Advice on linking Shopify to Quickbooks

Accounting & Taxes
1

Hi

We are in the process of migrating our store from woocommerce to shopify and we use quickbooks as our accounts package so we are also looking to link shopify to quickbooks to keep a better track of our inventory on our shopify store.

We do have one issue though with a certain product groups and i am not sure how to overcome it.

We are a lighting company so we supply some lights with either standard light bulb or a dimmable light bulb each one of these has a separate product code currently. We can list this on quickbooks as a bundle not a problem (light fitting and light bulb) but the problem comes with the light fitting product code itself and how i show the codes on shopify.

For example here is an example product code

LWA387-BK - This is the standard product supplied with a standard light bulb and shown in the bundle on quickbooks

LWA387-BK-DIM - This is the standard product but supplied with the dimmable light bulb and shown as a bundle on quickbooks.

The problem is the LWA387-BK part is the same for each it is the same light fitting and i do not want to have 2 separate SKU codes for this as this will not match our stock levels that we carry under the standard LWA387-BK sku

Can anyone help on this

Thanks

2

Hey @Mungo2007 You’re running into a very common parent SKU vs component SKU issue. The key is to separate how customers choose products from how inventory is actually tracked.

Best practice is to track inventory only for the physical item you stock, and treat component choices as order-level detail.

  1. Track only the light fitting as inventory
  • Keep LWA387-BK as the only inventory-tracked SKU in QuickBooks
  • This represents the physical product you stock and reorder
  1. Use Shopify variants for choice, not inventory
  • Create one Shopify product for the light fitting
  • Add a variant option like Bulb Type: Standard / Dimmable
  • Disable inventory tracking at the variant level or ensure all variants use the same SKU
  1. Keep bundles internal to QuickBooks (if needed)
  • Use bundles in QuickBooks only for internal costing or fulfillment logic
  • Do not sync bundle SKUs from Shopify to QuickBooks
  1. Pass bulb choice as order detail
  • Sync orders with SKU = LWA387-BK
  • Capture bulb type in the line description, memo, or custom field

This approach keeps inventory accurate, avoids SKU duplication, and still gives fulfillment full visibility into what was ordered.

3

Glad to help with a suggestion here!

Agreed with keeping it as a bundle in QuickBooks - and making sure you only have one core inventory product in QuickBooks for each bulb - so inventory tracks correctly in QuickBooks.

You should be able to make a normal product in Shopify for each of these “bundles” in QuickBooks! If you use an app to connect Shopify to QuickBooks (like MyWorks) - it would be able to sync the inventory level of that bundle in QuickBooks to the normal Shopify product.

This would let you have one inventory product in QuickBooks, that you can use in multiple QuickBooks bundles as needed - and then, assuming the bundle is what someone is buying in Shopify - just have that be a normal Shopify product or variation, that you’d then Map/match to the QuickBooks bundle! :slight_smile: Hope that helps?

4

Thanks for the replies i will see if i can work it out and get this sorted