Hello there, wirenutskh. Let me share some information about the customer and a vendor in QuickBooks Online (QBO). In QBO, a customer can also be a vendor. To differentiate between vendors and customers, vendors sell goods or provide services, while customers buy products or services from a company. QuickBooks treats vendors, customers, and employees separately. However, it's possible to have customers who are also vendors by adding a special character or any distinction to their profiles. Also, you can mark a particular customer as inactive and consider them as a vendor in the future. To proceed, you can follow the steps below: Create a new Vendor name (Make sure that this name doesn't have a duplicate) Go to the Expenses tab and select Vendors.Click the New Vendor option.In the Full Name field, enter a name with one keystroke different from the Customer name ( for example, if the Customer name is Cust Mer, make it as Cus T. Mer as Vendor name).Enter the additional contact information.Click Save. After that, let's Run a Transaction List by Customer report: Go to the Reports tab on the Menu page.From the search dropdown, choose Transaction List by Customer report.Click on Switch to classic view.Edit the Report Period to All Dates and Run Report.Locate each transaction linked to the customer and save them to the new Vendor name.After you've finished editing or adding all the transactions, you can now delete the Customer name. Please refer to this article for more guidance: Moving names from one list to another in QuickBooks Online. Furthermore, you can check out this article to learn how to transfer your customer or vendor lists from Outlook, Excel, Gmail, or Google Sheets: Import customers or vendors from email contacts to QuickBooks Online. Feel free to reach out if you have any further questions about customers, vendors, or other QuickBooks-related queries. We're more than happy to assist. Take care.

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Can a customer also be a vendor in QuickBooks Online, and how do I add the same name as both without a duplicate-name error?

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
March 6, 2024
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QuickBooks Online

Best answer by Emma_P

Can a customer also be a vendor in QuickBooks Online, and how do I add the same name as both without a duplicate-name error?

Yes, the same person or business can be both a customer and a vendor in QuickBooks Online, and you can keep the customer exactly as-is while adding them as a vendor too. The one rule to know is that QuickBooks won't allow the identical display name across your customer, vendor, and employee lists, so you'll give the vendor record a small distinction in its display name.

Add the same name as a vendor (while keeping the customer)

Go to All apps, then Expenses & Bills, then Vendors.
Select New vendor.
In the Display name field, add a small distinction so it's unique, for example "Acme Supplies - Vendor" or a middle initial. The company name, email, and address can stay the same as the customer.
Enter the rest of the contact info and select Save.

Now the name lives on both your Customers list and your Vendors list, and you can invoice them as a customer and enter bills or expenses to them as a vendor. Reference: Add a vendor or contractor in QuickBooks Online.

Why the "name supplied already exists" error happens

If you try to use the exact same display name, QuickBooks shows "The name supplied already exists. Another customer, vendor, or employee is already using this name." That's the unique-display-name rule at work. Adding the small distinction above clears it. Reference: Fix "the name supplied already exists" error message.

If instead you want to convert (not keep both)

If your goal is to move the name from customer to vendor and stop using the customer record, reassign their transaction history first, then create the vendor and retire the old customer record:

Run a Transaction List by Customer report to find everything tied to the customer.
Edit each linked transaction and reassign it to the new vendor name.
Go to All apps, then Customer Hub, then Customers & leads.
Select the customer's name, select Edit, then select Make inactive, then select Yes to confirm.
Optional: edit the vendor's display name back to the original now that the naming conflict is cleared.

There's no one-click customer-to-vendor toggle, so recreating as a vendor is the supported route.

If you let us know whether you want to keep both records or convert, we can confirm the cleanest steps for your situation. This is general product guidance rather than accounting advice.
Reference: Move names between Customer, Vendor, and Employee lists in QuickBooks Online

Official sources drawn from:

C

Carl

Moderator

Hello there, wirenutskh. Let me share some information about the customer and a vendor in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

In QBO, a customer can also be a vendor. To differentiate between vendors and customers, vendors sell goods or provide services, while customers buy products or services from a company.

QuickBooks treats vendors, customers, and employees separately. However, it's possible to have customers who are also vendors by adding a special character or any distinction to their profiles. Also, you can mark a particular customer as inactive and consider them as a vendor in the future. To proceed, you can follow the steps below:

Create a new Vendor name (Make sure that this name doesn't have a duplicate)

Go to the Expenses tab and select Vendors.
Click the New Vendor option.
In the Full Name field, enter a name with one keystroke different from the Customer name ( for example, if the Customer name is Cust Mer, make it as Cus T. Mer as Vendor name).
Enter the additional contact information.
Click Save.

After that, let's Run a Transaction List by Customer report:

Go to the Reports tab on the Menu page.
From the search dropdown, choose Transaction List by Customer report.
Click on Switch to classic view.
Edit the Report Period to All Dates and Run Report.
Locate each transaction linked to the customer and save them to the new Vendor name.
After you've finished editing or adding all the transactions, you can now delete the Customer name.

Please refer to this article for more guidance: Moving names from one list to another in QuickBooks Online.

Furthermore, you can check out this article to learn how to transfer your customer or vendor lists from Outlook, Excel, Gmail, or Google Sheets: Import customers or vendors from email contacts to QuickBooks Online.

Feel free to reach out if you have any further questions about customers, vendors, or other QuickBooks-related queries. We're more than happy to assist. Take care.

W

wirenutskhAuthor

Thank you CarlSJ for answering my question. I have done just as you explained, I just thought there might be a better way. Your explanation changes a customer to a vendor. I need to keep the customer and add them as a vendor.

Karl

wirenutskh

Emma_P

Answer

Community Manager

Can a customer also be a vendor in QuickBooks Online, and how do I add the same name as both without a duplicate-name error?

Yes, the same person or business can be both a customer and a vendor in QuickBooks Online, and you can keep the customer exactly as-is while adding them as a vendor too. The one rule to know is that QuickBooks won't allow the identical display name across your customer, vendor, and employee lists, so you'll give the vendor record a small distinction in its display name.

Add the same name as a vendor (while keeping the customer)

Go to All apps, then Expenses & Bills, then Vendors.
Select New vendor.
In the Display name field, add a small distinction so it's unique, for example "Acme Supplies - Vendor" or a middle initial. The company name, email, and address can stay the same as the customer.
Enter the rest of the contact info and select Save.

Now the name lives on both your Customers list and your Vendors list, and you can invoice them as a customer and enter bills or expenses to them as a vendor. Reference: Add a vendor or contractor in QuickBooks Online.

Why the "name supplied already exists" error happens

If you try to use the exact same display name, QuickBooks shows "The name supplied already exists. Another customer, vendor, or employee is already using this name." That's the unique-display-name rule at work. Adding the small distinction above clears it. Reference: Fix "the name supplied already exists" error message.

If instead you want to convert (not keep both)

If your goal is to move the name from customer to vendor and stop using the customer record, reassign their transaction history first, then create the vendor and retire the old customer record:

Run a Transaction List by Customer report to find everything tied to the customer.
Edit each linked transaction and reassign it to the new vendor name.
Go to All apps, then Customer Hub, then Customers & leads.
Select the customer's name, select Edit, then select Make inactive, then select Yes to confirm.
Optional: edit the vendor's display name back to the original now that the naming conflict is cleared.

There's no one-click customer-to-vendor toggle, so recreating as a vendor is the supported route.

If you let us know whether you want to keep both records or convert, we can confirm the cleanest steps for your situation. This is general product guidance rather than accounting advice.
Reference: Move names between Customer, Vendor, and Employee lists in QuickBooks Online

Official sources drawn from:

Can a customer also be a vendor in QuickBooks Online, and how do I add the same name as both without a duplicate-name error?

Add the same name as a vendor (while keeping the customer)

Why the "name supplied already exists" error happens

If instead you want to convert (not keep both)

Can a customer also be a vendor in QuickBooks Online, and how do I add the same name as both without a duplicate-name error?

Add the same name as a vendor (while keeping the customer)

Why the "name supplied already exists" error happens

If instead you want to convert (not keep both)

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