E-Commerce and QuickBooks: Part 2

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This mini-series is taken, in part, from the QB Talks Webinar Insightful Accountant offered on April 11, 2018. The Webinar and mini-series evolved together, and, in some sense, each is based on the other. To some extent the mini-series goes more in-depth into some topics than the webinar, but in other cases the webinar provides a great degree of coverage.

In Part 1 we examined the fundamentals of E-commerce looking at the definitions for E-commerce itself along with ‘marketplace’ ‘shopping carts’ and ‘merchant services’.  We reviewed ‘shining examples’ of today’s biggest and most popular E-commerce Marketplaces and discussed the relationship between some marketplace and shopping cart providers.  We discussed the differences between starting an E-commerce business using a marketplace in contrast to your own website with shopping cart.

In this Part 2 article we will look at some shopping-cart and marketplace specific integrators that work with QuickBooks (Desktop) and QuickBooks (Online), or both.  But before we do that we should probably understand what we mean by the term ‘integrator’.

E-commerce Integration Software, commonly referred to as ‘integrators’ or 'connectors', is software that either runs on your desktop (or network) computer, or which is offered as a Cloud-based ‘Software as a Service’ (SAAS) application, that allows for an E-commerce Marketplace or Shopping-cart to be connected (in a variety of ways) to another set of software.  That other software could be an Accounting package, or it could be an Inventory or Point-of-sale system, it could also CRM software or even shipping software.

Most E-commerce Marketplaces, and many E-commerce Shopping-carts offer some type of integrator, the problem is that they were designed with the Marketplace or Shopping-cart in mind, not the downstream application or software.  As a result, there is typically very little flexibility in how data is presented for ‘integration into’ the accounting, inventory, POS, CRM or shipping system(s).  In some cases, the choices maybe limited to ‘summarized data by settlement date’ or ‘all details streamed once every 24-hours’. 

While these built-in, or no-cost integrators maybe attractive for a small E-commerce business just starting out, it doesn’t take a business owner long to identify their needs are not being met by the limited choices in the way that their E-commerce channel(s) are being recorded in their back-office system(s).  Soon thereafter those E-commerce businesses start looking for alternatives, even if those alternatives are going to require a product purchase, a monthly subscription, and potentially the assistance of an E-commerce integration specialist to make sure they get the data they need in they way they want it.

Whether we are talking about ‘single source connectors’, those designed to integrate one specific E-commerce channel, or major E-commerce Integration engines that can handle almost any channel, and in fact most can handle multiple channels simultaneously, the Integration product designers have built their products and reputations on offering flexibility for their customers

Cart-specific Integrators for QuickBooks Desktop

Cart-specific Integrators are ‘single source connectors’ designed to work with one specific E-commerce channel or shopping cart and transition the data into another system, in this case we are looking at some that work with QuickBooks (Desktop).  While some of these products have been developed as a cooperative effort between the developer and the E-commerce channel, many are exclusive products of the developer.  Developers may actually develop multiple ‘single source connectors’ all providing the same feature set but working slightly different for each specific channel they are designed to support.

The illustration below, taken from the webinar PowerPoint, lists three (3) such integrators.

EZOrderLink™ imports your Amazon sales into QuickBooks as Sales Receipts, Sales Orders, Invoices or Estimates depending on your preference. Items not found during import can be added on the fly or simply noted for your input. Customer records can be created for each transaction or you may assign a single customer, such as Amazon for all transactions, you can or even set the system to use the parent-child customer relationship typical in QuickBooks Desktop with your marketplace.

This product works when QuickBooks is in multi-user mode, so your users can continue working in QuickBooks while EZOrderLink is importing orders or invoices.  You can also send tracking data back to Amazon from QuickBooks invoice records. EZOrderLink™ dynamically adjusts the pricing for your items listed on the Amazon marketplace, using information such as your competitors' pricing, whether you are looking for the best page placement or brand recognition, and more.  This feature also allows you to make all your item changes in one place to reduce duplicate data entry and saves time and effort by allowing the system to both raise and lower your items to stay current within a range you determine.

SoftCookies allows you to integrate your Shopify or BigCommerce store with QuickBooks. You will easily import orders, products and customers without wasting time on manual processing. It will also help keep your inventory synced by pushing product quantities from QuickBooks to your store. You even have the flexibility to import your orders as Purchase Orders, Sales Orders, Invoices, Receive Payments, Sales Receipts and Credit Memos according to your business' needs.

SoftCookies makes it easy to handle multiple stores, even if they are created on different eCommerce platforms. Data from all stores can be imported at one time, allowing everything to be managed in QuickBooks. Powerful settings allow you to customize SoftCookies based on your company's needs. If you run a campaign and expect lots of orders, maybe you would prefer to create these transactions under a generic customer. Or maybe you use class tracking for differentiation. All of these can be easily configured in SoftCookies.

Let’s say you use Paypal, Stripe or some other payment processor on your Shopify or BigCommerce stores, then the transaction fees will be automatically calculated for you, making reconciling more efficient. You tell SoftCookies how the fees are calculated, and it will automatically do it for all the new transactions that match the payment methods.

Taking this one step further, you can also choose which bank accounts to deposit the corresponding funds. This not only makes reconciling bank deposits easier but gives you a better overall image of your true profitability.

Sales taxes can be imported as either a Sales Tax Item or as a line item on the transaction. SoftCookies will automatically create and use the correct Sales Tax Items, based on the information from your eCommerce store.  Your sales tax will always stay in balance between your E-commerce store(s) and QuickBooks.

Now we come to Magento 2 QuickBooks Desktop Integrator by Magenest, which is a little different than the two previous products. You seen this is a purchased solution, you buy it and you own it, meaning you will likely want to also purchase a ‘support’ plans, and perhaps installation assistance, if your local QuickBooks ProAdvisor can’t help you with this one.

Magento 2 QB Integrator will automate your accounting with your Magento 2 Store by synchronizes your data using the QuickBooks the Web Connector. This connector offers many different customization possibilities to help meet your needs and requirements.

You will track your invoice and revenue, sync your vendors, and sync your product data from Magento 2 to QuickBooks Desktop. Sync your customer data configured the way you want it from Magento 2, along with your payments configured using the payment methods that really work for each sales transaction recorded to QuickBooks Desktop.

When it comes to sales tax, this integrator will sync tax rate for products purchased, and sync shipping fees from Magento 2 to QuickBooks Desktop. You will even handle transaction or product line specific discounts from Magento 2.

These are just three of the many integrators that are designed to sync data between your E-commerce marketplace or shopping cart and QuickBooks Desktop.  We selected these three because they are featured on Intuit’s QuickBooks Desktop App Center.

Cart-specific Integrators for QuickBooks Online

Just as there are single-source integrators for QuickBooks Desktop, so to there are integrators specific for QBO.  There really is one big difference, all of these are cloud-based Applications (Apps) to which you subscribe under a Software-as-a-service (SAAS) arrangement.  The monthly cost for these integrators can range from ‘free’ to maybe as much as $200 to $300 dollars per month depending on the number of orders being ‘synchronized’ between your E-channel and QBO. 

The illustration below contains just a few of these cart-specific integrators for QBO, again we selected these products as typical or exemplary in regard to those listed within Intuit’s QuickBooks Online App Center.

BigCommerce for QBO is a ‘free’ (to BigCommerce marketplace or shopping-cart users) App that provides a powerful, easy-to-use ecommerce tools to manage and grow a successful online business. This App provides direct QuickBooks Online integration designed to eliminate manual order posting errors.

You specify what you want to happen during updates between BigCommerce and QuickBooks Online. Once you're set up, your orders in BigCommerce will be automatically created as Sales Receipts in QuickBooks Online. This integration records sales income, tax, refunds, discounts and shipping. If you use QuickBooks Online with QuickBooks Payments (payment gateway), you'll benefit from automatic reconciliation of transactions. The App automatically syncs your orders based upon the schedule you set for the sync to run automatically (as frequently as every hour).

OneSaas is an Application Developer who strives to ensure that the apps their customers use to run their business work together with other solutions through high-quality business data integrations. OneSaas delivers financial efficiency and quality that cannot be replicated by other platforms or by apps building, maintaining and supporting their own native integrations. At present OneSaas has 7 different E-commerce App Connectors listed at the Intuit App Center.  These Apps share common fundamentals regardless of the specific E-commerce platform they’re connected to, including:

  • Connecting your E-commerce platform and QuickBooks Online to completely automate your accounting. Prevent the need to manually enter invoices, customers or products.
  • Instantly track your sales revenue in QBO. When a customer places an order on your E-commerce store, the invoice (complete with taxes and any discounts) is automatically created in QuickBooks Online. The customer is automatically created in QBO when an order is placed; if the details have changed, they’re updated.
  • Stock levels are updated in QuickBooks Online when an order is placed; if you update stock levels in QBO, they’re automatically updated in your platform. Adding a product on your platform automatically adds a product in QBO; any updates to the product are also passed to QBO.

Webgility Unify offers no less than 8 SAAS applications, listed in the QBO App Center, for single cart or marketplace connectivity to 1 QBO file.  This is in addition to their Unify Online E-commerce integrator and fulfillment solution. The major features that these 8 Apps share in common include:

  • Webgility Unify Apps record your marketplace sales transactions and fees, and reconciles those against your settlement statement, automatically to simplify your accounting.
  • Automatically track and synchronize all orders and inventory, saving you time and money
  • Record your daily sales and refunds without waiting on the settlement report
  • Manage your product inventory by ensuring daily sales postings are accurate within your QBO inventory

Cloud Cart Connector by JMA automatically syncs customers, inventory, products, and orders with QuickBooks Online. There are no files to install and the sync runs automatically. This App supports multi-currency and QuickBooks Online in the U.S. and abroad. It is fully compatible with Amazon, Authorize.NET, eBay, Infusionsoft, Magento, Shopify, ShipStation, Stripe and more!

Cloud Cart Connector can sync inventory in both directions with BigCommerce, Magento, Shopify, and WooCommerce.  You can also match your cart orders to your QuickBooks tax codes so you can use QuickBooks to manage sales tax. Cloud Cart Connect is also compatible with QuickBooks Online in Australia, Canada, and Europe.

MyWorks WooCommerce Sync for QuickBooks easily syncs your customers, orders, payments, products, inventory and more to/from WooCommerce and QBO. That’s right, while some of these products only sync information from your E-commerce platform to QBO, this App provides full 2-way (push/pull) sync automatically in real time. All your data passes securely to QuickBooks right from your site when using this App, there is no central data depository that you give permission to for collection of meta-data.

This App also offers flat-fee pricing based upon either an annual or month-to-month subscription, and even though it is one flat fee, it provides unlimited syncing with no restrictions on when or how much you sync for that one flat fee. with all data passing securely to QBO right from your site.

Zapier - I debated whether I was even going to include Zapier in this program or not because I consider it a ‘design-it-yourself’ utility that provides data integration, but then I though this list would really be kind of incomplete without at least mentioning this tool.

Zapier moves info between your web apps automatically by allowing you to link to more than 1000 different apps with just a few clicks so you can share the data.  Here are just a few of those Apps, notice both QBO and Shopify are on this display.

Then you automate the workflow in terms of how the data is going to be exchanged between the various applications….by the way, Zapier refers to these workflow pieces as ‘Zaps’.  You select the triggers that set your Zaps into motion.  The Zaps then complete the actions you need to be performed.  One ‘Action’ can in fact be a trigger for a subsequent Zap.

This is a tool which, most likely an experienced ProAdvisor or E-commerce integration specialist use to design the integration on almost a custom basis for your QBO Clients.  It’s probably a great way for a ProAdvisor who is wanting to grow their practice into meeting the ‘custom needs’ of E-commerce clients to really get started with a simple, but powerful utility that allows for maximum customization, rather than employing a pre-configured, somewhat limited, App that is generic to the E-commerce environment.

In Part 3 of this series we will look at Generalized E-commerce Integration and Fulfillment Platforms including: Agiliron, eIntegrator, ShipStation,  the SuperManager, T-Hub and Webgility. All of these provide far more comprehensive and complex solutions than the single-source integration applications we have looked at this time.