Make a customer a vendor

Actually you can do an "end run" on this.  If you made the customer a vendor by mistake do the following:

Change the mistaken vendor name to something else via right click-edit vendor: John Smith to John Smith Old.

Create the right name as a Customer name: John Smith in this example

Go into the ledger accounts that have the transaction, e.g., Checking account register or Paypal register,etc and update the payee name from John Smith Old to John Smith.  I found if you try to change the name in the invoice list from the "view and manage vendors list" you will not see it disappear from the John Smith Old list for some reason.  But changing the payee name outside the "view and manage" worked fine.

Hope this works for you.

This is a real bummer.

A few of my partners are both suppliers and customers.

A name shouldn't be tied to a role—we all have different facets haven't we.

Also a name shouldn't be tied to a currency. The same partner should be able to pay/be paid in different currencies during the life of the business relationship...

Workaround is using different display names (adding Selling/Buying, GBP/EUR...) but this triggers my OCD. Quickbooks should change their primary keys.

I appreciate the feedback about how QuickBooks works for customer/vendor profiles, Leo.

I'd recommend letting our Product Development Team know about this. They'll put your suggestion into consideration for future product updates. You can click the Gear icon in the upper-right corner and select Feedback.

Thanks again for sharing your feedback. You can always reach out to us if you need anything else.

Isn’t there anyone out there that has a customer that is also a vendor?  This seems counter intuitive. I have customers that I do services for as well as purchase services from.  I have been appending the names with known values to make both. 

Hey @HeliHSV,

Thank you for sharing with us your experience.

Allow me to add a few more information regarding this.

When a customer is also your vendor, this is called a Barter. Transactions between the two parties are called Barter Transactions. 

You can record your exchanges correctly by creating a Barter Account. Here’s how:

1. On the left panel, click on Accounting. 
2. Under the Chart of Accounts tab, click on New.
3. Select Bank under the Category Type drop-down.
4. Choose Cash on Hand under the Detail Type drop-down.
5. Enter Barter Bank Account on the Name field.
6. Click on Save.

You may read this article for more details: How to Record a Barter Transaction?

Don’t hesitate to leave a comment below if you have any other concerns. 

um that's not a barter transaction.  it simply means a party outside of his company at times acts as a customer (i.e. his company provides services for the outside party).  at other times, the outside party performs services for his company (i.e. acts as a vendor).  he would like to use the same name for a customer as a vendor to use the 'pay bills' function that QB requires.  im having the same issue now and will have to make a new vendor with a slightly different name than the customer id already set up (for the same entity).

Greetings, pb1984.

Allow me to step in and provide additional clarification regarding this matter.

First and foremost, I'd like you to know that I agree with your insight. A barter only occurs when you and your vendor exchange goods and services. In this situation, the customer simply acted as a vendor by performing services for the company.

That being said, it would be better to set up this entity with a slightly different name to indicate it's customer/vendor profile. For the benefit of all, let me provide the steps on how to set this up:

Setting up as a Customer

1. Click Sales in the left navigation menu.
2. Go to the Customers tab.
3. Click New customer.
4. Enter the necessary customer information.
5. Click Save.

Setting up as a Vendor

1. Click Sales in the left navigation menu.
2. Go to the Vendors tab.
3. Click New vendor.
4. Enter the necessary vendor information.
5. Click Save.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you. I've got your back and am always willing to help. Wishing you all the best!

Thanks

RE: how to make a customer a vendor

I have a customer who I need to make a vendor. How do I do this?

Thanks for joining this conversation, @LizS04.

Currently, QuickBooks Online (QBO) doesn't have a direct way to do this. However, you can delete (make inactive) the customer and recreate them again as a vendor as a workaround.

Before we proceed, consider editing the customer's name first before we delete them, because QBO doesn't allow duplicate names.

Here's how:

1. Go to the Sales menu at the left pane, then Customers.
2. Select the Customer's name to open their information.
3. Go to the Customer Details tab, then click Edit.
3. Edit the name, then click Make inactive and Save.

Once done, recreate them again as a vendor. Here's how:

1. Got the Expenses tab at the left pane, then Vendors.
2. Click Add a vendor, then enter the necessary information.
3. Hit Save.

That should get you pointed in the right direction. For additional information, check out these articles:

• How to edit customer information.
• Vendors overview.

Keep me posted on how everything goes after following these steps. I'll be here should you need anything else. Have a good day.

This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.  Come on QuickBooks -- you should know better than anyone that it is not uncommon to have an entity as a vendor and a client.  Although this was brought to your attention several months ago, it doesn't appear you intend to properly correct it.  Having to make a vendor/client inactive to create the opposite for the same entity is stupid.  And you really charge us all this money to be so ridiculous?!?!?

Hello, shampton.

Thanks for following up on this thread and sharing your thoughts.

I'll be sure to pass additional feedback along to the Product Development Team to let them know you'd like be able to have a vendor and a client with the same name and information.

You can keep up with product updates and feature releases by viewing the QuickBooks Blog: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/blog/.

Please feel free to comment below if you have any other questions.

Similar issue. 

We just signed on with an international customer who is also a vendor.

We're buying a little bit of stuff from them, they're buying a lot more from us.  We will bill them on the difference of our two invoices. 

I'm assuming based on all the comments here there is no "Customer/Vendor" designation and I have to make it separately? Also, should i be creating a debit note for the amount they're buying from us?

FYI, I'm on QB enterprise edition.

Thanks for joining this thread, @miket001.

You'll first need to set up a vendor so you can separate your customer who is also a vendor. Let me guide you how. 

1. Go to the Vendors menu at the top. 
2. Select Vendor Center. 
3. Click the New Vendor drop-down. 
4. Choose New Vendor. 
5. Enter all the necessary info. 
6. Click OK. 

To help you properly record your barter transactions, you can create a clearing account. By doing so, this will transfer funds from one customer or vendor to another. Also, you can create a debit note for his/her invoice amount.

To create a clearing account:

1. Go to the Lists menu at the top.
2. Select Chart of Accounts.
3. Click the Accounts drop-down, then choose New.
4. Mark the Bank radio button in the Add New Account window. 
5. Click Continue. 
6. Type in the appropriate account name in the Account Name field. For example, clearing, barter or wash accounts.
7. Fill in the necessary fields and leave the opening balance box blank.
8. Click Save & Close.

Once done, you can now use this barter account to record the transactions. You can go through the  steps under To use a clearing account section on this article: Set Up Clearing Account. I also suggest consulting your accountant for guidance on which account to use for debits and credits. This is to ensure your transactions are properly tracked in the program. 

Just click the Reply button if you need anything else. I’ll be around to help. 

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@RaymondJayO wrote:

Thanks for joining this thread, @miket001.

 

There isn't a need to separate your customer who is also a vendor, and create a debit note for his/her invoice amount. To help you properly record your barter transactions, you can create a clearing account. By doing so, this will transfer funds from one customer or vendor to another.

 

To create a clearing account:

1. Go to Lists menu at the top.
2. Select Chart of Accounts.
3. Click the Accounts drop-down, then choose New.
4. Mark the Bank radio button in the Add New Account window. 
5. Click Continue. 
6. Type in the appropriate account name in the Account Name field. For example, clearing, barter or wash accounts.
7. Fill in the necessary fields, and don't enter an opening balance.
8. Click Save & Close.

 

Once done, you can now use this barter account to record the transactions. For detailed steps, you can go through this article: Set Up Clearing Account. I also suggest consulting your accountant for guidance on which account to use for debits and credits. This is to ensure your transactions are properly tracked in the program. 

Just click the Reply button if you need anything else. I’ll be around to help. 

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Hi @RaymondJayO ,

Regardless, I still need to establish them as a vendor. I'm also using the Acctivate warehouse inventory management module that connects to quickbook, so I'll need them as a vendor in order to receive their products into the warehouse with them as our vendor.

Hello there, miket001.

As what my colleague RaymondJayO discussed from the previous post, the only way to handle barter transaction in QuickBooks Desktop is to create a clearing account.

While your preferred option isn't available, I encourage you to regularly check our New Features option in QuickBooks Desktop to be updated of the QuickBooks latest features:

1. Go to Help menu.
2. Click New Features.
3. Choose either New Feature Tour or What's New.

For future reference, you can check out these resources that you may need for future reference:

• QuickBooks Resource Center.
• QuickBooks Desktop for Windows Guidelines.

Stay posted if you have any other QuickBooks questions, I'll be right here to help you.

YES!  I have several... and it is maddening.  I have to create reports outside of Quickbooks to give reports to our customer/vendor... its maddening.  I'm sure any property management business has this issue.  We manage boats and pay the owners for when we use them in our sailing school... but we also charge them fees for maintenance, insurance, and slips... so they are both a customer and a vendor... to true up the account, I had to create "bank accounts" to balance between the two sides.  It works well, but it took me quite a while to figure this out.  AND you have to be very careful!

And I thought I made that up myself!  I don't call it barter, but I have accounts like that to balance the vendor and customer point of view with our business partners.

In the case of non-profits, a Customer (i.e. donor) can, and often is, also a Vendor, Employee, or even both.  Wouldn't this also be the case for almost any company: one name filling multiple roles? I'm not requesting the ability to change a role (after tx have been entered), instead the ability to assign multiple roles to the same name.

Using different names for each role of the same name is a short-sided and error-prone work-around.  So, when depositing a donation I would choose between Joe (Vendor), Joe (Employee) and Joe (Customer), and Joe (Other).   Really?   Or call up Joe and ask "in which role did you make this donation"?   

And, if not perfectly consistent over time, how do I produce accurate donor reports for tax purposes?  How do I list or summarize all tx involving Joe over a period of time?

For example: We added Joe as a customer when making his first donation and he has since made donations every month for years.  He's been helpful in other ways, too, so we engaged him to build  website on a 1099 basis.  So now he needs to be a vendor.  We liked his work, and decided to hire him part-time to support the website.  Rhetorically: now what?  Oh yes, he continues his monthly donations as a customer the entire time.

Perhaps a bit contrived, but the multiple-role scenario really does come up to a lessor extent quite often.   In fact, all of our employees are also customers (donors).  We can deposit their donations using their employee name, but then they don't show up in our donor reports that are summarized by customer name.

Please fix this short-sided design short

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@MorganB wrote:

Hello, shampton.

 

Thanks for following up on this thread and sharing your thoughts.

 

I'll be sure to pass additional feedback along to the Product Development Team to let them know you'd like be able to have a vendor and a client with the same name and information.

 

You can keep up with product updates and feature releases by viewing the QuickBooks Blog: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/blog/.

 

Please feel free to comment below if you have any other questions.

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coming fixed.