Items master

The item master defines every stock-tracked product: its SKU, unit of measure, and how it is costed. Costing method (FIFO, AVCO, or standard) drives how COGS is calculated when the item leaves stock.

When to use

Create and maintain items before any stock moves. Every receipt, issue, transfer and count refers to an item, so this is the first thing to set up.

Before you start

Permissions: inventory:read to view /inventory/items; inventory:write to create and edit.
Toggles (Settings): inventory.uom_enabled (default on), inventory.multi_uom_per_product (default on), inventory.lot_tracking, inventory.serial_tracking, inventory.expiry_date_tracking (default off, on for new companies).
Item groups are managed at /inventory/settings/categories and units at /inventory/settings/uom.

Create an item

Go to Inventory → Items → New Item. Set the SKU, name, category, base UOM, and costing method.

Enable lot or serial tracking

If the item needs traceability, turn on lot/batch or serial tracking so each unit or batch is recorded on receipt and issue.

Set the base and alternate units

Define the base (stock) unit and any purchase/sales units. UOM conversion factors let you buy in boxes and stock in pieces automatically.

Import items and opening stock

Use the import dialog on the item list to load items and opening balances from a file. Review the preview before confirming.

Print labels and scan

Print labels from the item or lot detail. Scanning a label opens the item or lot with stock by warehouse (/inventory/by-code).

Maintain substitutes

Record substitute products so the system can suggest an alternative when an item runs short (needs inventory:manage_substitutes).

Inventory — Item master with SKU and costing

Tips & common mistakes

Choose the base unit carefully: stock is always counted in the base unit and it cannot be fixed afterwards without data work.
An item belongs to one warehouse record — the same SKU in two warehouses has separate on-hand.
Marketing text, tags and photos are edited in Product & Marketing; Inventory shows them read-only.
Cost price can be edited by hand only when the costing method is “standard”; for other methods it is computed from movements.
You cannot type a new on-hand number on the item — correct stock through an adjustment or stocktake.

Overview Warehouses & multi-location