other tools and equipment used for R&D? Are they non-inventory parts or assets? I need to be able to track the expenses for specific projects to help me make cost/benefit decisions, etc.

[@QbuniversityOrg]

I wouldn’t even set those up as Items to be honest. I would just expense them as you purchase them

[@ransilankaoffsetdigitalpri3639]

When I try to create an assembly item with some non-inventory items, a message comes that It has not been assigned as an expense account, The Item will not appear on new build assembly transactions without an expense account.

[@jteckenb]

I design kitchen and bath cabinets and countertops, purchase them through a vendor, and re-sell them to my customers, adding a markup and tax. I have them set up as non-inventory parts and use the expense account Job Expenses. I then have them classified as income in Cost of Goods Sold. Is this correct? I never inventory any item, I only purchase and re-sell the items specific to the job they are for.

[@jamiecarlson3297]

What about special order part that I sell to a customer, not a part i usually stock, would that be a non inventory part?

[@QbuniversityOrg]

Yes! It would

[@jamiecarlson3297]

Would i need to create multiple special order items 1 for each part, or just have 1 labeled special order part, and change the description each time?

[@brooksembry5911]

In my business, I make promotional products for people. So, I buy products from a vendor, I get them personalized for the customer, then I mark them up and sell them. I never have inventory, but I’m still reselling to a customer. Would I be non inventory or inventory part? Thank you for the help, Mat!

[@QbuniversityOrg]

Definitely non inventory

[@silky-smooth]

How do you change the item type once its been created as other charge.

[@zq371]

Thank you for your educational videos. I assume you are aware that the cost price of non-inventory items is completely ignored in QBO? If you click "I purchase this product/service from a supplier", you can enter a cost price...but when you sell the item, the cost is NOT applied to CoGS nor any other expense account. This is very puzzling to me. Do you have an explanation? I had a very long chat with QBO support today (March 1, 2023) where they spelled this out.

[@hassangulleth]

How do you track inventory of fuel for trucks but the fuel it is not for sale it is direct cost but i want to track the cost per truck

[@GigeeterJeeter]

I’m not a CPA but it sounds like the fuel is part of a job, the job being the delivery service for a customer. So you may want to look into job costing. Also, the fuel is not directly for sale to customers but you do include the cost of fuel when you calculate the cost of the job to invoice the customer. Maybe setup Fuel as a parent item and have a sub item of fuel for each truck. Like this: Fuel Fuel-truck-1 Fuel-truck-2 Etc. Just my 2 cents…

[@leroystoltzfus2221]

Can you put Labor is as a non inventory

[@QbuniversityOrg]

You can yep

[@davidbergeron78]

I use non-inventory item for things in inventory assemblies, otherwise inventory management is almost impossible for my company

[@QbuniversityOrg]

Understood!!