I need to delete a client I added by accident. I don't need to make them inactive. How do I do this?

QuickBooks does not delete it only inactivates, so when you inactivate it disappears from your view and does not count for your subscription limits.  We have all added a vendor or customer in error.  If I have no data for the vendor or customer, I change the name to zz DELETE 03-31-2021.  The date changes so it's unique each day.  If I have more than one I just add (2), (3), etc.  This gives it a unique name and sorts to the bottom of the list if I want to look at inactive vendors at some point.  If you don't change the name, if you ever try to add the vendor in the future, it will give you an error and tell you, you already have a vendor with that name.  

Thanks for checking in with us and providing us in-depth details of your concern, ian_jackson. 
 

When you remove a client, they will have read-only access to their account. They'll have to subscribe so it will become active again. 

Here's how:

1. Go to the Gear icon ⚙.
2. Choose Subscriptions & Billing.
3. Select any clients you want to remove.
4. From the Batch Actions ▼dropdown, select Transfer billing to the client.
5. Click Remove.

I'd suggest visiting this website: Manage Clients with Wholesale and Direct Billing. In this link you'll learn more about adding, removing, and transferring clients in and out of wholesale Billing. 

get back to us if you have other questions about your account. We're always here to help. 

This is a shocking deficiency with QuickBooks Online. I, too, somehow accidentally added a business as a Client instead of a Vendor. I caught my mistake during monthly reconciliation. Now I find out I cannot delete the errantly added Vendor, but only make them inactive. Alternatively, I can hand my credit card over to a third party company that implements such a basic feature through the QuickBooks API.

I tried submitting Feedback, but the Feedback button is broken.

Hi there, @DCWGeoff. 

At this time, the system only allows users to make vendor and customer names permanently inactive from QuickBooks Online (QBO). I can see the importance of deleting a client or a vendor profile instead of just making it inactive. Rest assured our engineers are working nonstop to enhance the product and deliver the best experiences to all QuickBooks users. For now, I recommend sending this idea or feature through feedback from your QBO account.

Here's how:

1. Sign in to QuickBooks.
2. Go to the Gear icon at the top, then Feedback.
3. Enter your comments or product suggestions. Then select Next to submit feedback.

Your valuable feedback goes to our Product Development Team to help improve your QuickBooks experience. And, QuickBooks always considers product suggestions based on the number of requests. The more users' requests, the big chances it'll be part of future enhancements.

If the Feedback button is broken from your QBO account, I recommend replicating the steps through a private window. The stored cache from the regular browser you're using may affect this behavior.

To save you time, use either of these keyboard shortcuts:

• Google Chrome: Ctrl + Shift + N
• Safari 11 or newer: ⌘ + Shift + N
• Mozilla Firefox: Ctrl + Shift + P
• Microsoft Edge: Ctrl + Shift + P

If it works fine, go back to your original browser and clear its cache to start fresh. You can also use another supported and up-to-date browser to narrow down the result.

Aside from making the names inactive, QBO also offers the feature to combine duplicate names and accounts by merging them. You can use this article as your guide: Merge duplicate accounts, customers, and vendors in QuickBooks Online.

If you have any other follow-up questions while handling your customer and vendor profiles, let me know by adding a comment below. I'm more than happy to help you again. Have a good one!