How to Create a Product in QuickBooks Online

Why create Products

Products in QuickBooks Online are used to track sales of specific products. For example, a single sale at a retailer could include two t-shirts, three pairs of pants, and a pair of socks. Each of those would be represented by a product in QuickBooks.

Sales receipts, refund receipts, and invoices are compatible with products, which is why we use them at Acodei. The products are then coded to an income or expense account, which you'd see on your Profit & Loss Statement. In our example above, T-shirts A and B could be mapped to a "T-shirts" account, but you could also see a product breakdown report if desired.

How Acodei Uses Products

Acodei utilizes products for most of our mapping functionality. At the time of setup, you will need to designate an account where you receive your payouts, an account for a Stripe "holding" account, and which accounts you want your products to map to.

From there, we create three products - one for sales, one for refunds, and one for fees.

If you want to do multiple product mapping, tax tracking, or if you have uncommon transaction types like Stripe Connect or Stripe Capital, you will need to create products for those as well. Each product will need to be mapped to an income or expense account. In the case of Stripe Capital, the product could be mapped to a liability account.

How to create a product in QuickBooks Online

To create a product in QuickBooks Online, you can follow these steps:

Log in to your QuickBooks Online account.
Click on the "Sales" or "Invoicing" tab from the dashboard in the left navigation menu.
Select the "Products and Services" option.
Click the green "New" button at the top right corner of the Products and Services page.
Choose the appropriate type of product or service you want to create. QuickBooks Online provides options like "Inventory," "Non-inventory," "Service," and more.

For Acodei's purposes, creating products as Non-Inventory or Service types is best.

Fill in the details for the product or service you create, such as the name, description, sales price, cost, and income account.

For Acodei's purposes in the United States, set your products to be Nontaxable since QuickBooks Tax can disrupt your sales amounts.

Set the income account to track the revenue associated with this product or service.

The income account field can also accept expenses or liabilities, useful for products mapped to fees, refunds, or uncommon transaction types.

Save the product or service by clicking the "Save and Close" or "Save and New" button.