Parts purchased and sold categorization

Stonesrvrepair · ‎March 25, 2025

I just started up a mobile rv repair business. I am trying to figure out how to categorize parts when they are purchased, then how to categorize them when they are billed out to the customer for a repair. I do charge a small markup on the parts I sell as well.

an example: I purchase a control board for a customers furnace, then I make a sales receipt and charge the customer, labor amount, part amount, and a service fee.

basically trying to figure what category to put the part expense in and the resale of the part.

I only have 3 main products/services, I have the "labor"(service income), "part" which I put on when I charge a customer for a part l use then just change the price of it, then "service fee"(service income) which is mileage charge.

any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thank you

ZackE · ‎March 25, 2025

Thanks for joining this thread, Stonesrvrepair.

To properly identify which categories you should be using for an expense and resale transaction, I'd recommend working with an accounting professional. If you're in need of one, there's an awesome tool on our website called Find a ProAdvisor. All ProAdvisors listed there are QuickBooks-certified and able to provide helpful insights for driving your business's success.

Here's how it works:

Go to our Find a ProAdvisor page.
Use the City or ZIP search field to specify a location.
Select Find a ProAdvisor.
Browse through your results and find one that works best for the business. You can click on each ProAdvisor's profile to learn more information about them.

Once you've found an accountant, they can be contacted through their Send a message form.

I've also included a detailed resource about accounting which may come in handy moving forward: The 8-step accounting cycle - A beginner’s guide

Please don't hesitate to send a reply if there's any additional questions. Have a great Tuesday!

ZackE · ‎March 25, 2025

Rainflurry · ‎March 25, 2025

@Stonesrvrepair

You don't need a Pro Advisor. I'm assuming you order parts as needed and install them within a short period of time, correct? If so:

If you just want your sales receipt to show "Parts" as a line item, then set up a non-inventory item called "Parts" and, under the 'Income account', select whatever income account you want to track the income from part sales - probably "Parts Income" (set that account up if you need to). Check the box that says "I purchase this product/service from a vendor," and select 'Parts Expense' under 'Expense account' (set that up if you need to). Use the "Parts" non-inventory item you created on both the bills/expenses when you purchase the parts and on the sales receipt when you sell them. Adjust the price on the bill/expense to reflect your cost and on the sales receipt to reflect your markup. That will put all of your parts expense into 'Parts Expense' and all of your income from the sale of the parts into 'Parts Income'. If you want a detailed description of the part on your sales receipt for your customer, you can use the DESCRIPTION field.

If you want more accurate tracking of specific parts, you may need to set up inventory items or specific non-inventory items for each part. Let me know if that's what you were thinking.

Good luck with the mobile RV repair business. As an RV owner, I know these things break a lot.

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