Alternate Vendor Item Tab

Happy to have you here on the Community page, @MickeyK.

I'm here to share some information about the items added from the Item List and the alternative vendors in QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise.

When updating the items from the Item List, the changes are only applicable if you're about to create a transaction or for the incoming entries that you'll be creating. The update won't take effect on those transactions created before changing the cost or item name.

To learn more about this feature, check out this link: How to use alternate vendors in QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions.

Also, read the topics from this article for additional guides about managing your item list, vendors, and QuickBooks in the future.

I'm always here to help if you have any other questions. Just add a comment below. Keep safe, @MickeyK!

@Angelyn_T  Maybe I didn't clarify but I am referring to if "cost" changes and that is entered into "Inventory Center" > "Item Edit" it does not reflect on the Vendors Item Tab under vendors. So in our industry we get new pricing from each vendor so we have to import those prices in every January. So we would have to do more work to get pricing to reflect under "Vendor Items Tab".

But then this also goes for if you are creating a Purchase Order and click on  the "compare vendors" it only shows the price that was imported on the Vendors Item tab and not the "Cost" in the Inventory Center > Item Edit". Make sense?

Thanks for your prompt response, @MickeyK.

The Vendor Item Tab's purpose is to allow you to use multiple vendors, depending on pricing and availability. It is why the cost isn't present in the Vendor Item Tab when you edit the item in the Inventory Center or List of Items.

Once set up for Vendor Item List is done, you'll visit the main item Lists to designate the primary and alternate vendor.

The purpose of this new feature is to compare the vendor prices for the related items when you create Purchase Orders. That's why the cost isn't showing in the Purchase Order when using the compare vendor's function.

For more details, you can check this video article to learn more about this feature: How to use alternate vendors in QuickBooks Enterprise.

I've added this page as your reference in handling your inventory, products, and services in QuickBooks: Manage inventory.

You know you can always share your progress here if you need more assistance. I'll be around to help. Take care!

@Jovychris_A  

I totally understand what you are saying but if the "cost" in inventory center doesn't reflect to the Vendor Item List tab you can't really compare on a purchase order, correct?

So for example lets say item "x" had a price of $1.00 in the "Vendor Item" tab and in Inventory Item List/Center which is the amount that shows on the compare on a Purchase Order but then the price in the Item List/Item Center is $1.25 because there was a price increase and the accurate price is $1.25. By this example you would have to manually update the price in 2 locations (Vendor Item Tab & Item List/Center). 

Am I missing something?

I have a question related to this. When looking under vendor items, there is a vendor part number column. If I could figure out a way to use this it would solve so many problems for me. I clicked edit on a vendor item. Then I was able to edit and put in the number. However it gave me an error and said QB didn't recognize the item. 

So the first part of my question is how do I put in vendor numbers.

The second part would be, how do I get this info on a PO? And how can I get it to pop up in a purchasing report?

THanks in advance for the help

Thanks for joining us here, gma18.

Can you tell us how you edited the Vendor Part Number? Can you also share with us the exact error message when you saved the new details?

To edit the vendor part number, just right-click on the item and select Add/Edit Vendor Items. Then, make sure that you're only adding the details in the Vendor Part Number column and not editing the item itself. 

Please take note that the The Vendor Part Number will not show when creating Purchase Orders, only the Manufacturer's Part Number. Although, you can create a custom field where you can enter the Vendor Part Number. Then, add it on your PO template so you can manually type in the details and show it on your report. Here's how:

1. Open the vendor's profile.
2. Proceed to the Additional Info tab and click Define Fields.
3. Enter the name of the field in the Label column, then make sure to put a check in the Vendor, Transaction, and List columns.
4. Click OK.

Once done, open your template for the Purchase Order and follow these steps to add the custom field to it:

1. Click Additional Customization.
2. Under the Header tab, check the custom field in the Screen and/or Print columns.
3. Click OK.

Let me also share these articles for more additional details and reference:

• Create And Use Custom Fields In QuickBooks Desktop
• Use And Customize Form Templates
• Customize Reports In QuickBooks Desktop

Let me know or visit us again if you have follow-up questions. 

So I went to vendor item list, I clicked on edit item. Brought it up and went and just typed in the vendor part number. I get this error and the item name turns red. 

Attached is a screen shot

Hey there, gma18.

Thanks for stopping by the Community, after looking at your screen shot, it looks like you need to click on the red SP4 and edit that information for it to allow the item to be entered. However, without being able to look into your specific account I can't verify that that is the problem, for this reason I would recommend reaching out to our support team for assistance, they can guide you through the process and help you fix exactly what's wrong by seeing the cause first hand with their handy screen share tool. To reach them, follow these steps:

1. Open QuickBooks.
2. Go to Help, then select QuickBooks Desktop Help.
3. Select Contact Us.
4. Give a brief description of your issue, then select Let's talk and then choose a way to connect.

Phone support may be limited due to volume.

I'm also attaching a helpful article for you to check out about adding, editing and deleting items in QuickBooks.

If there's anything else I can help with, feel free to post here anytime. Thank you and have a lovely day. 

I was on the phone Friday for an hour plus with enterprise support. No one had an answer how to even change the vendor number. 

As far as the error there is nothing to do with that item. That is the item info we use when we add an item to an order. I have no idea why it turns red. Ultimately I may need to do something a little different with the vendor numbers anyway. But i want to see if this works first. 

If you know someone at intuit that might actually be able to help with this let me know and I can contact them.

Thanks for the prompt reply and for sharing additional details with me, @gma18.

I appreciate you for going through the steps shared by my colleagues above. Allow me to add some troubleshooting steps to isolate this issue.

Let's try some steps to isolate this issue. I recommend creating a sample company file and enter a vendor part no. from there. This way, we can check if this issue is caused by data problems in your company file. 

Here’s how to create a sample company file in your QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) software:

1. Go to the File menu.
2. Select New company.
3. Click Express Start.
4. Follow the onscreen steps to finish the setup.

You can also check this link for more details: Create a QuickBooks Desktop Company File.

If you’re able to enter your vendor part no. with ease, I recommend running the Verify Rebuild utility tool. This tool scans your QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) software for errors and fixes them right away. 

If the issue persists while using a sample company file, I suggest running a clean install. A clean install fixes issues that keep you from opening your company file and a few other situations

Additionally, I'm adding this article that you can utilize for future reference: Add, edit, and delete items. This link can walk you through the steps on how to update, edit, and combine two items in QBDT.

Let me know if there’s anything else I can assist you in managing your items. Tag me in your reply and I’ll sprint back into action. Have a good one and keep safe.

Here is my reply to another thread on the same topic:

This seems, for lack of a better word, idiotic. See the attached screenshot. You have the tables set up already where it would make it extremely simple to update different vendor pricing for each item. The only way to actually do this is through the add/edit multiple entries under vendor items and even then its extremely limited. No drop down to choose the item, you have to type in the item exactly as it appears. Oh and wait. if you have multiple levels of categories you need to add those as well separating the categories and succeeding sub categories all the way down to the name of the actual item by a colon. but wait, there's more, All this was found out after spending 2.5 hours with tech support. This is beyond ridiculous for a multi billion (yes BILLION) dollar company. I am extremely disappointed. We upgraded 5 licenses to enterprise and will be cancelling and reverting back to pro. Get your act together intuit!!

Once I actually issued a PO AND Received the item in question, the price for that item showed up in the line for the vendor in the "manage alternate vendors" screen. However, I cannot figure out how to edit the Lead Time, Vendor PN or Notes fields.

I cannot highlight a specific field, just the entire line item.

Right clicking does nothing.

Left clicking does nothing.

The Help Topic "learn more about managing alternate vendors" says nothing about how to edit these fields.

As suggested earlier, I went to the Vendor center but did not see the suggested selection in the list of options that pop up when I right clicked.

How can I edit the Lead time, Vendor PN and Notes for an alternate vendor for an item????

I'd like to join the conversation and offer my help, square1 comp.

The article you mentioned only provides basic details on how to assign alternate vendors to your items. I'll share the steps and screenshots on how you can edit the time lead, part number, and notes. Here's how:

1. Go back to the Vendor Center and click the name of the alternate vendor.
2. Proceed to the Items tab under the Vendor Information section.
3. Click the drop-down list for Manage Vendor Items, then select Add/edit vendor items.
4. Put in or edit all the information you need, then choose Save Changes.

You can also check out this article for additional details: How To Use Alternate Vendors in QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions.

Don't hesitate to reply to this thread if you're able to change all the information you need for alternate vendors. I'd be glad to offer my help if you need it again.