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Products, Services & Bundles — The Full Item System Professionals Expect

Seven distinct item types. Three-level sub-item hierarchy. Bundle items that expand into multiple invoice lines with one click. Percentage-based discounts and surcharges. Subtotal dividers for breaking out sections. Everything QuickBooks Desktop users miss and more.

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"Service" and "Product" Aren't Enough Categories

Most modern accounting platforms ship with just two item types — Service and Product. The trouble is invoicing in the real world includes shipping charges, percentage discounts, subtotal lines, one-off purchases that aren't worth tracking on the shelf, and bundled offerings that pack multiple billable items into a single click. Forcing all that through two types means workarounds, awkward line items, or just typing things by hand every time.

BizBooks Pro brings back the full item vocabulary that QuickBooks Desktop popularized and small business owners came to rely on. Seven types, each with its own field set. The item editor adapts as you pick a type — only the fields that make sense for the type appear. The result is a catalog that mirrors how you actually invoice, not a forced fit into a two-bucket model.

🛠️ Service

Labor, professional fees, billable hours. The default item type for service businesses. Tied to an income account; no inventory tracking attached.

📦 Inventory Part

Physical product you stock and resell. Tracks on-hand quantity per location, unit cost, and posts cost of goods sold automatically on sale.

📦 Non-Inventory Part

Physical things you don't track on a shelf — one-off purchases, drop-shipped items, consumables. Carries an expense account so it works on bills too.

➕ Other Charge

Shipping, handling, fuel surcharge, after-hours fee. Flat amount or a percentage of the lines above it on the invoice — set once, drop on any invoice.

─ Subtotal

A display-only divider that shows the running total of items above it. Useful for invoices with labor and materials broken out as separate sections.

➖ Discount

A negative line. Flat dollar amount or percentage of the running subtotal. Drop on any invoice for one-click promo and loyalty discount handling.

Bundle Items Expand Into Multiple Lines Automatically

This is the feature service businesses with packaged offerings have been asking for. Define a Group bundle once with its components and default quantities. On any invoice, pick the bundle and BizBooks Pro inserts a header line plus one editable row per component. Want to do the bundle's work at three properties on the same invoice? Set the group quantity to 3 and every component's qty triples instantly. One number, three properties captured.

1

Build the Bundle

Create a Group-type product. Add components (any items you've already defined) with default quantities for each.

2

Drop on an Invoice

Select the bundle on a line. BizBooks Pro adds a header row plus one row per component, each pre-filled with its default quantity.

3

Tweak Per Invoice

Each component line is fully editable — change qty, price, description. Adjust the group quantity to multiply every component at once.

Three-Level Sub-Item Hierarchy

A flat catalog of 80 items is hard to navigate. Sub-items let you organize the catalog by category — Plumbing → Repair → Drain Clean — with the items list rendering the tree indented like the Chart of Accounts. Reports can roll up by category or report only on leaf items. The hierarchy caps at three levels intentionally — plenty for real workflows, simple enough that dropdowns stay readable.

🎯 Percentage Discounts

Create a "Loyalty Discount 10%" item once. Place it after a Subtotal line on any invoice and it discounts that section. Place it at the bottom and it discounts the whole invoice.

  • Same item works on every invoice
  • Recalculates automatically when upstream lines change
  • Prints as a labeled negative line on the PDF

💡 Percentage Surcharges

Same idea for Other Charge items. A "Fuel Surcharge 5%" item drops on long-haul invoices and adds 5% of the running subtotal as a positive line.

  • Define once, use on every applicable invoice
  • Tied to its own income account for clean reporting
  • Stacks with discounts in any order

📋 Subtotal Sections

Break a complex invoice into clear sections — Labor, Materials, Travel — each capped with a Subtotal line that displays the section total without contributing to the invoice grand total.

  • Display-only — doesn't affect the invoice total
  • Resets the percentage-line scope below it
  • Renders prominently on the customer-facing PDF

📥 Items on Both Sides of the Ledger

Non-Inventory Part and Other Charge items carry an Expense Account so they work on bills, not just invoices. Buy a one-off part, drop the item on the bill, and the expense posts to the right account.

  • Income account for sales, expense account for purchases
  • One item works on invoices and bills
  • Cleaner than maintaining parallel "buy" and "sell" items

Built for Real Invoicing Workflows

If you've ever wished your accounting software had the same item flexibility QuickBooks Desktop offered — this is it. Whether you sell bundled service packages, run regular percentage promotions, maintain a deep catalog organized by category, or simply want your invoices to read like real invoices instead of flat lists, BizBooks Pro's item system follows how money actually moves through small businesses.

Common Questions

What's the difference between a Group and an Inventory Assembly?

A Group is an invoicing shortcut — it expands into editable lines and never touches stock levels. An Inventory Assembly is real manufacturing with actual inventory consumption and cost roll-up. Use Group for "Spring Maintenance Service Bundle"; use Assembly for "Mountain Bike built from frame + wheels + seat."

Can a percentage discount apply to only part of an invoice?

Yes. Place a Subtotal line between the items you want discounted and the items you don't, then put the Discount line right after the Subtotal. The Discount applies only to lines between the most recent Subtotal and itself.

What's the maximum depth of the sub-item tree?

Three levels — parent, sub, sub-sub. Like Plumbing → Repair → Drain Clean. The limit keeps dropdowns navigable; few real catalogs need more depth.

When I pick a Group on an invoice, are the components fixed?

No. The components expand into editable rows. Change any quantity, override any price, edit any description per invoice. The group provides a starting template, not a fixed structure.

Can I hide the components on the printed invoice?

Yes — each Group has a "Show components on printed invoice" toggle. Off means only the group header line prints with a combined total; on means the full breakdown shows.

Do all the same item types work on estimates?

Yes — every item type works identically on estimates. The selected items survive the conversion to an invoice with no manual re-entry.

The Item System Your Workflow Has Been Missing

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