Understanding Item Types
Peasy is built on four concepts: items, families, variants, and units. Nail these and everything else clicks — what shows up in your catalog, how inventory moves, why some items appear on purchase orders and others don't.
How to Get There
Open any item from Buy > Items to buy or Sell > Items to sell to see its family, variants, and conversions.
The Four Concepts
- Item — Every physical thing your business touches. There are three kinds: things you buy (ingredients, packaging), things you sell (finished goods), and things you make (the built stuff in between — made from what you buy, destined for what you sell).
- Family — A group of items that share the same inventory pool. If you can break one down into another, or swap them with no production step in between, they belong together.
- Variant — Every format, supplier, and unit of measure inside a family. Variants are just different ways the world interacts with the same underlying inventory.
- Unit — The math that ties a family together. Each variant's unit connects to the rest of the family through a conversion ratio, so Peasy can count everything in one place.
Families: When Items Share a Pool
Items share a family when they share an inventory pool. A few rules of thumb:
One pool, one family. You sell your light roast as a bag, a 3-pack, and a case. A case is just bags in a box — open it and you've got bags. Same inventory pool, one family.
Same product, different suppliers. You buy green coffee beans from four different farms. Same beans once they arrive, same roaster. One family, four Buy variants — so you always know who sent what, at what price.
Different product, different family. A 12-oz bag of light roast and a 1-lb bag of light roast are not the same family. If a customer orders a 1-lb bag, you can't send two 12-oz bags. Rebagging is production, not a conversion. Separate families.
Dark roast and light roast. Also separate families. Different product, different inventory, different family — even though they're both coffee.
Variants: The Four Types
Inside a family, every variant has a type. You'll see a color-coded badge on each variant card in the item side panel:
- Buy (blue) — A unit you purchase from a vendor. Shows up on purchase orders, bills, and when you receive. Example: "Green beans — Farm A, 60-lb bag."
- Sell (green) — A unit you sell to a customer. Shows up in your catalog, on sales orders, and on invoices. Example: "Light roast — 12-oz bag."
- Make (purple) — A unit you produce in-house. Created automatically when you build a template in Make > Items to make. You don't add Make variants by hand — create the template and Peasy creates the variant for you.
- Conversion (orange) — A unit you use only for counting or receiving, never for buying or selling. Example: "Light roast — pallet" (48 cases per pallet), so you can receive a whole pallet cleanly.
All four types share the family's inventory pool. Receiving a Buy variant adds to the pool. Fulfilling a Sell variant deducts from it. Completing a work order for a Make variant adds to the pool and deducts the inputs.
Units: The Conversion Chain
Every family has a unit chain. A case holds four packs. A pack holds three bags. A pallet holds forty-eight cases. The chain ties every variant to every other variant so the math just works.
At the root of the chain is the family's Inventory Unit — the base unit every other variant converts back to. You'll see "Inventory Unit" on the item detail side panel, where you can rename it, change it, or add a new one. In the Bulk add spreadsheet, it has its own column.
When you receive a pallet of light roast, the pool goes up by 48 cases — which is also 576 bags, or 192 three-packs, stored internally in the family's Inventory Unit. You pick the variant that makes sense for the moment and Peasy handles the translation.
Need to add a new unit later? Add a variant with a conversion to any unit already in the chain, and it's connected to everything else.
Common Setups
Not every family needs every type of variant. Here are the most common shapes:
| Family shape | Variants it has | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Buy-only | One or more Buy variants | Flour — you buy it, use it in recipes, never sell it directly |
| Sell-only | One or more Sell variants | Granola bars you produce and sell (Make variant comes from a template) |
| Buy and sell | Buy variants + Sell variants | Coffee beans — buy raw, sell retail |
| Multiple suppliers | Several Buy variants, same family | Green beans from four farms |
| Multiple formats | Several Sell variants, same family | Light roast as bag, 3-pack, case |
| With receiving aid | Any of the above + a Conversion variant | Light roast with a "pallet" Conversion variant for receiving |
Common Questions
How do I create a finished good? Create an item and add a Sell variant. Skip the Buy variant. If you produce it using a recipe, set up a template with this item as the output.
Why can't I find my item on sales orders? It probably doesn't have a Sell variant. Open the family's side panel and add a Sell variant — it will appear in your catalog and be available on sales orders.
Can I sell something I also buy? Yes. Add both a Buy variant and a Sell variant to the same family — they'll share the inventory pool, so receiving a purchase increases what's available to sell. If the sell format requires any kind of production step (rebagging, portioning, assembly), use a template instead.
How do I add non-ingredient items like labels or packaging? Create a new family with a Buy variant. Set the category to "Packaging" or "Supplies" to keep them organized.
What's the difference between an item and a variant? The item family is the product concept — "Organic Honey." Variants are the specific units you buy or sell in — "5-gallon pail" (Buy variant) and "12-oz jar" (Sell variant). Variants under the same family share one inventory pool.
Why does the variant count say 2 when I can see a Make variant too?
The variant count badge — on the /inventory All Items page and the variants sidebar — only counts Buy, Sell, and Conversion variants. Make variants are managed from their template (in Make > Items to make), and the family's Inventory Unit is an internal base unit, so neither is included in that tally. The count reflects the variants you directly add and edit from the item side panel.
How do I set up a bundle or kit? If the bundle is assembled from multiple components — a gift box, hot coffee with a cup and lid, a multi-SKU kit — that's a template in Peasy. Create a Finished Good template where the output is your bundle and the inputs are the components. When you complete a work order from that template, Peasy deducts the components and adds the finished bundle. See Creating Templates for step-by-step instructions.
If you're looking for a pricing bundle (buy 2 get 1 free, discount when purchasing together) — that's handled through price lists or sales order discounts, not through item structure.
Example: Small Bakery
A bakery called Sweet Spot tracks three items:
- All-Purpose Flour — Buy variant: 50-lb bag. Inventory Unit: pounds. No Sell variant (it's an ingredient).
- Vanilla Extract — Buy variant: 1-gallon jug. Inventory Unit: fluid ounces. No Sell variant.
- Sourdough Loaf — No Buy variant (they bake it). Sell variant: each. Inventory Unit: each.
When Sweet Spot receives 2 bags of flour, inventory goes up by 100 lbs. When they sell 10 sourdough loaves, inventory goes down by 10. The conversion math happens automatically.
Good to Know
- Variants can be added anytime. Need a new size, a new supplier, or a new format? Add a variant to the existing family rather than creating a new item.
- Categories are on the family. All variants share one category. Set it on the family's side panel.
- Make variants are template-driven. If a family needs a Make variant, create the template — Peasy creates the variant for you and keeps them linked.
- If there's a production step, use separate families. A rule of thumb: if moving between two units takes repackaging, assembly, or any build step, they're different families connected by a template.
- The Inventory Unit is set once. You choose it when creating an item. Changing it later can cause confusion if you already have inventory history — if you need a different base unit, it's usually better to create a new family.
- Sub-units pick the Inventory Unit for you. If you check Include sub-unit when adding the first variant, the sub-unit you specify becomes the hidden Inventory Unit and the visible variant maps to it at your conversion ratio. This is the only place during setup where the Inventory Unit isn't just "the unit you typed" — it's the smaller unit you said you wanted to track in.
Related
- Understanding Items and Units — How families, variants, and units fit together
- Add Your Items — Getting items into Peasy
- Managing Buy Items — Working with Buy variants
- Managing Your Catalog — Working with Sell variants
- Creating Templates — Setting up recipes and Make variants
