# Fishbowl: "Part Standard Cost must not be negative"

> You attempted to save a part with a negative standard cost, which Fishbowl does not allow.

## What it means
Standard cost is the baseline unit cost used for inventory valuation and accounting. Fishbowl prevents negative standard costs because they represent no valid business scenario. Costs and prices should always be zero or positive. This error appears when you attempt to save a part with a negative value in the standard cost field.

## What to check
- Is the standard cost field showing a negative number? Change it to zero or a positive value.
- If you're importing or batch-updating parts, check whether your source file contains negative cost values.
- For cost credits or adjustments, check Fishbowl's adjustment features instead of entering negative costs directly.

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*From Israel Lopez Consulting (ILC). Custom Fishbowl Inventory integrations and software, and Fishbowl experts since 2015. Written by Israel Lopez. Questions about this topic, or want to reach the people who wrote it? Visit https://israellopezconsulting.com/contact*