Why are “Items Sold” and “Units Sold” different in my Square Sales Summary?

[Chris45]

On the weekly sales report summary the Items sold is different to the units sold.

Why

[TheRealChipA]

@Chris45 I've not seen this issue happening, and you haven't really provided enough information for anyone to help you.  Is this happening for one item?  for some items?  for all items?  Can you provide a screen shot or two showing the discrepancy?  Did it just start recently, or has it been going on for a while?

[Callee1945]

It's very likely you have some items that are not sold by "unit." For example, I sell some cheeses and meats by the ounce. So a customer may purchase one piece of cheese that equals 10 oz. So in that case, my report would have one item sold, but 10 units sold. 

[Laurie_]

Hi @Chris45, just adding on to what @Callee1945 has shared above, items sold counts the number of different line items in a sale, while units sold counts the total quantity of items.

A screenshot would certainly be helpful here if you'd still like to dig into this further. 🙂

[Chris45]

Hi Laurie & everyone else who were kind enough to try & help me.

It would seem that items refer to the number of transactions within a period.

So that if two pints of lager are purchased at the same time by one customer this would count as 1 item & 2 units.

[Laurie_]

You’re very welcome, @Chris45! Yes, your understanding is correct, so your reports are working as expected.

We’ll go ahead and mark this thread as resolved, but if any other questions come up around reporting or inventory tracking, don’t hesitate to reach out.

[Mailam · Accepted solution]

Items sold counts the number of line items or transactions, while units sold counts total quantity.

So if one customer buys two pints in a single sale, that shows as 1 item sold and 2 units sold. That difference is expected and not an error.