Try something like this:

=SUMIF(A1:A100,"item1",C1:C100)

Or, better to use a cell to hold the item name:

E1 = item1

=SUMIF(A1:A100,E1,C1:C100)

--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"kaveh" wrote in message
...
I have three columns,. first column contains a list of items, and the
second one is the description of the first column, and the third one is
qty
of each item. specific items may be repeated multiple times within the
first
column,
how could I get the unique SUM of each item?