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Suggestions needed for an invoicing software

Darshin

Plastic
Joined
Feb 11, 2020
Too many invoices lined up every week and I cannot keep a track of unpaid ones. Any one using a quick invoicing system? I'd love to have inventory management but being a consultant to businesses, am happy with just invoice, quote & may be track payment stuff.

I'd love to see something around $5/10 per month mark. Any one here using something around that range ?

I use a windows computer
 
If you are a glutton for punishment and have a couple friends who are really good with computers, you can get LedgerSMB running in Windows. It's a lot more than just invoices, so if you want to grow past that, you can.

Once you get it running, it's not so bad ... and it will do a lot of other stuff for the business .... (inventory, cash flow, write checks, make reports, all that crap)

On the other hand, if you want to make parts instead of mess around with bookkeeping and computers, get something simple :)
 
AS much as they annoy me, Quickbooks is still the most affordable answer.

If you are not doing payroll, there is no reason to ever have to update it, so you can run it for many years.

You can still buy quickbooks pro outright[not a renewable license] for around 300 bucks

Eventually some features die, like the USPS shipping plug in died a while ago in my Enterprise Edition

I found a laborious way to revert back to pro, since it now tracks inventory[which it did not in 2000 or so when I went to enterprise]

If you are trying to save money, it looks like QB 2014 will run in windows 10 so you can find that on ebay, but do your research to make sure it works for you

I have been on quickbooks since V1 for DOS, and while many days I wish there were a better alternative, I have yet to find one

If they go all subscription[as they have with Enterprise] I will have to find an alternative
 
Accounting is such a basic thing, i.e. and so many people understand how accounting works and its so widely used, that has to be some good options with open source software.

I would use extreme caution with quickbooks. They are aggressively pushing everything toward the cloud model which is problematic in that it can be impossible to exit. We recently had a case where even with numerous calls to tech support it we couldn't get the files off the cloud. (we bought a business and wanted to get their QB cloud books onto our local QB, just not possible). The day that happened I started the plan to move away from QB as I think their strategy is clear and the writing is on the wall for their local install offerings.

imo its very expensive compared to local....and just wait a few yeas until they've really got you....it is the hotel California of software, you can check in but you can never leave.
 
I have Quicken and it sucks. It is an old version, I wonder if they have made improvements? All I can say is say no to Quicken.
 
When I was on my own I used quickbooks, Its easy and great for invoicing. I used the software version over the online.
 
How is the invoice that you cannot track as unpaid generated?
How do you log payments?
In the old days we just had a file folders, paid and the piece of paper comes out with the check number written on it. Open and closed receivables.
Once upon a time there were not computers on every desk.
Bob
 
How is the invoice that you cannot track as unpaid generated?
How do you log payments?
In the old days we just had a file folders, paid and the piece of paper comes out with the check number written on it. Open and closed receivables.
Once upon a time there were not computers on every desk.
Bob

Right, cause that is the way to run a business

And years ago, you had to have someone do your books because there was not time to mess with that stuff, or as many did, the wife handled that

30 years ago, the very first thing I bought when I started my business was a computer.

1953 Bridgeport and a 286XT used computer. [already owned the bridgeport]
 
Accounting is such a basic thing, i.e. and so many people understand how accounting works and its so widely used, that has to be some good options with open source software.

I would use extreme caution with quickbooks. They are aggressively pushing everything toward the cloud model which is problematic in that it can be impossible to exit. We recently had a case where even with numerous calls to tech support it we couldn't get the files off the cloud. (we bought a business and wanted to get their QB cloud books onto our local QB, just not possible). The day that happened I started the plan to move away from QB as I think their strategy is clear and the writing is on the wall for their local install offerings.

imo its very expensive compared to local....and just wait a few yeas until they've really got you....it is the hotel California of software, you can check in but you can never leave.

I do not totally disagree, but what you say is not true

Quickbooks stopped selling Enterprise, they only rent now, no deal screw them

But I have many, many years of data in Enterprise, having moved up in the early 2000s from QB Pro, and you, theoretically, cannot 'downgrade'

Well, you can.

you sign up for a free month of QB online, and upload your enterprise into it. IT is not without glitches and I compressed data first and it took several tries to get it through correctly, but it worked.

Then you buy a copy of standalone QB Pro.

There is then a process to get the data out of QB online,and into QB pro. Again, complicated, and I actually had to get QB on the phone, and linked into my computer to get it done.

But it worked.

Look, quickbooks is not just invoicing software.

once setup, I keep everything in it
all my contacts, notes on pricing, phone numbers

Thing is it is painless to get into, you just type the info and it will save it, and you never have to enter it again.

New customer?
Just start filling out the form, you enter the address info it gets saved under that new name, then you click ship, right in the software address filled out you just put in the weight and poof, done, tracking number saved on the invoice

Customer calls, hey, six months ago, did we buy, such and such?

5 seconds later, yup August 12, 3 of those, paid xx.xx, shipped on this tracking number for this much, you paid, 2 weeks later, you need the same?
sure, click copy this invoice, it will ship today

balance checkbook, it will download data right from your bank website

End of year, profit and loss report, send to accountant. He wants more info? Send a copy of your company file to them

Sure you can use it as just invoicing software, but I have run my entire business out of it for decades.
 
Look, quickbooks is not just invoicing software.

once setup, I keep everything in it
all my contacts, notes on pricing, phone numbers

Thing is it is painless to get into, you just type the info and it will save it, and you never have to enter it again.

New customer?
Just start filling out the form, you enter the address info it gets saved under that new name, then you click ship, right in the software address filled out you just put in the weight and poof, done, tracking number saved on the invoice

Customer calls, hey, six months ago, did we buy, such and such?

5 seconds later, yup August 12, 3 of those, paid xx.xx, shipped on this tracking number for this much, you paid, 2 weeks later, you need the same?
sure, click copy this invoice, it will ship today

balance checkbook, it will download data right from your bank website

End of year, profit and loss report, send to accountant. He wants more info? Send a copy of your company file to them

Sure you can use it as just invoicing software, but I have run my entire business out of it for decades.
LedgerSMB will do all that and more.

It is not trivial to get running. You need either some pretty good computer skills or to hire someone.

But then you own it. No EULA, no forced cloud migration (Trail of Tears was a migration ?), not stuck with what it is, you can add to it or deduct from it or change it. Open sores. It's yours.

Pain first or pain later, take your choice.

(I got it running on the Sun Java One iPlanet webserver, so Windows should be a pickanick.)


(( Knowing what I do now, I'd pick the girl with the nice superstructure instead of this computer crap. Life was more fun in 1975.))
 
LedgerSMB will do all that and more.

It is not trivial to get running. You need either some pretty good computer skills or to hire someone.

But then you own it. No EULA, no forced cloud migration (Trail of Tears was a migration ?), not stuck with what it is, you can add to it or deduct from it or change it. Open sores. It's yours.

Pain first or pain later, take your choice.

(I got it running on the Sun Java One iPlanet webserver, so Windows should be a pickanick.)


(( Knowing what I do now, I'd pick the girl with the nice superstructure instead of this computer crap. Life was more fun in 1975.))

I just explained how I avoided forced migration

there is no software engineer involved in starting on quickbooks, it is in fact, trivial to get it started.

I have a, theoretically, permanent license. My Enterprise is still running on my old computer, and will, until that computer dies.
Something about the way I purchased my last version of enterprise allowed them to wiggle out of allowing me to download[actually could download, but not register] on my new computer.

Like I said, I have my issues with Intuit, but the software is solid.
 
The only problem with the purchase of a hardcopy QB is that they only provide support for 3years I believe. Support as in connecting with bank accounts, and other outside sources that make a modern accounting software worthwhile imo. Otherwise I guess you can use it forever as a basic book keeping and invoicing software. I know that I have a 7+ year old copy that still works great for that on an old laptop.

I will find something else when they go cloud only. Even if the other is a cloud software, I think that there are better options in that arena than QB for what it costs.
 
Since I only do 150-200 invoices a year, I still do everything with office/excel, and a paper ledger where I write each invoice/customer in and when its been paid and can see what's going on in roughly 1 second. With office templates set up for all customers, and some for reoccurring part numbers I can do my invoices in a couple minutes. No bs cloud anything or updates that screw everything up so far in 15 years.
 
The only problem with the purchase of a hardcopy QB is that they only provide support for 3years I believe. Support as in connecting with bank accounts, and other outside sources that make a modern accounting software worthwhile imo. Otherwise I guess you can use it forever as a basic book keeping and invoicing software. I know that I have a 7+ year old copy that still works great for that on an old laptop.

I will find something else when they go cloud only. Even if the other is a cloud software, I think that there are better options in that arena than QB for what it costs.

I ran nearly a decade and it still connected to the bank

The newer bank online software outputs standard quickbooks data, so it is not up to quickbooks to do anything

Years past the 'email invoice' function was handled by their server and that died if you didn't update, but now it just sends it to your email software.

If you do payroll, you will need to update, but I have been paying a payroll service for decades. The reporting and deposits drove me nuts

Anyone suggesting a Word or spreadsheet: Are you nuts?

write an invoice
print a packing list
ship the parts
record payment of the invoice
deposit the payment
balance your checkbook
print a year end report to do your taxes
[all in one application]
sorry, fooling around with more than one program is silly

paper?

what is this paper you speak of?

I have not kept paper copies of my own invoices in over 25 years
 
Well certainly upto the time of me selling my business (2 years ago), in the UK it was a legal requirement (according to my accountants) that they had a hard copy invoice to reconcile my books etc...which has to be kept (like all records) for a minimum of 7 years...

uhhh, need a hard copy, print one

I think your accountants is boobs

Mine gets a printed report at the end of year

I mean I feel silly still only taking paper checks
 








 
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