Add Your Items

BuyUpdated October 20, 2026 · Reviewed by Peasy Team

Before Peasy can help you manage purchasing and inventory, it needs to know what you buy. This step walks you through getting your items into the system — either by adding them from a spreadsheet or creating them one at a time.

How to Get There

Go to Buy > Items to buy in the sidebar.

Option A: Bulk Add from a Spreadsheet

If you already have a list of what you buy in a spreadsheet, this is the fastest way to get started.

  1. Go to Buy > Items to buy.
  2. Click the table icon (right next to the blue New Item button) — this is the Bulk add button.
  3. A spreadsheet grid opens that works just like Excel or Google Sheets.
  4. Paste your data directly from your spreadsheet, or click Upload CSV to load a file, or click Open in Google Sheets to work from a connected sheet.
  5. Review the rows in the grid — you can edit cells, add rows, or remove rows before submitting.
  6. Click Submit to create all the items at once.

You can also Download CSV Template to get a blank template with the right column headers, fill it out in your own spreadsheet app, and upload it back in Peasy.

Option B: Add Items One at a Time

If you only have a handful of items, or you want to start small:

  1. Go to Buy > Items to buy.
  2. Click the blue New Item button.
  3. A modal opens to Step 1 — enter the item name (e.g., "All-Purpose Flour") and optionally pick a category (e.g., "Dry Goods"). You can create a new category right from the dropdown if you don't have one yet.
  4. Click Continue to variants.
  5. In Step 2, choose Buy as the variant type (it should already be selected).
  6. Pick the unit you buy in (e.g., "50-lb bag"). You can create a new unit from the dropdown if needed.
  7. Optional — Include sub-unit. Check the Include sub-unit box next to the Unit field if you want inventory tracked in a smaller unit than the one you buy in (e.g., buy by the case, track by the bottle). A Sub-unit dropdown and a conversion field appear so you can specify how many sub-units make one main unit (e.g., 1 case = 12 bottles), and the Unit Cost field gets a per-main / per-sub toggle so you can enter cost in whichever unit is easier.
  8. Optionally fill in the supplier, supplier item number, and unit cost.
  9. Click Save to create the item.

You can choose to add another variant to the same item family, create a brand new item, or close the modal.

With Beacon

Ask Beacon to add an item and say what unit it comes in, such as "Create a new item: Oat Milk, sold by the case, SKU OM-12, $4.50." Beacon replies that you can create it in the New Item modal on the Items page, or that it can do it now, and shows two buttons:

  • Show me opens New Item on All Items with those details filled in on both steps. If New Item is already open for a new item, Beacon fills it in where you are instead, replacing what those fields hold. If you are on the second step and Beacon has a new name, New Item goes back to the first step with that name, so check it and click Continue to variants again; the other details stay filled in. Each field Beacon filled has a soft glow until you change it, and Save & Close is highlighted. Check the details and save it yourself.
  • Do it for me shows the item's name, unit, type, SKU, and price. Click Create item to create it, or Cancel. Beacon creates it the same way New Item does. After it is created, Undo this item makes it inactive, as long as nobody has changed it, added a variant, or started using it.

Use one or the other: once the item is created either way, the other button no longer creates a second one. If you close New Item without saving, Do it for me still works. Items start as Buy unless you say otherwise, and a Make item has no price. If an item already has that name, even with different capitals, Beacon tells you before offering anything.

If you don't give a unit, or you'd rather fill the item in yourself, Beacon opens New Item with the details you gave instead. These buttons work in Peasy on the web.

Adding a Variant to an Existing Item

You don't have to add every variant when you first create an item — you can add one to an existing item family at any time. This is how you make an existing item sellable by adding a Sell variant.

  1. Open the item's detail page and go to the Variants tab.
  2. Click Add Variant. The Add Item Variant window opens with the item family already filled in.
  3. Choose the Variant Type — Buy, Sell, or Conversion. Pick Sell to make the item sellable. (You can't add a Make variant here; those are created automatically when you set up a template.)
  4. Pick the Unit you sell (e.g., "case" or "each"). You can create a new unit right from the dropdown.
  5. If the unit is new to this family, set the Inventory Conversion — how the new unit relates to the family's Inventory Unit (e.g., 1 case = 12 each). If the unit already exists in the family, Peasy reuses its conversion and this step is skipped.
  6. Enter a Variant Name. Optionally add a SKU (it must be unique across your business), a Unit Price, and an Order Min (MOQ). There's also a "Fulfilled or sold by a vendor (e.g. a 3PL)" toggle that reveals vendor fields if a third party ships it.
  7. Click Save & Close (or Save & Add Variant to add another).

Adding a Sell variant is what makes an item show up in your catalog and available on sales orders.

What to Include

For each item, try to fill in:

  • Item name — What you call it internally
  • Category — How you group similar items (optional but helpful for filtering later)
  • Buy unit — The unit your vendor sells in (e.g., case, bag, gallon)
  • Supplier — The vendor you buy from
  • Unit cost — What you pay per buy unit

You don't need every field right away. The only required field is the item name and unit — everything else can be added or edited later directly in the table.

Good to Know

  • Start with 5–10 items if you're not sure. You can always add more once you're comfortable with the flow.
  • Vendors and units get created inline — when filling out the New Item modal, you can create new vendors, units, and categories right from the dropdowns without leaving the form.
  • You can edit anything later — item names, costs, units, vendors, and categories are all editable directly in the table. Just click on a cell.
  • If an item already exists, Peasy detects it when you type the name and offers to add a variant to the existing item instead of creating a duplicate.

What's Next

Once your items are in, move on to Managing Vendors to make sure your vendor details are complete.

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