HOW TO RECEIVE INVENTORY IN QBO?

Hello there, @info450.

I can help you receive inventory in QuickBooks Online (QBO). 

If you receive inventory from the purchase order (PO), we can convert the PO to a bill each time you receive the item. This way, the quantity of the item will be added to the inventory (Products and Services) list. Here's how:

1. Go to the +New button.
2. Under Vendor, choose Bill.
3. Click the Vendor drop-down arrow and then choose the vendor's name.
4. All existing PO's will display on the left side. Select the correct PO and click Add. 
5. Click on Save and close once done.

However, we can adjust the quantity and not record a purchase if you received the item without the bill. So, we can match what you have in stock. I'll guide you how:

1. Go to the +New button.
2. From the Other column, select Inventory qty adjustment.
3. Enter the adjustment date and select all the items to adjust. 
4. Click Save and close.

Once the inventory adjustment is saved, QuickBooks automatically record appropriate adjustments to your inventory accounts.

For reference, you can also look into these articles on how to manage inventory:

• Set up and track your inventory in QuickBooks Online
• Adjust inventory quantity on hand in QuickBooks Online

Feel free to drop a comment below if you have other questions. I'll be right here to help you out. Have a great day!

We don't use PO.  Is that the only way to get the items from a vendor into inventory without hand entering each item ?

We can either use Check or Expense transaction, jb1203.

In QuickBooks, the Purchase Order (PO) is a non-posting transaction. That being said, it will not reflect on your Profit and Loss and any product quantity reports.

We'll have to manually use either Check or Expense to bring in and track the items you've received from your vendor. 

You can do that by clicking the + New button and then select either Check or Expense. Then, select the items under the Item details field.

Feel free to browse this article if you want to adjust the item's quantity on hand: Adjust inventory quantity on hand in QuickBooks Online.

Let me know if you still need help. Stay safe!

We use QBO with a Pro account.  I understand how to do the expense/bill/check.  My issue is we recv 100's of items and I do not want to enter them manually.  Do we need a different version in order to do this process quickly.

Thanks for getting back to us, jb1203.

We don't need a different QuickBooks version. 

We can import the items through an Excel file. Let me guide you with these steps:

1. From the Gear icon, select Import Data.
2. Select Products and Services.
3. On the Import products and services page, select Browse.
4. Find and select your Excel file. Select Open, then Next.
5. Map the information.
6. Select Next.
7. Select Overwrite all values for each product or service with the same name. 
8. Select Import.

I've added this article for more information when mapping the fields: Import products and services from Excel.

Don't hesitate to comment below or post again if you have further questions.

We use online QB.  These instructions are for desktop.  Please send instructions for adding vendor shipments of the items into qbo.  We do not use PO.  I do not want to hand enter hundreds of items from each vendor.

Hello, jb1203.

Thanks for the post, the link my colleague provided was for desktop, however the steps provided were for QBO. Below, I'm including the proper article and steps for you to follow to Import products and services from excel. 

1. In QuickBooks Online, select Settings ⚙ then select Import Data.
2. Select Products and Services.
3. On the Import products and services page, select Browse.
4. Find and select your Excel file. Select Open, then Next.
5. Map your information. Your Field represents the headers on your spreadsheet. From each drop-down menu ▼, select the one that matches a field in QuickBooks Online.
6. Select Next.
7. Select Overwrite all values for each product or service with the same name. Make sure everything looks correct because this can't be undone.
8. Select Import.

Important: If you see some cells highlighted in red, this means the cell is invalid. Check the cell in Excel and try again.

If you have any other questions or concerns, feel free to post here anytime. 

We use purchase orders in QBO to buy a number of items that we resell.  Our current process is to wait to receive the inventory when we receive the bill/invoice from our supplier but this doesn't reflect our real time needs.  In many cases we create a purchase order, pick up the material from a vendor, and deliver to our customers on the same day.  But it often takes 7-10 days before our vendor emails an invoice to us and before process that purchase order into a bill connected with the invoice.  During those 7-10 days our inventory levels don't reflect an accurate count of on hand inventory and they also show items on order that have already been received. 

I would like a two step process where we can receive the inventory into QBO against the outstanding PO when we take physical possession of the material, but then wait for the invoice to arrive to create the bill, (that way we can including our supplier's invoice number and expected payment date on the bill.)  Is this possible?  From what I can see below the only option is to adjust the inventory level outside of the PO process and from other readings it looks like the inventory receipt process in general has only two options, either to receive with a bill or without.  I guess I'm looking for a hybrid option.  

Thank you for your input.

Thanks for joining our forum, @FHall,

The normal inventory receiving process in QuickBooks usually starts with creating a purchase order first before creating a bill for it. However, unlike invoices, we're unable to convert partial orders into a bill for billable expenses.

If you want a hybrid type of inventory receiving that works similarly to your business processing, you may venture for some third-party tools in our website. Our app website have different providers that this supported by Intuit. This way it's easier to import them into our program for proper recording.

To visit our site, click the following link: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/app/apps/home/

We also have a separate forum called Intuit Developers, where you can find engineers who can help recommend third-party applications for you to use. In this website, you can connect with engineers who can help with app integrations, take part in software developments and innovate business tools for QuickBooks.

Here's the link to the website: Intuit Developers Community.

Let me know if there's anything else I can assist you. I'm just a click away for help. Have a nice day!

Hi ! Quick question, so we are an aerospace assembly company and im buying rivets from another company. 

I made a P.O to purchase these rivets. Then the rivets have come in and I dont know how to receive them so it shows they were received on the P.O and closes it. Also when I go to "send" my P.O what is labeled as "activity" is blank, so I can't see the description or item im requesting in the P.O

Good day, @salonso12.

Thanks for dropping by in the QuickBooks Community. 
 

May I know the activity you're referring to when sending purchase orders (PO) in QuickBooks? Any additional information would be much appreciated. 

There are different ways on how to use the PO feature in QuickBooks Online (QBO). You can click Save and send to email PO directly to vendors when you're going to buy more products. This way, they will be notified about your intent to make a purchase.

On the other hand, simply select Save and close if you only need to record the transaction. This way, the system can easily track them in QuickBooks. 

 When your vendor accepts the purchase order and agrees to the given terms, you can quickly add it to an expense or bill transaction in QuickBooks. This keeps all the transactions connected and your accounts balanced.

For more details, you can also check out this article: How to create purchase orders and send them to vendors.

Don't hesitate to add your reply in this thread if you need further clarification. I'll be here willing to assist you. Keep safe.

How do you receive inventory in QBO without a bill?  On desktop, you receive the item and it creates an item receipt, which can then be converted to a Bill.  However, everything I've googled assumes you have a Bill.  I need my Warehouse to receive the item b/c we don't get the Bill from the Vendor for weeks and we need Inventory to be recorded.

How do you receive the Inventory without a Bill?  QB Desktop has the option, which creates and Item Receipt.  How do you do it in QBO?  Our Warehouse needs to record it into Inventory when they receive it and we don't receive the Bill for weeks.

Adjusting quantity on hand may help increase inventory without the bill, but when you receive the bill and try to receive the item from the PO, then it will duplicate the inventory item.  Is there a way to receive inventory without a bill from a PO?  QB Desktop can do it, creating an item receipt.  Why can't QBO do it?

Yes, there's another way to receive your inventory without creating a bill in QuickBooks, @osparkelo. And I'd be glad to share it with you.

In QBO, when recording a purchase order (PO), you'll need to create a bill, expense, or check to receive the PO. This way, you can add the PO as a line item and receive your inventory.

In your case, you can either create a check or expense to receive your PO. I'll show you how.

1. Go to the + New menu.
2. Select Expense or Check.
3. From the Payee drop-down, select the appropriate vendor.
4. Select Add to add the correct PO. 
5. Review the details.
6. Then click Save and close when done.

You can also check this link for more details about the process: Add purchase orders to expenses, bills, or checks in QuickBooks Online.

Furthermore, if you're not getting your inventory from a vendor, I recommend entering an inventory adjustment. This way, you can track your stocks without creating a PO and avoid duplicate entries. 

Once you're all set, you might want to regularly run your inventory reports to keep track of your sales and the status of your inventory. 

If you have any other queries about inventories in QBO, you can always add them in your reply. I'll be more than happy to work with you again. Keep safe and more power to your business!

All of these options makes me try to pay the Vendor.  I'm not doing that.  I won't be paying the Vendor for 30-60 days and I won't get a Bill for at least 2 weeks.  Why is QBO trying to make me pay the Vendor in order to receive Inventory?  Does QBO have something similar to QB Desktop where an Item Receipt is created prior to entering a Bill?

Hi there, osparkelo.

I admire you for coming back to the thread to add some clarification about receiving an inventory in QuickBooks Online. I'll be sharing information on how the Inventory works in QuickBooks Online. 

When you add products and services as items in QuickBooks, you give them a type, and one of them is to track Inventory. Then, once a vendor accepts a purchase order and sends the products, you'll have to record it as a bill or expense in QuickBooks. This is a way to increase the inventory and there's no other action to record the received inventory without using those entries mentioned.

Additionally, you can also use the inventory adjustment feature to increase/receive what you need. If you track inventory in QuickBooks Online, you can manually adjust an item's quantity without recording a purchase or sale, to match what is in your account.

On the other hand, QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop have their own separate platforms. There are features and functionalities that work differently, and they’re designed to operate independently. That said, QBDT has the option to receive inventory with or without a bill but QBO needs to enter the inventory as bill or expense. 

Lastly, you may open this article to view details on how to run a particular report that will reflect all payments made to vendors: Run a report with vendor totals.

Let me know if there's anything else you need with Inventory. I'm always here to help you anytime. Take care and keep safe!

This is a totally unacceptable option. We went to QBO from Desktop so that we could access the books from multiple locations. If not for the multiple location feature there is no compelling reason for the online version. Unfortunately, the online version has eliminated so many important accounting features making it an inferior product especially at the price. We receive our merchandise at our warehouse facility which is in another part of town from where our accounting takes place. We do not want the receiving clerk to be adding vendor bills, for goodness sakes. (who thought that was a good idea?). If a bill is created at the time of receipt we have no relationship of that date to the dates of the actual invoice from the vendor which is almost always different. There is no correlating Invoice(bill) number to use as a preventive measure fomr entering a duplicate when the mail or email bill actually arrives. This would throw off the payment terms and dates due. Asking the receiving clerk to create an expense one item at a time is totally non productive and again changes how reports bring up data. The computers and dual entry software were supposed to save time and keystrokes. The procedure you outline does not take advantage of that feature in a productive manner at all. For this software to rise to the level of its advertising it has to fix some of these very basic and essential features. This is not purported to be a consumer product for keeping track of household expenses, it is being sold as a premium business software yet it lacks some of the most basic small business capability. Who do I contact who might actually listen to a customer? 

Hi, @soundcon.

At this time, QuickBooks Online (QBO) allows users to receive inventory items through purchase orders or bills as instructed above. I can see the importance of getting the feature needed that fits your business needs while handling inventory entries. For now, you can use the Feedback feature to send this idea directly to our engineering team. This way, they could take action to help improve your experience. Rest assured they're working nonstop to enhance the product and deliver the best experiences to all QuickBooks users. 

Here's how you can send feedback through QuickBooks:

1. Sign in to QuickBooks.
2. Select 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.

Here are some resources you can open for more hints about managing inventory in QBO:

• Set up and track your inventory in QuickBooks Online
• Adjust inventory quantity on hand in QuickBooks Online

If you have any other follow-up questions while working with your inventory entries, let me know by adding a comment below. I'll get back to you as soon as I can help you again. Keep safe!

Thanks for the prompt response. I must tell you however, even though I sent in a feedback, I have a serious doubt that there will be any action taken on it. I have followed threads for years where a significant number of participants have offered the same suggestion for the most basic of features only to have them never implemented. I see that there was an upgrade to the program in the last few days offering a method of keeping track of marketing efforts. This is great and, while I have not had opportunity to check it out, it may well be a feature that I can sue. I understand that it is an integration with Mailchimp the new acquisition so it a profit center and attention will be given immediately to that. But marketing is an adjunct feature to the basic needs of good accounting procedures. The basics should be addressed prior to accessory features. The receiving report feature has never been part of the online experience and it's time for someone at Intuit to have this addressed. 

It’s like QBO won’t listen to the users, it appears they are forgetting who made them big, accountants and customers. The best way to get a growing and large company to listen is to hit them in the pockets. If ALL users start requesting full or partial months refunds from lack of basic accounting functionality, then that’s the only way we will get their attention. But as long as we accept the double talk and take their non-accounting responses, their won’t be any change. The last time I recommended to ask for refunds, my post mysteriously disappeared. Get the word out on all QBO forums to ask for REFUNDS!! They can’t delete all of our comments. 

Did you find a solution to this? In the same boat here. We create a PO for items ordered, and there is normally a delay between receipt date and invoice date. I want to be able to receive items from the PO into inventory to keep inventory quantities in real time, then be able to match an invoice to that receipt at a later time. Unsure if this is possible in QBO. 

We use an ERP system for our main operation and after inventory is received it moves into "Accrued Inventory" and "Accrued Payable" in the GL. Our inventory management system is updated for the inventory received in real time. Then when the bill is finally received and matched/entered, auto entries are made to reverse the above and move dollars into Inventory and Accounts Payable. 

At the price we are having to pay for Advanced QBO and I can not even let my receiving dock finish the PO cycle with out having them create a Bill, Expense or Check (a fucntion of Accounts Payable) is completely unacceptable.  Not to mention, it goes against our internal control procedures.  A an actual functioning ERP system is starting to look really good right now.  We pay over $450 a month for QBO and Payroll , this is a BASIC BUSINESS FUNCTION for any company that uses inventory.  Its not asking much for us to be able to enter a quantity received from the PO screen and let the system push the qty received to a Bill once we actually get in invoice in .  I will not have the GL expenses and payables reported incorrectly because often times, the person on the receiving dock has no idea of the total cost of the line items on the invoice.   This is dumb, do better Intuit !!!