How to Track Inventory in QuickBooks (and What to Do When It Falls Short)

If you’ve ever tried to keep your stock, spending, and sales in sync inside QuickBooks, you already know—it’s not built with makers in mind.

QuickBooks is great at what it was designed for: bookkeeping. But inventory tracking? That’s where it starts to creak, especially once you move beyond simple buying and selling.

We talk to hundreds of small product-based businesses every year, and one pattern always shows up. Makers don’t need more accounting tools—they need clarity. They want to know what’s in stock, what it cost to make, and when it’s time to reorder. QuickBooks can help with some of that, but not all.

Let’s look at what QuickBooks actually does well when it comes to inventory—and where it starts to fall short.

How QuickBooks Handles Inventory

QuickBooks does include inventory management features, but the details (and usefulness) depend entirely on which version and plan you’re on.

QuickBooks Online

Inventory tracking in QuickBooks Online starts at the Plus plan and continues in Advanced. Here’s what you get out of the box:

• Track quantities on hand: Automatically updates when you sell or receive stock.
• Reorder alerts: Set reorder points to avoid stockouts.
• Cost of Goods Sold (COGS): Automatically calculated when you sell inventory items.
• FIFO costing: QuickBooks Online uses the first-in, first-out method to value inventory.
• Basic inventory reports: View on-hand quantities, valuation, and item profitability.

For straightforward retailers or resellers, these tools can work just fine.
But for product makers, the cracks appear quickly: no bill of materials, no raw material tracking, and no way to turn components into finished goods.

If you find yourself with a spreadsheet open next to QuickBooks, you’re not alone.

Read more: QuickBooks Self-Employed for Etsy Sellers: What You Need to Know (2025 Update)

QuickBooks Desktop

QuickBooks Desktop (Pro, Premier, and Enterprise) takes inventory a bit further. The Build Assemblies feature lets you combine components into a finished product, and Enterprise adds multiple inventory locations and barcode scanning.

It’s a stronger system for light manufacturing—but still feels rooted in the pre-eCommerce era. Desktop uses average cost instead of FIFO, and since it’s not cloud-based, you’ll often find yourself importing and exporting data rather than working in real time.

In short: it works, but it’s clunky.

QuickBooks POS (Point of Sale)

QuickBooks POS used to bridge that gap for in-person sellers, but Intuit has officially sunset the product. If you relied on it to sync sales and stock, you’ll need a modern replacement soon.

So, What’s the Takeaway?

• QuickBooks Online: Handy for resellers; not enough for makers.
• QuickBooks Desktop: More power, less flexibility.
• QuickBooks POS: On its way out.

If you’re tracking batches, raw materials, or production runs, QuickBooks can feel like trying to knit with boxing gloves on—technically possible, but far from ideal.

That’s where integrations (like Craftybase) come in. They let QuickBooks do the accounting heavy lifting while your inventory system handles the day-to-day making.

Where QuickBooks Starts to Fall Short

Here’s where most small manufacturers hit a wall with QuickBooks inventory tracking:

• No material-level tracking. QuickBooks tracks finished goods only. You can’t track fabric rolls, paint tubes, or beads—just the final product.
• No production costing. There’s no easy way to see how materials and labor combine into your true product costs.
• Limited automation. If you sell across Shopify, Etsy, or Faire, QuickBooks can’t sync stock your products and orders across channels.
• No inventory valuation flexibility. FIFO and average cost methods only cover part of what makers need for real-world COGS accuracy.

For bookkeeping, QuickBooks is brilliant. For managing inventory and manufacturing? It’s like asking your accountant to help measure fabric cuts — close, but not quite the right tool.

When to Add an Inventory Integration

If you’ve reached the point where your QuickBooks inventory setup involves a patchwork of spreadsheets and manual updates, it’s time to look at software that plays nicely with QuickBooks rather than replacing it.

✨ That’s exactly where Craftybase fits in. ✨

Craftybase connects directly to QuickBooks, automatically syncing your purchasing data (via QuickBooks Lite, our first integration step). From there, you can track materials, builds, and real-time inventory—without losing the financial visibility you get from QuickBooks.

It’s an approach that grows with you: start light, then layer in more features as your production and accounting needs expand.

The Bottom Line

QuickBooks is an excellent accounting platform. But when it comes to inventory, especially for makers and small manufacturers, it’s only half the story.

If you’re ready to get your time back and finally see your true product costs — while keeping your accountant happy—Craftybase is built for that sweet spot.

P.S. Curious about how the QuickBooks Lite integration works?
Watch the 90-second demo here →