Skip to main content
Put the things you sell in your catalog once: the name, a short description, the price and the unit. When you write an invoice, an estimate (quote) or a recurring invoice, you pick the item from the catalog and its name and price fill in for you, so the same bag of coffee is never priced two ways. This guide adds Northwind’s wholesale coffee and barista training to its catalog, picks a bag of espresso onto an invoice, saves a cold brew line as a new product straight from the invoice, then edits and archives it.

​
Open your catalog

Click Commerce in the left rail, then Products & services under Receivables. Click New product at the top right.
The Commerce menu with Products and services outlined, and the empty Products and services page with the New product button outlined

Products & services, and New product

​
Add a product

1

Fill in the product

Type the Name your clients will see on the invoice line, and a Description if you want one. Then fill in:
  • Default price (in the invoice’s currency): the price each line starts with. You can still change it on any invoice.
  • Unit label: what one of it is, such as bag, hour or month. It shows next to the price in your catalog.
  • SKU: your own code for it, if you use them.
  • Default tax %: leave it at None and the line is taxed at the invoice’s own rate, which Hiveku works out from your tax settings and the client’s state. Type a rate only for an item that is always taxed differently.
The New product dialog with Name House Espresso 5 lb wholesale bag, Default price 62.00, Unit label bag and SKU NW-ESP-5LB outlined, Default tax % left at None, and the Create button outlined

Northwind's house espresso, sold by the 5 lb bag

2

Click Create

The product joins your catalog. Add the rest the same way. Northwind adds a single origin coffee and an hour of barista training.
The catalog list with Barista training at 85.00 per hour, Ethiopia Yirgacheffe 5 lb bag at 78.00 per bag and House Espresso 5 lb wholesale bag at 62.00 per bag, outlined

Three products in the catalog

​
Pick a product on an invoice

1

Open the catalog on a line

On a new invoice, estimate (quote) or recurring invoice, every line has Pick from catalog… under its description. Click it and choose a product, or type to search.
An invoice's Line items with Pick from catalog outlined and its list open: Search catalog, Barista training $85.00 per hour, Ethiopia Yirgacheffe 5 lb bag $78.00 per bag and House Espresso 5 lb wholesale bag $62.00 per bag, outlined

The catalog, on an invoice line

2

Set the quantity

The product’s name fills the line’s description and its price fills Rate. Type the quantity. You can still change the description or the rate for this one invoice; your catalog stays as it is.
A line with the description and picker both reading House Espresso 5 lb wholesale bag, outlined, quantity 4 and the rate 62.00 outlined, making $248.00

Four bags of house espresso

​
Save a typed line as a product

When you type a new item on an invoice, you don’t have to leave the invoice to add it to your catalog. Once the line has a description and a rate, a Save button appears next to Pick from catalog….
1

Click Save on the line

A typed line, Cold brew concentrate, 1 gallon jug, at 38.00, with the Save button next to Pick from catalog outlined

Save, on a typed cold brew line

2

Name it and click Save to catalog

Check the Name, add a SKU (optional) and click Save to catalog. The line’s rate becomes the product’s price.
The Save as product dialog with Name Cold brew concentrate, 1 gallon jug outlined, SKU NW-CB-1GAL, Default rate $38.00, and the Save to catalog button outlined

Save as product

A product saved this way has the unit each and the line’s words as its description. Edit it afterwards to set them, as the next section shows.

​
Edit, find and archive products

1

Edit a product

On Products & services, click the pencil next to a product. The Edit product dialog has the same boxes as New product. Change what you need and click Save changes. Invoices you have already made keep the price and words they were made with.
The catalog with four products, and the pencil and archive icons on the Cold brew concentrate row outlined

The pencil and the archive box, on each row

The Edit product dialog for Cold brew concentrate, 1 gallon jug, with a new Description and Unit label jug outlined, and Save changes outlined

A description and the unit jug, for the cold brew

2

Find a product

Type in Search name, description or SKU above the list. Searching 5LB finds both 5 lb bags by their SKUs.
The search box with 5LB typed, outlined, and the list showing Ethiopia Yirgacheffe 5 lb bag and House Espresso 5 lb wholesale bag

Searching by SKU

3

Archive what you no longer sell

Click the archive box next to a product. It is archived at once and no longer appears in your list or in Pick from catalog…. Invoices that already have it keep their lines.To see archived products, tick Show archived. Each one is marked Archived, with Unarchive to bring it back.
Show archived ticked and outlined, and the Cold brew concentrate, 1 gallon jug row marked Archived with an Unarchive button, outlined

The archived cold brew, with Unarchive

​
Good to know

  • A picked product never overwrites what you typed. If the line already has words or a rate, they stay, and only the empty parts fill from the product.
  • Prices have no currency of their own. A product’s price is used in the currency of the invoice it goes on.
  • Subscriptions use plans, not products. A subscription bills a plan you set up under Commerce > Subscriptions.
  • More: Products & services covers the catalog in full. Next, create and send an invoice with these products.