Enter barter with transaction history in QuickBooks

Exchanging goods or services on a non-cash basis with a customer that is also a vendor is commonly referred to as bartering. A common scenario is that your customer also sells you goods or services, and you are going to “swap” and not pay each other for the items purchased from each other.

To track the exchange of goods or services, follow the steps mentioned below:

1. From the menu bar, select Lists, Chart of Accounts

2. From the Account drop-down list at the bottom left, select New to create a new bank account and type the name Bartering

Note: This bank account will always have a net zero balance if the transactions are recorded properly.

3. Click Save & Close.

4. From the menu bar, select Vendor, Enter Bills to record your vendor bill as if you were going to make the purchase from the vendor.

5. From the menu bar, select Vendor, Pay Bills. The Pay Bills dialog box opens. Select the bill for the vendor you will barter with.

6. In the Pay Bills dialog box, select the Bartering Account as the payment account

7. On the Home page, click the Customers button to open the Customers Center

8. From the customers list select the customer or job you will be bartering with

9. From the Customers Center, in the New Transactions drop-down list, select Invoices. Prepare the invoice to the new customer (also your vendor) using the same items on the invoice as if you were selling them to a customer. Click Save & Close.

10. From the Customers Center, in the New Transactions drop-down list, select Receive Payments. Record the fictitious payment from the customer (your vendor). Click Save & Close.

11. Depending on how your preferences are set up for customer payments, deposit the fictitious customer payment into the same Bartering bank account created earlier.

Note:- QuickBooks will not allow the same name to reside on multiple lists. To get around this limitation, when creating the customer name for your vendor, create the same name in customers list and add letter C with a dash(for example if the vendor name is John add it in customers as John-C)