Working with Cost Estimate Types
To reasonably estimate gross profits, companies collect information about costs at each item line level of a transaction. The method used to estimate costs is defined in the Cost Estimate Type field. A cost estimate type defines how costs should be estimated for an item; these estimated costs are used to calculate estimated gross profit for the item. No single costing source is the best source to use across all items. For this reason, NetSuite provides several different cost estimate types.
With the Gross Profit feature enabled, one or more cost estimate types become available for each item type. The Cost Estimate Type field is on the Sales/Pricing subtab of item records. A default is assigned to each item record according to its type. Some types of items allow the selection of a non-default cost estimate type.
![Closeup of the Cost Extimate Type drop-down list on the Sales/Pricing subtab](img/OrderManagement/OrderManagementReports/CostEstTypeItem.png)
The cost estimate type specified on an item record is the default for the item on transaction lines. Users with the Override Estimated Costs on Transactions permission can select a different cost estimate type on transaction item lines.
For more information about cost estimate types, see the following: