Andrew S said:

I run an online company selling antique collectibles.  I do not use the inventory module because all the items I sell are one-offs, so i just record the sales via a general journal entry.

You could still use the Purchase Invoice screen and inventory module as both a historical record of what you had bought, sold, and still have on hand for year end inventory reports.  Mark the sold items with zero on hand as 'inactive' to take them off the drop-down lists.  

If you have inventory set up, it's easy to use type-to-find in a sales invoice.

Andrew S said:

So now, what I'm hoping will happen is this: I create Purchase Order by selecting the service items I've created; once the order is received, I convert it to a Purchase Invoice, which then immediately expenses the cost to "5635 Shipping Supplies", allocates the amount due to "Accounts Payable", and that's it. 

That is exactly what will happen.  You may not get that advice from your accountant, they're all about the General Journal screen.

 - Use inventory items for significant items worth tracking value on-hand, 

- use 'service' items for tracking purchase and sale of items that you don't stock, or aren't materially worth counting, and

 - use 'service' items with 'Activity' (Time and Billing) for billing time.

Andrew S said:

Will I achieve this with the way I've set things up?  Is this the most efficient way of doing this, or is there a better way?

Yes.  Yes, it beats re-typing all the detail on every Purchase Order, and because Sage will store the last cost you will not have to look up the price each time.  Another benefit is that you will have a record of exactly what you are buying.  And if there's a great deal on packing tape you can look at an inventory report to see if it's worth buying a pallet.

I hope that helps, please post back!

Thank you so much for that detailed answer, Randy!  As for using the inventory module for my actual inventory, I may actually start that next year.  I sell antique collectibles online, and as it is now, I have a tag affixed to each item with what I purchased it for (its cost); I do my sales entries through the general journal daily and not only record my sales, but also "move" the corresponding amount in cost from "1520 Inventory" to "5020 Cost of Good Sold".  When I started using Sage 50 earlier this year, I figured that this would be "easier" than setting up an inventory item for every item I have, but I'm beginning to think it might save me time in the long-run.  I want to do an inventory at year-end, and the way things are setup now, if I have a variance (which I most certainly will), it'll be impossible to tell what the variance is for, just the dollar value.

But I digress from the point of the original post.  I will definitely start creating service items for my shipping supplies...re-keying the same item numbers, descriptions, and costs every few weeks is killing me, especially now that I know for sure there is a better way!

Thanks again for your help.

--Andrew

There are other ways to do this as well, for example you can create a 'recurring transaction' for the Purchase Order if it is usually the same few items.  Be aware that once you start creating inventory items, and 'link' them to the General Ledger, you won't be able to record transactions directly against that G/L account, you will have to use the Invoice or Inventory Adjustment screen to post entries.