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Add product and service items

by Intuit •

533 •

Updated 5/26/2026 12:31

You can track income and expenses for each product or service in QuickBooks Online and Intuit Enterprise Suite. Enter products and services that you sell as items so they can be quickly added to sales forms. This process provides more detailed financial reports and helps you complete transactions faster.

This article focuses on setting up product and service items that you don't track as part of your inventory. If you plan to track product quantities, add them as inventory items instead.

This video will show you how to:

Set up QuickBooks to match what you sell
Choose between inventory, non-inventory, and service type items
Know which fields are important and which ones you can skip when you set up a product or service
Get more accurate reports and save time later

Get insights you need to make smart decisions with QuickBooks Advanced. See plans and pricing.

Video transcript

[0:00] QuickBooks comes with some basic products and services, but setting up your own gives you more accurate reports and helps to save you time later. Before you record any sales in QuickBooks, it's best to set up the products and services you provide to your customers. Let's go over how to do that to get started from All Apps. Navigate to Sales & Get Paid. Then Products and Services.

[0:21] Then Create Items. First, let's choose the type of product or service you want to enter. Non-inventory products are physical things you sell, but you don't keep track of exactly how many you have. If you manage inventory with QuickBooks, then you could choose an inventory product here. Services are any services that you sell to your customers.

[0:44] We'll set up a service, but both products and services are set up in the exact same way. Our business is a landscaping company and we charge customers for tree trimming. There is a field for Stock Keeping Unit if you need to track that for your products. You can also group your products and services into categories.

[1:05] You can select this box to upload a picture of the product or service, enter a description of the product or service. This appears later when you record a sale of this item and will be something that your customer sees on their invoice or receipt. The sales price or rate field lets you record what you charge customers for this service.

[1:25] You can leave it blank, but recording your default price or rate saves you time later. We charge $50 an hour for trimming. The Income account is the account that QuickBooks uses to categorize sales income for this service. You'll see it on your Profit & Loss Statement, and over time it tracks how much income you've generated from this service and others like it.

[1:48] You don't need a different income account for each product or service. Just for whatever categories you wanna keep track of. For example, we want the income from this service to go to Landscaping Services Income. If Sales Tax is turned on, you'll also choose whether or not you charge sales tax for the product or service. Once you're done, select, Save and Close.

[2:11] And now we have a trimming service that we can charge to our customers for $50 an hour. If you have many products and services to enter, you can import them all from a spreadsheet instead of entering them one by one from the products and service page, and select import items or navigate to the dropdown of new product service. Choose batch, import, and import from file.

[2:35] Attach the spreadsheet and select next. Then map the fields in your spreadsheet with the fields in QuickBooks. Select next. If everything looks good, select, import, and all these products and services will be added to QuickBooks. Now, try setting up your own products and services in QuickBooks.

Understanding Product and Service Types

QuickBooks offers different item types for tracking:

Inventory item: Products you sell and track quantities for. Inventory features are available in QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced.
Non-inventory item: Products or items you buy or sell but don't need to track quantities for. For example, nuts and bolts used for an installation job but not sold directly.
Service: Services you provide to customers.
Bundle: Several products or services sold together as a single item, such as a gift basket.

Step 1: Add a new product or service item

You only need to create a product or service once. After creation, you can add them to sales forms as many times as necessary.

Tip: If you already track your products and services in a spreadsheet, you can save time and import them all at once.

How to set up the item details

Go to All apps , then Sales & Get Paid, then Products & services (Take me there).
From the New ▼ dropdown, select Non-inventory item or Service.
Enter a Name for the product or service and a SKU if you track them.
From the Category ▼ dropdown, select the category that best describes your item.
(Optional) From the Class ▼ dropdown, select or add a class for tracking purposes.
(Optional) From the Dimensions ▼ dropdown, select one or more dimensions for tracking and reporting purposes (Intuit Enterprise Suite only).

How to add sales information (if you sell the item)

You can now add the product and service to invoices, sales receipts, expenses, and other sales forms. You can also track it on your financial reports.

Step 2: Add a service or product’s purchasing info

If you want to track how much you spend on a product or service:

Go to All apps , then Sales & Get Paid, then Products & services (Take me there).
Find the product or service on the list and select Edit in the Action column.
Select I purchase this product/service from a vendor.
Add a description. This shows on bills, purchase orders, and other forms you send to vendors.
Add the Cost. If the price changes, don’t worry. You can still enter the updated price when it’s time to buy supplies.
Select the account you use to track the cost of things you sell from the Expense account ▼ dropdown.
Select your preferred vendor.
Select Save and close.

Step 3: Managing Your Product and Service Items

Once you’re all set up, you can track what you buy or sell. Here's how to get started:

Edit a product or service item

You can review and make changes from the Products & services menu.

Go to All apps , then Sales & Get Paid, then Products & services (Take me there).
Find the product or service you want to change.
Select Edit in the Action column.
Make your changes.
Select Save and close.

Change a product or service item type

If you mistakenly added an inventory item as non-inventory, or a service item as an inventory item, you can change the item's type.

Make an item inactive

You can make items inactive so they no longer appear on sales forms, lists, or financial reports. This action hides the item but doesn't delete it.

Go to All apps , then Sales & Get Paid, then Products & services (Take me there).
Find the product or service you want to change.
Use the Action column, select the ▼ dropdown, then select Make inactive.
Select Yes to confirm.

How to reactivate an item

Go to All apps , then Sales & Get Paid, then Products & services (Take me there).
Select the Filter icon.
From the Status ▼ dropdown, select All, then select Apply. This shows you all of your active and inactive items.
Find the product or service that you want to reactivate.
From the Action column, select Make active.