How to Use Price Levels in QuickBooks Desktop

Price levels in QuickBooks Desktop let you automatically charge different customers different prices. Enable them under Edit > Preferences > Sales & Customers > Company Preferences (Custom Pricing section), create your levels in Lists > Price Level List, then either assign a price level to a customer or apply one directly on a sales form.

Quick question: do all of your customers pay the same prices?

If you're like most businesses, the answer is no. Your loyal wholesale buyer who's been with you for five years gets better pricing than a first-time retail customer. Your nonprofit client gets a discount your corporate clients don't. Maybe contractors get 15% off list price, always, no negotiation needed.

So how do you handle that in QuickBooks without manually adjusting every single invoice line and hoping you remember who gets what? That's exactly what price levels are for. Set the pricing rules once, and QuickBooks applies the right prices automatically.

One clarification before we dive in, because QuickBooks has made this confusing over the years: classic price levels (what this guide covers) are available in QuickBooks Desktop Pro, Premier, and Enterprise. If you use QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise with a Platinum subscription, you may see Advanced Pricing and price rules instead — a more powerful version of the same idea. When you turn on Advanced Pricing, your existing price levels get converted into price rules. For most small businesses, classic price levels are plenty.

Before you start: two things worth knowing

1. Price levels need to be turned on first.

They're not active by default. If you go looking for the Price Level List and it's not there, that's why — you haven't enabled the feature yet. (Step 1 below covers this.)

2. There are two types of price levels — pick the right one.

• Fixed percentage price levels: Increase or decrease the price of *all* items by a set percentage for a customer. Example: your wholesale customers get 10% off everything. Simple, broad, easy to manage.
• Per item price levels: Set specific custom prices for individual items per customer. Example: your best client pays $8 for Product A (normally $10), $5 for Product B (normally $5.50), and full price for everything else. More precise, more setup work. Note: per item price levels require QuickBooks Desktop Premier or Enterprise — they're not available in Pro.

Think about which one matches how you actually price. Most businesses start with fixed percentage and only move to per item when specific deals demand it.

How to set up and use price levels, step by step

Step 1: Turn on price levels

• Go to Edit, then select Preferences.
• Click Sales & Customers on the left, then the Company Preferences tab.
• In the Custom Pricing section, select Enable Price Levels (or the equivalent option to turn on price levels).
• If you use fixed percentage price levels, you can also set rounding preferences here — for example, rounding discounted prices to the nearest dollar so you don't end up with odd amounts like $47.63.
• Click OK.

Step 2: Create your price levels

• Go to the Lists menu and select Price Level List.
• Click the Price Level button at the bottom and choose New.
• Give the price level a clear name — "Wholesale 10% Off" beats "Level 1" every time. Future you will thank present you.
• Choose the type:
• For fixed percentage: enter the percentage and whether it's a discount or markup. A 10% wholesale discount, a 5% contractor discount — whatever your pricing structure looks like.
• For per item: you'll set individual prices for each item in the list. Take your time and double-check the numbers — these override the standard rates.
• Click OK to save.

Create one price level for each pricing tier you offer. Three to five levels covers most businesses; if you have twenty, your pricing might be more complicated than it needs to be.

Step 3: Apply price levels — two ways to use them

Here's the part people miss: creating a price level does nothing until you actually apply it. You have two options.

Option A: Assign a price level to a customer (automatic)

This is the set-it-and-forget-it approach. Every time you create a sales form for this customer, QuickBooks applies their price level automatically.

• Go to the Customers menu and open the Customer Center.
• Double-click the customer in the list.
• Go to the Payment Settings tab.
• In the Price Level dropdown, choose the price level for this customer.
• Save.

From now on, invoices, sales receipts, and sales orders for this customer use their pricing automatically. You don't have to remember anything.

Option B: Apply a price level directly on a sales form (one-off)

For one-time deals or customers without an assigned level:

• Create the invoice (or sales receipt, or sales order) as usual.
• On the item line, go to the Rate column and click the dropdown.
• Choose the price level to apply to that item. QuickBooks shows the adjusted amount next to each level, so you can see the result before you commit.
• Save the transaction.

This is perfect for the "just this once" discount — no need to change the customer's permanent settings.

Step 4: Test it before you trust it

Create a test invoice for a customer with an assigned price level and check the rates. Do the numbers match what you intended? A two-minute test now beats discovering a pricing mistake on fifty invoices later.

And remember — price levels only apply going forward. They don't retroactively change prices on invoices you've already created. That's by design.

If you haven't set up your products and services yet, price levels won't have much to work with — see our guide on [setting up items in QuickBooks Desktop](/setup-items-quickbooks-desktop/) first. And for the invoicing side of things, our walkthrough on [creating an invoice in QuickBooks Desktop](/create-an-invoice-in-quickbooks-desktop/) pairs nicely with this one.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Creating price levels before enabling the feature. If the Price Level List isn't in your Lists menu, the feature isn't on. Go back to Step 1. This trips up more people than you'd think.
• Expecting price levels to fix old invoices. They only apply to new sales forms created after the level is assigned. Old invoices keep their original prices — which is what you want for accurate records.
• Forgetting about rounding. A 15% discount on a $19.99 item gives you $16.9915. Without rounding rules, your invoices end up with ugly, unprofessional-looking amounts. Set your rounding preference when you enable the feature.
• Using per item levels in QuickBooks Pro. Per item price levels need Premier or Enterprise. If the option isn't available, that's why — use fixed percentage levels instead, or consider whether an upgrade makes sense.
• Naming levels cryptically. "PL-3" means nothing six months from now. "Contractor 15% Off" is self-documenting. Your future self — and anyone else who touches your books — will appreciate it.
• Confusing price levels with discounts on the invoice. You can do both, but they stack. If a customer has a 10% price level *and* you add a 10% line discount, they're getting roughly 19% off, not 10%. Know which tool you're using and why.

Conclusion!

That brings us to the end of this guide on price levels in QuickBooks Desktop. We hope the steps explained above helped you set up custom pricing tiers and apply them to the right customers automatically. If you run into any difficulty while following the steps, consider consulting a qualified and experienced QuickBooks professional for further assistance.

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