Select Bulk or Unique Item Matching in QuickBooks Online

marc · January 2, 2021, 7:23pm

Overview

Each Shopify order line must point at an item (a product or service) in QuickBooks Online. This setting decides how weintegrate picks it: one item per product, or one catch-all item for everything. With one item per product, weintegrate looks each one up by comparing one field from the Shopify order line, such as the SKU or product name, with one field on your QuickBooks Online items. If the product isn’t in QuickBooks yet, weintegrate can create a new item for you or use a default item you choose, depending on your If Product is not found then setting.

Quick setup

Go to Connections, click Edit Settings on your Shopify store, and open the Item Matching tab. In the setup wizard, this is the How should we match your products? step.
Pick one:
- Match each item: each Shopify product is matched to its own item in QuickBooks, and created there if it’s missing. Choose this if you track inventory in QuickBooks Online.
- Bulk, use one default catch-all item: every product line goes to one item, such as “Shopify revenue” (gift cards are kept separate, see below). This is the simplest set-up.
If you picked Bulk: pick the item in Default catch-all item. No suitable item yet? Choose Auto create for me.
If you picked Match each item: continue with Set unique item matching between Shopify and QuickBooks Online.

Either choice is an acceptable practice. Which one is best is up to you and your business, and you can change it later.

Which one should I pick?

	Match each item	Bulk, use one default catch-all item
What QuickBooks shows	One line per product, under that product’s own item	Every product line under the one catch-all item
Product-level sales reports in QuickBooks	Yes	No
Keeps QuickBooks inventory in step with Shopify sales	Yes, when the matched items are Inventory items	No
Creates new items in QuickBooks	Yes, if you choose to (see Set unique item matching)	No, only the catch-all item (and a gift card item) if you choose Auto create for me
Set-up effort	A little more: choose what to match on	Pick one item

Bulk suits you if you don’t need product-level detail in QuickBooks, or sell a very large or fast-changing catalog. Both choices come with every weintegrate plan.

Item matching is set separately for each Shopify store you connect. For example, one bulk item per store is a convenient way to see your sales per store in QuickBooks.

The Default catch-all item (Bulk)

As the screen says: All Shopify order line products will be posted under this item in QuickBooks Online.

The list shows your QuickBooks Inventory and Non-Inventory items. Service items are not listed.
Auto create for me creates a Non-Inventory item named WI Catch All Item. It’s offered only while your QuickBooks company doesn’t already have an item with that name.
In the wizard’s Simple mode, an existing WI Catch All Item is picked for you. If there isn’t one, Auto create for me is picked. You can change it at any time.

Gift cards are kept separate

A gift card is money you owe the customer until they spend it, not a product sale. So gift card lines never go to the catch-all item. They go to the item in Map Gift Cards to (in Advanced mode; the wizard’s Simple mode fills it in for you). Learn more in Map Gift Cards to Other Current Liabilities product from QBO.

For your accountant / bookkeeper

In Bulk mode every product line on the sales receipt or invoice uses the one catch-all item, so all product sales post to that item’s income account; product-level detail stays in Shopify. The WI Catch All Item created by Auto create for me is a Non-Inventory item whose income account is your existing QuickBooks account named Sales of Product Income; if there is no such account, WI Sales of Product Income is used, and created if needed. The WI - Gift Cards item that Auto create for me creates under Map Gift Cards to posts to a liability account, WI Gift Card Liability.

Simple and Advanced views

The Item Matching tab and the wizard’s later How should we match products? step have a Simple / Advanced switch at the top right.

Simple shows the two choices and the main field for each.
Advanced shows every setting, including Map Gift Cards to, Track classes in QuickBooks Online and Convert inactive items to active when posting new orders to accounting.

The last two work in Bulk too. For example, with the convert-inactive box ticked, an inactive catch-all item is made active again so the order can use it. Both are explained in Set unique item matching.

If your QuickBooks company doesn’t track inventory

Match each item still works, with Non Inventory items and no stock levels tracked. A note on the wizard’s How should we match your products? step (and in Advanced mode on the How should we match products? step and the Item Matching tab) says Bulk was preselected as the simplest option, and why:

Your QuickBooks Online plan doesn’t include inventory tracking. To track inventory, upgrade to a minimum of the Plus plan, then click click here in the note to refresh.
Inventory tracking is turned off in your QuickBooks Online company. Click click here in the note to turn it on in QuickBooks for you.

In the setup wizard, Bulk is preselected only while you haven’t made a choice yet. Once you pick one, or once item matching has been saved for the store, your choice is kept. See also Enable store connection item matching to unique items in QuickBooks Online.

Advanced rules

Advanced rules are an extra for Match each item, and need the Professional plan or higher. The Advanced rules button is shown only while Match each item is selected, so they aren’t offered for Bulk. See Set unique item matching.