Hi there, Diane628.

I can help you in handling this transaction.

By default, QuickBooks will prompt a warning when you attempt to sell an item with a zero or negative quantity on hand. Please know that you can receive inventory with or without a bill in the program.

To avoid having a negative inventory, you can create an item receipt to receive the items without a bill. This process will increase your inventory asset account and accounts payable. I'll show you how:

1. Under the My Shortcuts section, select Home.
2. Go to the Home tab, then click the Receive Inventory drop-down menu.
3. Choose Receive Inventory without a bill to open the Item Receipt window 
4. Select the appropriate vendor name.
5. Select Yes to receive a purchase order for the bill.
6. Choose the correct purchase order, then select OK. If you didn't create a purchase order, you can directly enter the items, quantity, and amount.
7. Select Save & Close.

Once you receive the bill, follow these steps to enter the corresponding payable for the item receipt:

1. Head to the Home page.
2. Select Enter Bills against Inventory.
3. On the Select Item Receipt window, choose the correct vendor name from the Vendor drop-down menu.
4. Tick the Use Item receipt date for the bill date checkbox to keep the original inventory availability date.
5. Select the item receipt that corresponds to your bill. You may need to convert each bill separately if there are multiple item receipts.
6. Click OK.

After that, you can now start paying your open bills. For more information about this process, you can visit this article: Accounts Payable workflow.

In addition, here's a reference that you can read to help track your inventory status in QuickBooks Desktop: Customize item reports.

Feel welcome to tag me in your comments and posts if you need further help in managing your purchases and inventories. Stay safe and have a productive week ahead.