Define Inventory

How do I? | Inventory Overview | Add Items

Import items Edit an item Delete or merge items Use reorder points Find an item Add item list columns Filter the item list Print price tags | Use service items View inventory reminders View an item's history Track item price and cost Use Price Manager Adjust cost or quantity Take a physical inventory Export my item list More...

Although many data fields are available in inventory, the following fields are the basic fields used to define an item:

Field | Description
Item Type | What type of item is this? Required.
Department | The department to which the item belongs. Required. Learn more about departments.
Vendor | The vendor from whom you purchase the item. (Pro) You can associate an item with one primary vendor and up to four alternate vendors.
Item Name* | The principal short description of the item. Printed on sales receipts. Required.
Item Description* | Secondary, long description of the item. Optional .
Attribute* | A field used to describe an item characteristic, typically a color, pattern, a second size, etc.
Size* | The size or any other characteristic of an item (the field is labeled Size but is essentially another Attribute field.
Item No. | Suggested by Point of Sale but can be edited. Note that item numbers greater than 99,999 may cause scanning problems on tags printed within Point of Sale due to the resulting bar code size. Suggested item number sequence can be reset via a company preference. (Pro) Can I customize the tag layout to avoid problems?
UPC | Universal product code. May be printed as a bar code on tagged merchandise received from your vendor. Enter or scan the UPC value into the UPC field in inventory so that the item can be added to documents by scanning.
Order Cost | The cost you currently pay your vendor for the item. Learn more.
Avg Unit Cost | Calculated average cost per unit of an item. Enter this value when adding pre-existing items to inventory during program startup; after that Point of Sale will calculate this value as you buy and sell the item. Learn more.
Reg Price | Your everyday, regular price. Enter a price or, on new items, leave blank and let Point of Sale calculate prices based on department margin and cost. Learn more.
On-Hand Qty | Enter only for items already existing in your store. Receiving vouchers will add the quantity for new items being ordered.

View all item field descriptions

* Customizing Item Description Field Labels

The default labels of the four item description fields, Item Name, Item Description, Size, and Attribute, can be changed to better reflect the type of merchandise you sell. The labels you assign will be displayed throughout the program and on printed documents and tags. Throughout this help system, we refer to them by their default labels. How do I change the labels?

If you upgraded from a previous version of Point of Sale, your item description field labels are retained from that version.

Each item must be unique. Point of Sale will not allow you to create two or more items with the same entries in the Department, Item Name, Size, and Attribute fields (it is not sufficient to record unique data in the Vendor, Item Description, or another inventory field). Pro: What if I get the same item from multiple vendors?

Note: It is recommended that you manually enter an items average unit cost or on-hand quantity only when adding existing items during program startup. Receiving vouchers will add both the quantities and costs to inventory on all ordered/received items. Learn more.

Smart Abbreviations

To more easily locate merchandise in inventory or filter items for reports, you should establish standard abbreviations for sizes and attributes and be consistent in their usage.

For example, you could use either "Wht" or "White" for white, but you should not use both. "Wht" and "White" will be treated as two different attributes on reports. However, their usage is not case sensitive, so "WHT," "wht," and "Wht" will all be treated as the same attribute.

Using Custom Item Fields (Pro)

Point of Sale provides you the ability to create and use custom item fields. Once defined, the custom fields can be displayed and used to filter lists and reports, and can be added to your printed documents using Print Designer.

For example, you may wish to track the vendors catalog number for your items, or you may need to record and print an item part number on your purchase orders. You can easily name custom fields whatever you want and begin using them for these purposes. How do I?

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