Sales reports

The Sales reports answer every question about what you sold: to whom, what, by whom, where, when, at what margin, and how it compares with last year, plus what is promised but not yet invoiced. Use them to see which customers and items carry the business, to pay commission, to spot items sold below cost, and to plan stock and staffing.

Open them from Reports ▸ Sales, or from the Sales category in the Report Centre. Several have a QuickBooks name on the Reports menu that differs from the Report Centre name: Daily Sales Summary is Sales by Day, Estimates by Customer is Quotations by Customer, Sales by Ship To Province is Sales by Province / State. The Reports ▸ Sales submenu also opens the Sales Reports screen (see The Sales, Purchases, Inventory, Damaged and Tax report screens) and Consolidated Day (see Consolidated Day).

Setting dates, narrowing to a customer or location, drilling down and printing work the same on every report: see Running a report and Drilling down from a report.

Which report do I want?

What counts as a sale

All the sales reports use the same rules, so their figures agree:

• Only saved (final) invoices count. Estimates, sales orders, pending invoices and held sales are not sales. (They have their own reports under Orders & Quotations and Open Sales.)
• Credit memos subtract, in the period they are dated. A June sale returned in July reduces July, so a month you have closed does not change later.
• Two bases. Reports built from invoices (by customer, rep, province, channel, location, month, day) show Total excl. tax: the invoice total less its tax, which still includes delivery charges, tips and rounding. Reports built from item lines (by item, category, brand, and the margin reports) show goods only: line prices before tax, after line and invoice discounts; delivery, tips and rounding are on no item line, so these totals are a little smaller. Each report says which in its notes.
• Cost (COGS) on the margin reports is the actual cost of the stock each sale used, from the bills it was bought on. Stock that arrived without a bill (for example imported opening stock) has no cost, so its margin reads as the full selling price.
• Walk-In Customer gathers every sale made without a named customer.

Sales by Customer

Sales by Customer Summary

What it answers: what each customer bought in the period, ranked, with their share of the total.

Rows and totals: largest first, then TOTAL. Narrowed to one customer, Share is still their share of the whole period.

Drill-down: a customer opens Sales by Customer Detail for that customer.

Notes: Total excl. tax is a little larger than line 101 of the GST/HST return, which also takes off tips and rounding.

Related: Income by Customer Summary answers from the books; Customer Ranking scores customers on recency, frequency and spend.

Sales by Customer Detail

What it answers: every invoice and credit memo, grouped by customer.

Columns: Date, Type (Invoice or Credit Note), Num, Location, Status (Paid, Partial or Due), Total excl. tax, Tax, Total incl. tax.

Rows and totals: a heading per customer (alphabetical), their documents in date order (credit memos negative), Total per customer with all three money columns, and TOTAL.

When opened from another report it can be narrowed further, and says so in its figures: to one customer group (from Sales by Customer Group), one day of the week (from Sales by Day of Week), one hour (from Sales by Hour of Day), a weekday and hour (from Sales by Weekday and Hour) or one location (from Sales by Location).

Drill-down: each line opens its invoice or credit memo.

Sales by Customer Group

What it answers: sales by customer group (price level), such as wholesale and retail.

Columns: Customer group, Invoices, Total excl. tax, Tax, Total incl. tax, Share (of sales excluding tax).

Rows and totals: one row per group, plus No group and Walk-In Customers, largest first, then TOTAL. A customer counts in the group they belong to now: moving a customer between groups moves their past sales with them.

Drill-down: a group opens Sales by Customer Detail for the customers in it. See Price Levels.

Sales by Customer by Month

What it answers: one column per month for every customer: who is buying more, and who is slipping.

Columns: Customer, one column per month (Jan 2026…), Total.

Rows and totals: customers by total, largest first, then TOTAL per month. Empty months are blank.

Drill-down: the customer's name opens their ledger; a month's figure opens Sales by Customer Detail for that customer and month.

New Customers

What it answers: the customers whose first-ever purchase fell in the period.

Columns: Customer, First purchase, Province / State, Invoices in period, Total excl. tax in period.

Rows and totals: largest sales first; the last row reads TOTAL — N new. Walk-in sales are left out. No customer made their first purchase in this period. when there are none.

Drill-down: the name opens the customer's ledger; the line opens Sales by Customer Detail for them.

Sales by Item

Sales by Item Summary

What it answers: quantity, revenue, cost and gross margin per item: item-wise profitability.

Rows and totals: largest revenue first, then TOTAL. The summary covers the whole period, however many sales it holds.

Drill-down: the item's name or code opens its history panel; anywhere else on the line opens Sales by Item Detail for the item.

Notes: a note appears when no cost is recorded against any sale (stock that arrived without bills), since margin is then not meaningful. See Item accounts.

Sales by Item Detail

What it answers: every line sold, grouped by item, with returns on their own dates.

Columns: Date, Type (Invoice or Credit Note), Num, Customer, Quantity (negative for returns), Price (before tax, after discounts), Amount.

Rows and totals: a heading per item, its lines by date, Total with the quantity and amount, then TOTAL.

Drill-down: each line opens its invoice or credit memo.

Sales by Item by Month

What it answers: one column per month, per item.

Columns: Item (with its code), one column per month, Total.

Rows and totals: items by total, largest first, then TOTAL per month.

Drill-down: the item's name opens its history panel; a month's figure opens Sales by Item Detail for that item and month.

Sales by Rep

The rep is the sales rep (commission agent) chosen on the invoice. A credit memo counts against the rep of the sale it reverses, so these reports are net of returns.

Sales by Rep Summary

What it answers: what each rep sold.

Columns: Rep, Invoices, Total excl. tax, Total incl. tax, Average sale.

Rows and totals: largest first, including No rep assigned for sales without a rep, then TOTAL.

Drill-down: a rep opens Sales by Rep Detail for that rep.

Sales Commission by Rep

What it answers: each rep's sales and the commission on them.

Columns: Rep, Invoices, Sales excl. tax, Commission rate, Commission.

Rows and totals: largest first, then TOTAL. Commission is the rep's sales excluding tax, less their credit memos, times the commission percentage on their user profile. A note counts reps with no rate set (their commission shows as zero).

Drill-down: a rep opens Sales by Rep Detail for the period. See Set Up Users and Roles.

Tips by Staff

What it answers: tips recorded on sales, per staff member.

Columns: Staff member, Sales with a tip, Those sales excl. tax and tip, Tips, Average tip, Tip %.

Rows and totals: most tips first, then TOTAL. A tip belongs to the staff member recorded on the sale, or whoever entered it. Tips are money held for staff, not income.

Drill-down: none.

Sales by Rep Detail

What it answers: every invoice and credit memo, grouped by rep.

Columns: Date, Type, Num, Customer, Total (including tax; credit memos negative).

Rows and totals: a heading per rep, their documents by date, Total per rep, TOTAL.

Drill-down: each line opens its document.

Sales by Place & Channel

Delivery Charges Collected

What it answers: delivery and shipping billed to customers, with the tax charged on it, month by month.

Columns: Date, Invoice, Customer, Delivery charged, Tax on delivery (the same tax the GST/HST return counts), Invoice total.

Rows and totals: a heading per month, its invoices, Total with the month's name, then TOTAL. Use Collapse all for one line per month.

Drill-down: each line opens its invoice.

Sales by Province / State

What it answers: sales by where each sale was supplied, by the same rule the tax was charged under. On the Reports menu it is Sales by Ship To Province.

Columns: Province / State, Invoices, Total excl. tax, Tax, Total incl. tax, Share.

Where a sale is placed: an Amazon order by the ship-to Amazon recorded; any other sale by the customer's address. Not recorded is a sale whose customer has no province or state on file (the tax on those fell back to the item's own rate); fixing the address fixes the report. Exports show as United States (export), Canada (export) or Outside North America (export) depending on your country.

Rows and totals: largest first, then TOTAL.

Drill-down: a province opens Sales by Province / State Detail.

Related: Tax Collected by Province and Tax Type shows the tax charged in each province, split by tax.

Sales by Province / State Detail

What it answers: every invoice, under the province it was supplied to.

Columns: Date, Invoice (a credit memo reads Credit and its number), Customer, Location, Total excl. tax, Tax, Total incl. tax.

Rows and totals: a heading per province, its documents by date, Total per province, TOTAL.

Drill-down: the customer opens their ledger; anywhere else opens the document.

Sales by Channel

What it answers: Amazon, web orders and each store, side by side.

Columns: Channel, Invoices, Total excl. tax, Tax, Total incl. tax, Share.

How the channel is decided: from what each invoice is linked to, never from a label: an Amazon order (by marketplace), a WooCommerce order, an online catalogue order, a delivery service (Delivery — …), an online order; anything else is shown per store as In store — location.

Rows and totals: largest first, then TOTAL.

Drill-down: a channel opens Sales by Channel Detail.

Sales by Channel Detail

What it answers: every invoice, under the channel it came from.

Columns and rows: as Sales by Province / State Detail, headed by channel.

Drill-down: the customer opens their ledger; anywhere else opens the document.

Sales by Ship To Address

What it answers: sales grouped by where they were shipped: QuickBooks Desktop's Sales by Ship To Address.

Columns: Ship To, Invoices, Total excl. tax, Tax, Total.

Rows and totals: one row per address, largest first, then TOTAL. The address is the ship-to on the invoice, or the customer's address when it has none; No ship-to address otherwise.

Drill-down: none.

Sales by Location

Sales by Location

What it answers: sales per store or warehouse.

Columns: Location, Invoices, Total excl. tax, Tax, Total, Average sale.

Rows and totals: largest first, then TOTAL.

Drill-down: a location opens Sales by Customer Detail for that location; its Tax figure opens the GST/HST Return Detail (which covers every location, and says so).

Related: Profit & Loss by Location gives each location's profit from the books.

Sales by Category & Brand

These reports are built from item lines (goods only) and share the margin columns: Quantity, Sales excl. tax, COGS, Gross margin, Margin % and Share of sales.

Sales by Category Summary

What it answers: revenue, cost and margin per product category.

Rows and totals: one row per category (Uncategorised for items without one), largest first, then TOTAL.

Drill-down: a category opens Sales by Category Detail for it.

Sales by Category Detail

What it answers: every item sold, under its category.

Rows and totals: a heading per category, its items (with codes) largest first, Total per category, TOTAL. On an item line, Share of sales is its share of its own category.

Drill-down: the item's name opens its history panel; the line opens Sales by Item Detail for it.

Sales by Brand Summary

What it answers: revenue, cost and margin per brand.

Rows and totals: one row per brand (No brand for the rest), largest first, then TOTAL.

Drill-down: a brand opens Sales by Item Summary for that brand's items.

Sales Trends

The trend reports are built from invoices. Their columns are the bucket (month, day…), Invoices, Units (goods lines, net of returns), Total excl. tax, Tax, Total incl. tax and Avg invoice excl. tax, with a TOTAL row.

Sales by Month

What it answers: invoices, units and sales month by month.

Rows: one per month (Sep 2026). Drill-down: a month opens Sales by Customer Summary for that month.

Sales by Day

What it answers: the daily takings, excluding tax. On the Reports menu it is Daily Sales Summary.

Rows: one per day with sales (Fri 25 Sep 2026). Drill-down: a day opens Sales by Customer Summary for that day.

Sales by Day of Week

What it answers: which days of the week trade best.

Rows: Monday to Sunday. Drill-down: a day opens Sales by Customer Detail for sales on that weekday in the period.

Sales by Weekday and Hour

What it answers: the busy hours of each day of the week, in one grid.

Columns: Hour (09:00 – 09:59), Mon to Sun, Total. Rows and totals: one row per hour with sales, then TOTAL per day.

Drill-down: a figure opens Sales by Customer Detail for that weekday and hour; the hour opens that hour on every day.

Sales by Hour of Day

What it answers: when the day is busy, for staffing.

Rows: one per hour (14:00 – 14:59). Units is not shown, because item lines carry a date but no time. Drill-down: an hour opens Sales by Customer Detail for that hour.

This Year vs Last Year

These compare the period with the same dates one year earlier (29 February becomes the 28th). Their columns are the name, the count (this period), This period, the count (last year), Same period last year, Change and Change % (blank when last year was zero), with a TOTAL row.

Sales Comparison by Customer

What it answers: each customer against the same period last year: who is growing, who stopped.

Rows: customers by this period's sales; customers who bought last year but not this period are listed after everyone else (a note counts them).

Drill-down: the name opens the customer's ledger; This period and Same period last year open Sales by Customer Detail for that customer and period.

Sales Comparison by Item

What it answers: units and sales per item against the same period last year.

Rows: items by this period's sales; items that sold last year but not now are listed last.

Drill-down: the line opens the item's history panel; the two money figures open Sales by Item Detail for each period.

Sales by Month — Year over Year

What it answers: each month beside the same month last year.

Rows: one per month (Sep 2026 vs Sep 2025). A month the period only partly covers is compared with the same days last year.

Drill-down: each money figure opens Sales by Customer Summary for that month.

Profitability & Discounts

Sales Below Cost

What it answers: the lines sold for less than they cost.

Columns: Date, Invoice, Customer, Item, Quantity, Sold at (per unit, before tax, after discounts), Cost (per unit), Cost from (Batch cost: what the stock sold actually cost; or Catalogue cost: the item's purchase cost when no batch cost is recorded), Loss.

Rows and totals: lines at least a cent below cost, by date, then TOTAL. Free items given away on purpose appear too; the rest are usually a mistyped price or a cost that rose while the price did not.

Drill-down: the item opens its history panel; the line opens the invoice.

Gross Profit by Invoice

What it answers: what each invoice earned after the cost of the goods: bill-wise profitability.

Columns: Date, Invoice, Customer, Goods excl. tax, COGS, Gross profit, Margin %.

Rows and totals: invoices by date, then TOTAL. Credit memos are not netted into the invoice they reverse; see Sales Returns by Item.

Drill-down: the customer opens their ledger; the line opens the invoice.

Discounts Given

What it answers: every discounted invoice, with line discounts and the invoice (bill) discount shown apart.

Columns: Date, Invoice, Customer, Line discounts, Bill discount, Total discount, Invoice excl. tax, Discount % (the discount as a share of what the invoice would have been without it). Amounts exclude tax.

Rows and totals: only invoices with a discount, by date, then TOTAL.

Drill-down: the customer opens their ledger; the line opens the invoice.

Returns

Sales Returns by Item

What it answers: what came back, and the return rate per item.

Columns: Item, Code, Credit notes, Qty returned, Qty sold in period, Return rate (returned ÷ sold in the period; a return of an older sale can push it above 100%), Value excl. tax, Cost back into stock.

Rows and totals: largest value first, then TOTAL.

Drill-down: the item's name opens its history panel; the line opens Sales by Item Detail for it.

Sales Returns by Customer

What it answers: the credit memos issued in the period, per customer, as positive amounts.

Columns: Customer, Credit notes, Refunded excl. tax, Tax refunded, Refunded incl. tax.

Rows and totals: largest first, then TOTAL.

Drill-down: the name opens the customer's ledger; the line opens Sales by Customer Detail for them. See Create Credit Memos and Refunds.

Orders & Quotations

None of these are sales: they are commitments and offers, and appear in no sales total.

Open Sales Orders by Customer

What it answers: what has been ordered and not yet invoiced, customer by customer.

Columns: Ordered (date), Order (number), Status, Deliver by, Qty ordered, Qty invoiced, Qty to deliver, Value to invoice (the quantity still to deliver at the ordered price, before tax).

Rows and totals: a heading per customer, their orders, Total, then TOTAL — N open order(s).

Drill-down: the customer heading opens their ledger; an order opens it. See Create Sales Orders and Sales Order Fulfillment Worksheet.

Open Sales Orders by Item

What it answers: what the open orders need, against the stock you have.

Columns: Item, Open orders, Qty to deliver, On hand now (across every location), Short by (what the orders need beyond the stock on hand), Value to invoice.

Rows and totals: largest value first, then TOTAL.

Drill-down: an item opens its history panel.

Quotations by Customer

What it answers: every estimate raised in the period, by customer. On the Reports menu it is Estimates by Customer.

Columns: Date, Quotation (the estimate number), Excl. tax, Tax, Incl. tax.

Rows and totals: a heading per customer, their estimates, Total, then TOTAL — N quotation(s).

Drill-down: the customer heading opens their ledger; an estimate opens it. See Create Estimates.

Open Sales

Pending Sales

What it answers: invoices marked pending: written, not yet posted. QuickBooks Desktop's Pending Sales.

Columns: Date, Num, Name, Item, Qty, Sales Price, Amount (before tax).

Rows and totals: one row per line, by date, then TOTAL. A note counts the pending invoices.

Drill-down: a line opens its invoice, where you can finalise it. See Pending Invoices.

Sales by Period

Daily Sales Detail

What it answers: every item sold, day by day: QuickBooks Desktop's Daily Sales Detail.

Columns: Date, Num, Customer, Item, Qty, Sales Price, Amount.

Rows and totals: a heading per day, its lines, Total with the date, then TOTAL. Amounts are before tax and before invoice-level discounts. Credit memos are not on this report; they are on Sales by Customer Detail.

Drill-down: each line opens its invoice.

Sales Graph

What it answers: sales before tax by month, drawn as bars above the figures: QuickBooks Desktop's Sales Graph.

Columns: Month, Sales excl. tax. Rows and totals: one per month, then TOTAL. Credit memos are netted.

Drill-down: a month opens Sales by Customer Summary for that month.

Common problems

Related articles

• Create Invoices
• Create Credit Memos and Refunds
• Customers & Receivables reports
• Sales Tax reports
• Company & Financial reports
• An item's history and drill-down