By the way, "multi-account transactions" would be better named "split transactions"; I kept thinking you were writing about accessing GnuCash from multiple user accounts.
Anyway, it's an interesting concept... I don't know that I keep value of what things are "worth" to me -- I have some priceless things to me but that would be actually worth very little. Thus is illustrated the difference between "worth" and "value" -- the value of something is what one can sell it for, which may be completely unrelated to the worth to you. Upon thinking about your situation, I haven't really used GnuCash to track my possessions... to use your example, if I purchase a guitar for 200 with a shipping cost of 20 -- assuming I used my bank account, there would be a split transaction with my bank decreasing by 220, and the expense accounts of "Instruments" would increase by 200 and Instruments:Shipping would increase by 20. Thus, the total of "Instruments" would increase by 220. Alternatively, you could have "Instruments:Instruments" and "Instruments:Shipping" as separate sub-accounts under "Instruments", which would still track the total value. On Wed, Oct 2, 2024 at 4:48 AM Boniforti Flavio <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi David. > > Thanks for your feedback - along with all other replies and posts in this > thread! :-) > > I will think about whether I want to consider the shipping expense as part > of the value of the goods I bought or not. I understand the difference and > keeping shipping costs separated from the goods value looks correct to me. > However, I always considered shipping costs as part of the goods value. I > thought "I paid 220 for this guitar, even though 20 are for shipping, so to > me it's worth 220" (I know this is wrong, because shipping doesn't add > value to the goods). > > Thanks to everyone! > F. > > https://www.instagram.com/boniforti_music > https://soundcloud.com/boniforti_music > https://bonny-j.bandcamp.com > > > Am Mo., 30. Sept. 2024 um 22:32 Uhr schrieb David Cousens < > [email protected]>: > > > Flavio, > > > > Shipping is a service so it does not add to the value of your assets so > > it is simply an expense so the transaction becomes: > > > > PURCHASE: > > Increase "Assets:Material:Item #1" of 300 > > Decrease "Checking account" by 300. > > Increase "Expenses:Postage" of 10. > > Decrease "Checking account" by 10. > > > > then there is no need to account for the shipping at time of sale > > SALE: > > Increase "Checking account" by 320. > > Decrease "Assets:Material:Item #1" by 300. > > Increase "Income:Sales" by 20. > > > > The difference between "Income:Sales" and "Expenses:Postage" is your > > profit on the transaction and the difference between the balance of > > the top level Income account and the top level Expenses account will > > represent your overall profit. If you needed to know the profit on an > > individual item you would add a subaccount to the Expenses:Postage > > :Item #1. > > > > David Cousens > > > > > > On Mon, 2024-09-30 at 18:47 +0200, Boniforti Flavio wrote: > > > Hi all. > > > I'm again stuck with a specific type of transaction and would like to > > > have > > > it validated (or corrected). Suggestions on how you would do it are > > > welcome > > > as well - I might not be using the most intuitive way of registering > > > it. > > > > > > So... > > > > > > I bought an item for 300. Paid for it from my checking account. > > > I paid for shipping separately 10. Paid for this as well from my > > > checking > > > account. > > > Sold the item for 320, which was wire-transferred into my checking > > > account. > > > I have earned 10 from the transaction. > > > > > > I have created an account for that item: > > > Assets:Material:Item #1 > > > Also, I've added a shipping sub-account to it: > > > Assets:Material:Item #1:Shipping > > > > > > Then I entered the split transaction as follows: > > > > > > PURCHASE = > > > Increase "Assets:Material:Item #1" of 300. > > > Increase "Assets:Material:Item #1:Shipping" of 10. > > > Decrease "Checking account" by 300. > > > Decrease "Checking account" by 10. > > > As I also have an account for "Postage expenses", how would I have to > > > register the 10 bucks I spent for shipping, so that it also accounts > > > towards the postage expenses in general? > > > > > > SALE = > > > Increase "Checking account" by 320. > > > Decrease "Assets:Material:Item #1:Shipping" by 10. > > > Decrease "Assets:Material:Item #1" by 300. > > > Increase "Sales Surplus" by 10. > > > > > > Thanks (again) for your help! > > > F. > > > > > > https://www.instagram.com/boniforti_music > > > https://soundcloud.com/boniforti_music > > > https://bonny-j.bandcamp.com > > > _______________________________________________ > > > gnucash-user mailing list > > > [email protected] > > > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > > > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > > > ----- > > > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > > > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > gnucash-user mailing list > [email protected] > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > ----- > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > -- _________________________________ Richard Losey [email protected] Micah 6:8 _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. 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