The three costs in Stockie

Three different numbers get called "cost", and most cost questions turn out to be a mix-up between them.

The three

Supplier default cost - what Stockie has saved for a variant, being the last cost you told it to keep. This is what auto-fills when you add a product to a purchase order.

Shopify cost per item - the field on the variant in Shopify. Shopify's own reporting uses it. Stockie writes to it only if you have cost sync switched on.

Average cost - a running weighted average of what you have actually paid, built from the landed cost of every purchase order you receive in Stockie. Off unless we switch it on for you.

How they relate

• The supplier default fills in on new purchase orders
• Editing a cost on a purchase order can update the supplier default, if you leave the checkmark ticked
• Cost sync decides whether the supplier default or the average cost gets written to Shopify's cost per item
• Average cost only moves when you receive stock, or unreceive it

Why two numbers disagree

Almost always because the supplier default is older than Shopify's value, or was typed onto a purchase order at some point and saved. Neither is wrong - they are recording different things.

Which cost your reports use

With average cost tracking on, Inventory value and Dead stock work from your average landed cost.

Without it, they use Shopify's cost per item, not the supplier default cost you keep in Stockie. This surprises people: you can have costs carefully maintained in Stockie and still see an inventory value built on Shopify's figures, or on nothing at all if that field is empty.

If your reports look wrong or come out blank, that is the first thing to check. Filling in Shopify's cost per item, or switching cost sync on so Stockie keeps it up to date, fixes it.

The adjustments report is different again. Its cost impact uses whatever the cost was at the moment you applied the adjustment, kept with the adjustment ever since. Correcting a cost afterwards does not change what a past write-off was worth, which is what you want from a record but surprises people who expect the figure to follow the current cost.

When each one gets written to Shopify

The two behave differently, which explains why one seems instant and the other does not.

• Supplier default cost goes across when you save it - editing a cost on a purchase order sends it straight away
• Average cost goes across when you receive, because that is the moment the average changes. Unreceiving moves it back the same way

Currency

Supplier costs on a purchase order are held in that supplier's currency. Shopify's cost per item is in your store currency only, so a foreign supplier cost has to be converted before it can be written.

Stockie converts it using the exchange rate from your purchase orders for that product and currency. If it has never seen a rate for that combination, it skips the product rather than guessing. So a supplier cost in a currency you have not yet raised a purchase order in will quietly not reach Shopify.

Average cost never has this problem: it is always held in your store currency, because it is built from what you received.

Choosing a setup

Three arrangements cover most stores. Which one fits depends on where you want your costs to live, and whether what it took to get the stock here should count as part of the cost.

• Costs in Stockie only. Supplier default costs, no sync. Stockie knows what you pay and your Shopify field is left alone.
• Costs in both. Supplier default costs synced to Shopify, so the two agree and Shopify's own reporting matches what you see in Stockie.
• Costs that include getting it here. Average cost tracking on and synced to Shopify, so the figure carries shipping and duties as well as the price on the invoice.