Overview
Understanding Business Expenses
The Expenses section is used to record general costs of running your reselling business that are not associated with one particular inventory item.
Each expense creates a simple record of what you spent, when you spent it, and what the expense was for.
Record business expenses as they occur so your expense reports and profitability calculations reflect the costs of operating your business.
Adding expenses
Add a Business Expense
From the Expenses section, select Add Business Expense.
Enter the following information:
- Expense Date
- Expense Type
- Description
- Amount
The description should provide enough information for you to recognize the expense later when reviewing your records or reports.
The amount must be at least $0.01.
Once saved, the expense appears in your Business Expenses list and is included in the applicable expense and profitability calculations.
Organization
Using Expense Types
Expense Type helps organize your business expenses into useful categories.
Buy Sell Tracker provides common expense types to choose from. If the expense you need does not fit one of the existing choices, select Add New... to create a custom expense type.
Custom expense types are combined with the standard choices and made available for future expense entries.
Reusing the same expense type for similar costs makes your records easier to search, filter, and review.
Finding records
Search, Filter, and Sort Expenses
As your expense history grows, the Expenses section provides tools to help locate the records you need.
Search
Search expense descriptions to locate a particular expense or group of related records.
Filter by Expense Type
Display expenses belonging to a selected expense type.
Sort by Date
View expenses from newest to oldest or oldest to newest.
Sort by Type
Organize the list by expense type.
The newest expenses are displayed first by default.
Expense records are displayed 25 at a time. When additional pages are available, your current search and filter choices remain in place as you move between pages.
Removing records
Delete a Business Expense
If a business expense was entered incorrectly or should no longer be part of your records, use the delete option for that expense.
Removing an expense also removes that amount from the business expense records used by applicable reports and profitability calculations.
Choosing the right expense
Business Expenses vs. Item Expenses
When recording an expense, first determine whether the cost belongs directly to a specific inventory item or applies to your business generally.
Item Expense
Use an Item Expense when the cost belongs directly to a specific inventory item or inventory lot.
Item Expenses are recorded with the related inventory item so Buy Sell Tracker can include them when calculating the profitability of that inventory.
Business Expense
Use a Business Expense when the cost applies to operating your business generally and does not belong to one specific inventory item or lot.
Business Expenses are recorded from the Expenses section and are included separately when calculating overall profitability.
An Item Expense should not also be entered as a Business Expense. If the same cost is entered in both places, Buy Sell Tracker treats them as two separate expenses. This would overstate your expenses and understate your profit.
Which Expense Type Should I Use?
A simple way to decide is to ask: "Does this expense belong directly to one specific inventory item or lot?"
Yes
Record it as an Item Expense with that inventory item.
No
If it is a general cost of operating your business, record it as a Business Expense.
Keeping these expenses separate allows Buy Sell Tracker to distinguish costs associated with individual inventory from the general costs of operating your business.
Remember: choose the appropriate location for the expense and record the actual expense only once.