An item is anything you buy, keep in stock and sell: a part, a tin of paint, a shirt in five sizes. This article covers the New product window you use to create one, the Edit Product page you use to change it, and deleting an item you no longer need. Things you sell but never stock (labour, delivery, a call-out fee) are created on the Services list instead.
Before you start
A new item needs a category, a unit and a tax rate. If your company has none of one of these yet, the New product window says which list is empty, for example No units, categories set up yet — add them in Admin before creating a product. Add them in the Admin section (Categories, Units, Taxes) and open the window again. See The Admin screen and Tax rates and tax groups.
To sell one item in several forms you also need a variation group (for example Size: Small / Medium / Large), created under Variation Groups in the Admin section.
Add a new item
- Open the Item List (Lists ▸ Item List) and click New product. The New product window opens over the list. You can move it and resize it; SeroBooks remembers its size and position.
- Type the Name.
- Type the SKU / barcode, or leave it empty and SeroBooks generates one.
- Enter the Selling price and the Cost. The line under them shows the margin as you type.
- Under What kind of thing is it, choose Single, Variations or Group.
- Pick the Category, Unit and Tax, and tick The price above already includes tax if your price is tax-inclusive.
- Tick Track a serial / IMEI per unit for serialised goods.
- Fill in the Reordering fields.
- Click Add product.
SeroBooks saves the item, brings your catalogue up to date on this computer, shows "name" added. and lists the new item. It can go on an invoice, bill or purchase order straight away.
Fields in the New product window
| Field | What to enter / what it means |
|---|---|
| Name | The item's name as it appears on invoices, bills and reports. Required. |
| SKU / barcode | The stock-keeping unit code. A scanned barcode is the SKU. Leave it empty and one is generated. Every SKU must be unique in your company; if the code is already used, the window shows the server's refusal in red and you can change it. |
| Selling price | The price before any price level or discount. Shown for Single and Group items. For Variations, each variation has its own price instead. |
| Cost | What one unit costs you, before tax. Used for margin and as the cost of the item until a bill records what you actually paid. Shown for Single and Group items. |
| Margin (read-only line) | Margin 34.5% as you type. If the cost is empty it reads No cost yet — margin will read 100% until a bill sets one. A negative margin shows in red. |
| What kind of thing is it | Single (one item, one price), Variations (one item in several forms, each with its own SKU, cost and price) or Group (a bundle sold as one line). Variations cannot be chosen until at least one variation group exists; the window says No variation groups set up yet — create one in Admin…. |
| Category | The category the item is filed under. Used by the Item List filters and by reports. |
| Unit | The unit you count it in (each, box, kg, metre). |
| Tax | The tax rate charged when you sell the item. See How sales tax works. |
| The price above already includes tax | Tick when your selling price is tax-inclusive. Leave clear when tax is added on top. |
| Track a serial / IMEI per unit | For phones, laptops, appliances and other serialised goods. One serial number is captured for each unit, and units are sold one line at a time. See Serial Number Lookup. |
| Warn me below | The stock level at which SeroBooks treats the item as low (QuickBooks' reorder point). Used by Stock Levels and Reorder Levels. |
| Reorder qty | How many you normally order when you reorder. |
| Lead time (days) | How many days the item takes to arrive after you order it, for example 7 from a local supplier or 90 by sea. Forecast and Reorder Levels use it to warn you in time. Leave it empty if you do not know; empty is treated as unknown, not as zero. |
Buttons: Cancel closes the window without saving. Add product saves (it reads Adding… while it works).
An item with variations
- Choose Variations under What kind of thing is it.
- In Varies by, pick the variation group, for example Size.
- A row appears for each value of the group, in the group's own order. For each row fill in:
| Column | What to enter |
|---|---|
| VARIATION | The value (Small, Medium, Large). Read-only. |
| SKU | The variation's own code. SeroBooks fills it in from the item's SKU with a running number (ABC-1, ABC-2…) and keeps it in step as you type the item SKU, until you type your own code over it. Leave one empty and the server generates it. If you sell on a marketplace, type the listing SKU here. |
| COST | What one unit of this variation costs you. |
| PRICE | This variation's selling price. Required for every row. |
The New product window offers one variation group per item. Each variation appears as its own row on the Item List (for example "T-Shirt — Large") and on every invoice and bill.
A group item
A group is sold as one line and delivered as several items. Each item in the group comes off its own stock; the group itself is never stocked.
- Choose Group under What kind of thing is it.
- Click Add an item. In Add to group, search and click the item to add. Groups are not offered (a group cannot contain a group), and items already in the group are hidden.
- Set the Qty of that item in the group. Click the × to remove an item.
- Enter the group's Selling price. It is set on its own, so the bundle can cost less than its parts.
Validation messages
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| Give it a name. | Type a name. |
| Pick a unit, a category and a tax rate. | Choose one of each. |
| Pick a variation group — Size, Colour, whatever this comes in. | You chose Variations but no group. Pick one in Varies by. |
| Enter a price for every variation. | Fill in PRICE on every row. |
| "code" is used by two variations. Each one needs its own. | Give each variation a different SKU. |
| Add at least one item to the group. | A group needs at least one item. Click Add an item. |
Edit an item
- Open the item's window: double-click it on the Item List, or press Ctrl+Shift+I and pick it.
- Click Edit Item. You need the Edit Product right; without it SeroBooks tells you so. The item's window closes and the Edit Product page opens.
- Change what you need and click Save Changes. Cancel leaves without saving.
Fields on the Edit Product page
| Field | What it means |
|---|---|
| Product name | Required. |
| SKU | The item's code. |
| Lead time (days) | Supplier fulfilment time. See above. |
| Alert quantity | The low-stock warning level (the same as Warn me below). |
| Reorder quantity | How many to order when you reorder. |
| Category, Unit, Tax rate | Required. If the item's saved category, unit or tax rate is no longer in the list, it is shown marked (current) or (retired) so saving never changes it without you choosing to. |
| ACCOUNTS | The item's Income Account and COGS Account. Each is saved as soon as you pick it. See Item accounts. |
| Price includes tax | Switch on for a tax-inclusive price. |
| Track IMEI / Serial number | Switch on for serialised goods. |
| Cost | Single items. What one unit costs you, with the margin shown under it. |
| Selling price | Single items. |
| Group price | Group items. The price the whole group sells at. It opens showing the current price. |
| Variation prices | Items with variations: one price box for each variation. Changing a price keeps the variation's cost. |
| Modifier groups | Groups of options (add-ons, choices) that you are asked to pick from when the item is added to an invoice. Tick a group to attach it to the item; New group creates one. Most items need none; leave the boxes clear. |
| Product image | Click to choose a picture (JPG or PNG). When the item already has one the box reads Image set — tap to replace. |
What you cannot change on this page:
- The kind of item (single, variations or group).
- A variation's SKU or cost, or which items are in a group.
To change prices, costs, SKUs or reorder points on many items at once, use Change Item Prices or Add/Edit Multiple List Entries.
Delete an item
You can delete an item only when no sale, purchase, adjustment or other entry uses it, and none of it is in stock, as in QuickBooks Desktop.
- Open the item's window and click Delete. You need the Edit Product right.
- Read Delete item? and click Delete.
If the item is in use, SeroBooks shows Cannot delete and says what uses it, for example "Blue Paint 10 L cannot be deleted: it has sales, purchases or opening stock and stock on hand. Make it inactive instead, or merge it into another item." The things it can name are sales, purchases or opening stock, purchase returns, returns, stock adjustments, billable costs, Amazon orders, recipes, warehouse moves and stock on hand. An item that was entered twice can be combined with the right one using Merge… on the Item List. An item you have simply stopped selling can be made inactive: click Make Inactive in its window. It keeps its history and stock and is no longer offered on forms. See Making an item inactive.
What happens in the books
Creating or editing an item posts nothing. The item only reaches the books through the documents that use it:
- A bill or item receipt debits Inventory (the inventory asset account in Accounting Setup) with what you paid, and credits Accounts Payable (or the bank or card you paid from).
- An invoice credits the item's Income Account with the sale and, for the cost of the units sold, debits the item's COGS Account and credits Inventory.
- The cost used is what the sold units cost on the bills they came in on (plus any landed costs such as freight or duty applied to that bill). The Cost on the item stands in only where no bill cost exists.
See How each transaction posts to the books.
Common problems
The Variations choice is greyed out. No variation group exists yet. Create one under Variation Groups in the Admin section.
The SKU is refused. Another item already uses that code. SKUs are unique across your whole company, including variations. Pick another or leave it empty to have one generated.
Margin reads 100%. The item has no cost. Enter the Cost, or wait for the first bill, which records what you really paid.
Edit Item says I do not have access. Your role lacks Edit Product under Inventory ▸ Products. Ask an administrator. See Permissions: "you do not have access".
I changed a price but an old invoice still shows the old one. That is expected: saved documents keep their own prices.