When I started working with Yahoo! Store owners there really wasn’t a good way to import orders into QuickBooks®.
While it was possible to manually export and import orders from Yahoo! into QuickBooks®, it came with many problems, such as phantom accounts, incorrect sales tax, payments and invoices were not linked, and a few other issues as well.
When Intuit released QuickBooks® 2002, the import suddenly stopped working altogether!
After many weeks of pulling my hair out and testing, I was able to find a work-around; which is known as the “Auto Tax Fix” and I used this for the next year or so while I tried to find a good alternative. You can read more about the “Auto Tax Fix” here.
I worked with quite a few 3rd party QuickBooks® Add-On developers during those early years, trying to find a good solution to bring orders into QuickBooks®. I wanted a program that would simply bring the orders into QuickBooks® correctly and exactly the way the order was processed on the site. I also wanted a few options, but nothing really fancy or difficult to use.
In the world of eCommerce we need different options and QuickBooks® is used a little differently than in other business types. It was important to me that the program did not rely too heavily on QuickBooks®; my customers need a solution that has some flexibility. It was truly a challenge!
This was also my first attempt at finding a good 3rd party program, or being involved in any type of development – – needless to say, I learned a lot!
SuperManager – by SuperWare already offered their full version for Yahoo! Stores; however, I was interested in a “Lite” version – – an easy order importer. I asked SuperManager if they would be willing to strip down the full version, while adding a few enhancements, so Yahoo! users could finally import their orders without all the manual intervention or the crazy mess that a direct import causes. It took a little convincing, but I finally succeeded! Honestly, I think they got tired of me bugging them for almost two years and gave in 🙂 Whatever the reason, I’m really glad that they agreed to work with me on this project. The end result is a wonderful Order Importer for anyone using Yahoo!
In the past several years SuperManager has added support for other carts; such as XCart, Zen Cart, Amazon, Amazon FBA, and many others.
I have been recommending and implementing SuperManager since 2002 and feel it’s one of the best solutions available. A few of my favorite features, and what I personally think makes it stand out for users, are:
- Option to use the Date as the Customer Name – this keeps your QuickBooks® Customer List from exploding and still brings in all the needed information. Imagine – – 365 customers a year on your list; however, every individual sales receipt is still in QuickBooks®.
- Creates Items in your QuickBooks® Item List on the fly – as either inventory or non-inventory type items.
- Options to create variables or alternative look-ups – gives you a lot of control on how you structure your item list.
- Use Sales Receipts or Invoices.
- Easily upgrade to the Full Version when needed; or add additional carts.
- Integrates with Americart, Amazon, Amazon FBA, ClaimTheWeb, Shopify, Shopsite, Yahoo, and ZenCart.
- The SuperManager Development team is always adding new carts, so be sure to check their website often.
What I think makes SuperManager unique is a short learning curve, ease of deployment, and the ability to bring in enough details to manage customers and item/inventory in QuickBooks® without outgrowing the data file in a year. As you grow, or as you become more comfortable with the program, it is very easy to upgrade to their Full version and take advantage of the many additional features it offers.
If you are considering SuperManager, or wondering if it is the right solution for you, contact us today for more information. We can help you go through your lists of “wants” and “must haves” in an add-on program, and discuss your current operations and make recommendations that are tailored to your business.