Please explain more about the transaction. Is buying and selling automobiles your business? If not, why would you want the vehicle to be entered in inventory? Normally a vehicle is added as a Fixed Capital item and the cost depreciated over time. The entries for either of these two situations are very different. Please advise.

We actually sell golf cars so yes they are in inventory. I am selling a golf car to a customer and he is trading his old golf car in. But i don't know how to record this on the bill of sale. 

I would suggest that you create an inventory item for the trade-in. When you make up the invoice for the customer you would use the inventory code for the new cart and record the full purchase price. Then on the next line I would use the inventory item for the trade-in. Quantity of minus one and the trade-in value given. By using the inventory account you would be increasing inventory on this item. The net result should be the amount the customer is paying. This is the simple way, I am certain there are some more complex ways but I like simple.

Alwyn, I did put the trade in car into inventory, but when i try to put it on the sales slip it wont let me post to the inventory account. That would make it very simple. Maybe i have something set up wrong?? 

Ok so i have figured out that i cannot post to a linked account on the customer invoice. So this is my issue. I can do a payable invoice to put the trade in in the system. And do the customer invoice to sell the new golf car. But how  do i marry the 2 up. So confusing

If you have the inventory for both cars set up completely with the required four linked accounts then when you enter the invoice with a plus one for the car being sold and a minus one for the trade-in car everything should work out. Using the inventory code will cause the line to be filled in with the correct information and account numbers. Your inventory will be reduced by one for the car being sold and increased by one for the trade-in. Try using the Sample Company, check the inventory setup for two different items and then use them in a Sales Invoice. Before posting check the report in the Sales window for the journal entry. This will verify the correct accounts being used. Then do the same in your own program and see how it works.

Thankyou sooooo much Alwyn! That worked perfectly. I am not sure why I was making it so complicated. That just took a load of stress off!

Hello Alwyn,

Sorry to bug you with this again. But I have put 2 more trades in and have done the exact same thing, but not cost is showing up for the trades once I post the sale. Not sure why this would happen. Maybe I have missed a step but I have gone back a few times and am sure it is correct. 

If the account codes on each of the trade-in inventory items are correct then it should work. Be sure that you are coding the trade-in as an inventory item on the invoice and also as a negative amount so as to add it to the inventory. Without seeing the file and following the full audit trail for each group of transactions it is hard to say exactly what might be missing.

Alwyn said:

If the account codes on each of the trade-in inventory items are correct then it should work.

You can't do a trade-in type of transaction on the Sales Invoice screen, in one step.  One work-around is to use a Purchase Invoice, or to record the trade-in an un-linked G/L account to post the entire trade-in value, then use Inventory Adjustment or Build from Item Assembly to record a work-order to move the entire cost of acquiring and preparing the trade-in for sale, into inventory

On a Purchase Invoice, Sage 50 will record into inventory the exact value of each addition (purchase) and subtraction (purchase return).   (except when replenishing negative inventory, which I won't get into, and you shouldn't allow)  If you record the trade-in as a new Item Code in a Purchase Invoice transaction, the inventory book value will be correct.

On a Sales invoice, the COGS / Inventory Value calculation is last cost, and cannot be set from the invoice screen.   For a new item recorded on a trade-in, the last cost is zero, so that is what will be recorded. 

If you use the same item code for the trade-in as for the new unit, that new unit's cost will be used when the trade-in is coded into inventory.   So the automatic accounting when recording the sale can go very wrong if you don't know how it works.

As you say in an earlier post, set it up in the sample company (or a temporary copy of your books) and run through a few entries to make sure your process works.