Trade Show Donations/Barter Entries for Inventory Management

[NancyEDunne]

As an author, I often vend at trade shows/conventions and do trades with other nearby vendors. Is there a way to mark that in Square so that I can keep up with that inventory but avoid having to ring it as a transaction and then refund the price or something equally complicated? I have looked for such a category when checking out, but have yet to make it work other than doing a recount on my inventory. Thanks!

[MayaP]

Hey there @NancyEDunne - I see this is your first post in the Seller Community so I'd like to officially welcome you! 🎉👏

I am going to tag some of our retail superstars who I'm sure can provide some good insight and workarounds. Thank you again for all your help @HC_Charlie @Doran @TCSlaguna @shopfybr.

[Doran]

This is kind of a tricky one and I'd suggest you ask your CPA how to set that up since technically bartering is a form of payment.  

You can ring it up and then use other payment on the virtual terminal.

Or create a discount code and name it something I use MARKETING and make it a 100% discount.  That will take the item out of inventory and then I use the marketing total at the end of the year for taxes.  

[HC_Charlie]

I've used the COMP option at checkout.

https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/5814-get-started-with-comp-and-void

This reduces the cost to zero, and this will keep your inventory current. But as far as tax implications....I can't offer advice on that subject.

You could also do as @Doran mentioned and use this as an advertising/marketing expense, because you're basically using the items for those purposes (to get the word out about you and your publications.) Good luck to you! Thanks for joining us in the Square Seller Community!