What is the difference between SALES & COST OF GOODS SOLD?

Cost of goods sold includes one of the following: 1. The wholesale price of goods + labor + storage + shipping or 2. The production cost (labor + factory/plant) + raw materials + shipping Sales is simply the gross (total) income received from selling the merchandise retail. Net sales is gross sales - cost of goods sold.

Cost of goods is the cost that the retailer paid for the items. Since retailers buy in bulk ( high volume) they can pay less per item. Sales is the price the retailer sells the item for in order to make a profit this is always more then the cost of goods.

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cogs.asp the determination of COGS varies depending on the type of business. For example, as a retailer who is simply buying items at a one price and reselling them as purchased at a higher price then COGS is simply the amount paid for the product. In manufacturing however, COGS is determined by many factors from raw material, to tooling, to labor, etc etc.

If you are the merchant the cost is what you pay, if you are the consumer the sale is what you pay

Sales is the amount of money you made on the goods you sold. COGS is what it cost you to get those goods, such as the cost of buying the materials or purchasing those goods at a wholesale price. It does not include things like payroll, those are not directly necessary for the sale of the goods.

Sales is a revenue account that reports the sales of merchandise. Sales are reported in the accounting period in which title to the merchandise was transferred from the seller to the buyer. Cost of goods sold is the cost of the merchandise that was sold to customers. The cost of goods sold is reported on the income statement when the sales revenues of the goods sold are reported. Cost of Goods Sold is usually the largest expense on the income statement of a company selling products or goods. This account or this calculation (depends on inventory system) matches the cost of the goods sold with the sales (revenue) of the goods that have been sold. The Cost of Goods Sold can be computed as follows: cost of beginning inventory + cost of goods purchased (net of any returns or allowances) + freight-in - cost of ending inventory.

It would seem that "cost of goods sold" would be the total cost of what the retailer paid from the distributor/manufacturer for the goods that were later sold by the retailer. Sales is what the retailer sells in either dollar amount or quantity. Could be wrong though.....