Add an item — every field explained

A field-by-field reference for the item form, from the name to VAT, units, SKUs and barcodes.

4 min read

Press Add item in the library. Only the name is required — every other field can be filled in later, and an item with three fields is still more useful than an item you never created. Fill in what you know now.

Tip

Each field in the form has a short hint under it explaining what belongs there. If you are unsure while filling something in, that hint is the fastest answer.

The basics

Name (required): What you would call it out loud, made specific enough to find later. Omega Speedmaster Professional 1969 rather than watch. This is the field search matches first.
Description: The longer story: what it is, why it matters, what condition detail a photo does not show. It is also what the AI tools read when estimating value or spotting duplicates, so a good description improves their answers.
Category: One category per item. Categories drive the library's filters, the dashboard's breakdown and the accounting views. See Categories.
Condition: New, Like new, Excellent, Good, Fair or Poor. It appears on shared pages and in filters, and it feeds value estimates. Be honest — a resale conversation that starts with an over-graded condition ends badly.
Location: Where the thing physically is: Safe, office, Warehouse B, rack 4, Parents' attic. When you need to find it in a hurry, this is the field that saves you.

Photos

Drag files onto the upload area, or press it to browse. On a phone, the camera opens directly. The first photo is the cover image; you can promote a different one later. Full detail is in Photos.

Purchase and value

Purchase price: What you paid. Type it with a decimal point or a comma — both work, and the field does not reformat while you are still typing.
Currency: The currency you actually paid in. Keep it accurate even if it is not your usual currency: ELVOAQ converts to your display currency when it totals things up, and it cannot do that correctly if the original currency is wrong.
Purchase place: The shop, dealer, auction house, marketplace or person. Useful for warranty claims and provenance.
Purchase date and time: The date drives warranty reminders, depreciation and age. The time is optional — it matters for auctions and timestamped receipts, and nothing else.
Time zone: Only relevant if you set a time. It keeps an auction timestamp meaningful when you look at it from another country.

VAT

VAT rate: The percentage that applies to this item. Leave it at 0 if VAT is not relevant to you.
Price includes VAT: Tick this when the purchase price you typed is the gross, VAT-inclusive figure. Leave it clear when the price is net. ELVOAQ then shows the net amount, the VAT amount and the gross total, and works out whichever two you did not type.

Note

Whether prices appear net or gross across the whole app is a separate preference — see Price display and VAT.

Quantity and units

Some items are one object. Others are 40 metres of cable, 12 bottles, or 3.5 kilograms of material. The unit fields cover both.

Unit type: The kind of measurement: pieces, length, weight, volume, area, time, or a custom unit you name yourself.
Unit: The specific unit inside that type — metres or centimetres, kilograms or grams, litres or millilitres.
Quantity: How many, or how much.

Note

For countable units — pieces, boxes — the quantity is the item's single quantity field, not a second number. Setting it in one place sets it everywhere, so a count can never disagree with itself.

Inventory and business fields

Manufacturer: Who made it. Also used by the duplicate detector and value estimates.
SKU: Your own stock-keeping code, if you run one. Searchable.
Part number: The maker's part or model number — the one printed in the manual or on the label.
Barcode and barcode type: The code from the packaging, with its format: UPC, EAN-13, EAN-8, ISBN-10, ISBN-13, ITIN, CODE128 or QR. You can scan it instead of typing — see Scanning barcodes.

AI suggestions

While you fill the form, ELVOAQ may propose a category based on the name, the description and the photos. Suggestions are labelled with how confident they are — a high, medium or low match — and nothing is applied until you accept it.

Saving

Create item: Saves and closes the form.
Save and add another: Saves and immediately reopens an empty form. This is the fast path when you are cataloguing a shelf: you never return to the library between items.

Still stuck?

If this guide did not answer your question, write to us — a real person reads every message.

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