How to track inventory for made to order products with multiple variants

[Nous333]

I sell many items that are available in multiple quantities.  For example.  100g of 'sauce' is kept in inventory, and I offer 1g, 2g, and 3g variants each with their own SKU.  

I am trying to use quickbooks to record sales data including COGS.  My problem is, when I use the quickbooks connect app, it will not record COGS on items that are "non-inventory".  If I make these multiple variant made to order products "inventoried" in QB, I'm told the app will zero out my Shopify stock levels so these items would appear out of stock if I didn't input a value, and if I did, it wouldn't be accurate.  

So I have no way of recording the COGS in quickbooks for these items.  I'm lost as to what I can do.  I thought about using one SKU and a quantity discounts app for these items, but for items that have even more quantity options (up to 28 grams) the added packaging would affect the cost per unit and thus the COGS value wouldn't be accurate.  

Hoping someone has been through this and can offer up a solution!  

Thanks!

[productsync]

Hi

You could bundle the variations against the original SKU and our app then splits the bundle into the component SKU post purchase so it is then sent to accounting as the correct product.

The issue is it looks like you are splitting the original SKU rather than creating multiples of it so we would need to test it out and see if our data flows would work for you.

Regards

Tom

[Nous333]

I'm not sure I understand all of that completely but let's try it out.  How can I reach someone to discuss this more

[Nous333]

Actually now that I look at your app, it seems like you are just adding other products to the original product.  I would have to add the 2 and 3 gram options as separate products and then include them in the bundle.  And even still, this would not help me to make these items 'inventoried' in quickbooks.  But maybe I'm missing something.   If I could put the stock level in for the 1g product, and your app could apply the stock levels to the 2g and 3g product based on the 1g stock levels, then maybe this could work.  Otherwise I don't see it helping. 

[productsync]

Hi

Yeah you would need to use the smallest value and multiply from that however the other issue is that your accounting integration might import the order before we process it so may not be the solution.

Regards

Tom

[Nous333]

You process it after the sale is made?  But anyways, I think your app might be able to help me with something else now that I look at it.  I sent an email but it would be nice if I could talk to someone on the phone.  I hate wasting time with the back and forth emails usually with someone from india.  I'm thinking if I could use your app to bundle the small individual jars I package these options in, with the bulk material, then I could just offer a quantity discount on the bulk material and just use one SKU for that material and one SKU for the jar.  However with the way your app works I think it would add another jar for every increase in quantity on the bulk material.  But maybe you have a way around this? 

[productsync]

Yeah so the order is split after sale as the bundle components are not displayed in checkout.

We actually do some accounting integrations so the guys have some experience in data flows but no Quickbooks unfortunately. The bundling up items is probably the easy part the issue comes with how to manage orders into Quickbooks and then inventory levels of these bundles.

You can email me at tom@channelup.io and we can schedule a chat. Keep in mind we are in Brisbane Australia so time zone issues!

[Nous333]

It might still work... I don't use the Shopify Checkout, I use a checkout integration so I'm not taking the sales info from the checkout.  It all depends on how my Quickbooks connector app records the sales... I'll shoot you an email though. 

[swheeler]

Hi @Nous333 ,

The CartSpan eCommerce integration for  Shopify can accomplish what you are looking for.  It will also keep your stock levels in Shopify correct based upon those values in QuickBooks.  For your situation specifically, CartSpan has a look-up table that you can create cross-references with appropriate conversion factors for your multi-pack items represented in Shopify.  The multi-pack items don't even need to be 'real' items in QuickBooks.  You can point each of these back to a single item during the import.  On the export, CartSpan will determine how many 1g, 2g, 3g, etc. units you could sell, and push these values out to Shopify. 

Scott Wheeler

[Nous333]

I can't put items in quickbooks.  I don't remember why at this point, but I remember that being central to the entire issue.  Anyways, I found another solution earlier this year.  Your prices are better, but the thought of stopping everything I'm doing to switch and set everything up with you guys is pretty discouraging... and then what if something doesn't work etc.  Just a pain.  I'd feel better about it if I could see a demo of how everything works but even still I'm too busy to redo my entire inventory keeping system right now.  

[swheeler]

No worries @Nous333 .  Thanks for the note back.

[djamesduke]

Hi Nous333,

Do you mind sharing the solution you settled on? I'm in a similar predicament and would value a nod towards any potential solutions. 

Best,DD

[PackLabelShip]

Hi Nous,

Hope you're doing great and have found a working solution. If someone else runs into the same problem our app is built to add items after the order is placed and before integrations pull the data. In your case we keep the bulk quantity in Shopify and depending on the variant chosen, add the correct number of grams of the 'bulk' hot sauce. We then add a metafield to the hot sauce bottle product where we can configure the 'bulk' item that the stock depends on and update our theme to treat that the same as a regular out of stock item. A nice repeatable solution assuming you have many flavors of sauces.

This way you can include the COGS of the actual hot sauce in the bulk product, and the cost of the appropriate sized bottle, label, etc. on the 'bottle' level.

Link to app: https://apps.shopify.com/pls-smart-pack-ship

Short video demo/explanation of my setup: 

Thanks,

Tom