What is Category details vs. Item details?

Hi, @jbeld.

Let me share some insights on the difference between category details and item details.

Category details refer to the accounts listed in your chart of accounts based on the chart of accounts. An example of this is recording bills such as electricity and water bills.

On the other hand, item details are the products and services that you purchased from a vendor or sell to your customers. This also refers to adding an items by quantity and unit price. It may also help to use for some job costing purposes.
 

I've got this article that may help you in creating transactions in QuickBooks: What is the difference between bills, checks, and expenses?

Don’t hesitate to message me back if you have additional queries.

Hi, if I bought some goods for resale, shall I post these as items i.e part of stocks- products %VAT?

 or in the category as Cost of Sales or Purchases straight away?

I'm just confused, 

 if I post them in the category as purchases/COS, they're in the COS (full amount) but if I post these as Items, why don't they appear in the Cost of Sales? They should form part  of COS as they are still Purchases for resale, isn't it?

Many thanks

Thanks for chiming in on this thread, @fgabby1. I can share some information about your concern about recording the goods for resale items in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

You can record the items you purchased for resale as items in QBO. Also, ensure that you have turned on the Track expenses and items by customer to select the items that you need to purchase.

1. Go to the Gear icon⚙, then select Accounts and settings.
2. Select the Expenses tab.
3. In the Bills and expenses section, select Edit ✎.
4. Enable the necessary toggle button for you.
5. Select Save and Done.

You'll want to review your items in the products and service info if the account you used is also affecting the Cost of Sales (COS). Otherwise, if it is in the incorrect account it will not appear in the COS also.

If you need to update the affected account, you can utilize the option to Also update this account in historical. For more information about changing the account for a product/service item, see this article.

Feel free to check out this article to learn more about how to see your best sellers, what’s on hand, the cost of goods, and more.

In case there isn't enough quantity on hand for your products and services, you can set up reorder points. Check out this article for instructions and detailed steps: Get alerts for low or out of stock products.

Stay in touch with me if there's anything else you need with your goods for resale items in QBO. I'll be right here to help you. Have a good one!

What if company orders products but the products go straight to a jobsite.  Should these be listed under Item or Category?

Welcome to the this thread, Imilholen.

I can share some information to help you decide where will the products that go straight to the jobsite be listed under.

If you're tracking transactions by item, you'll want to enter the products under the item details section from the bill or expense transaction. Otherwise, you can just set the items to directly affect the accounts. 

I've also included an article that will help you organize the services and products that you sell: Group your product and services into different categories.

If I can be of any further assistance in managing your products, please don't hesitate to tag me in your comments and posts. I'm always here to back you up.