# What do you use to track your sales, expenses, bookkeeping?



## Paintguru

Just curious what the small business crowd around here uses to track all of their business related sales, expenses, etc.  My plan is to use PayPal Here/Online for my merchant account, but I'm guessing most export this sort of data into a central database/program like Quickbooks.  I noticed Soapmaker 3 has some of this functionality, but do you need to manually enter in each sale or can you import this from your merchant accounts?  Just curious how everyone is setup and tips folks may have.


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## Hazel

Bump! :grin:


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## Stakie

I have not found a system I fully love yet. However, I do keep track of everything through excel sheets. Any sales I do at markets and the such go through paypal here. Mainly because I can keep track of sales from anywhere and enter all my information on my E-sheets whenever I like.


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## Paintguru

Actually, doing a google search brought me to outright.com.  It is kinda like mint.com where you link your accounts to it and it tracks everything online.  Free for the most part, unless you want some added data.  You can link PayPal (for income), credit cards and bank accounts for expenses, and manually enter things as needed.  I'll report back and see how it turns out once I get around to actually selling anything, which will probably be 2015 .


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## SpiralTouch

I'm going to keep watching this.
Right now I'm only doing one market and just have everything written down I sell while I'm there.

I've kept all my receipts for supply purchases in a folder.

It's not the best but I can handle it with just one market and one store I wholesale to.


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## onugs

Try squareup.

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## onugs

https://squareup.com/?gclid=CLGB2MPQqboCFe01QgodtzgAoA

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## girlishcharm2004

I use Outright.com.  I love that everything is automatic.  I still save receipts, though, but everything I purchase with my business card automatically gets tracked there.  I haven't had to do taxes, yet, but supposedly they make it really easy.  

This is sort of side tracked, but where does everyone sell?  I'm trying to sell on Etsy, but I'm feeling like I'm not having much luck.  Are fair/markets better?  I'm curious if I should stick with Etsy or not!


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## Paintguru

girlishcharm2004 said:


> I use Outright.com.  I love that everything is automatic.  I still save receipts, though, but everything I purchase with my business card automatically gets tracked there.  I haven't had to do taxes, yet, but supposedly they make it really easy.
> 
> This is sort of side tracked, but where does everyone sell?  I'm trying to sell on Etsy, but I'm feeling like I'm not having much luck.  Are fair/markets better?  I'm curious if I should stick with Etsy or not!



Yeah I'm using Outright right now, but I haven't gotten too far into it.  Right now I plan to just track everything in Excel spreadsheets.  

As for your second comment, my "plan" right now is to build a base of customers through local contacts, farmers markets/art fairs and run an Etsy shop as a 24/7 option for those customers to order from.  I think there are too many soapers on Etsy to go that avenue alone.


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## angelsthreeinc

Wow this feed hits straight to my interests! As a newbie I have used excel spreadsheets but I really would like to try a online program-- does outright link up to  your Paypal account?


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## Paintguru

angelsthreeinc said:


> Wow this feed hits straight to my interests! As a newbie I have used excel spreadsheets but I really would like to try a online program-- does outright link up to  your Paypal account?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Soap Making



Yes, Paypal, credit cards, and I think bank accounts.  Similar to Mint.com


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## Lindy

I use Sage 50 for accounting, ACT for tracking wholesale customers and my follow-up with them.  Sage 50 & ACT talk to each other.  Sage 50 used to be Simply Accounting in Canada and I think Peachtree in the US...I also just finished an accounting course so I have a better idea of what it is I am looking at for profit analysis and a better ability to do my own taxes annually....


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## Spicey477

Hey all... Tax season is here and have you Outrighters done your taxes and can you attest to its ease? I did the trial of craftybase, which I really liked, but it doesn't seem to export info for taxes. Outright seems to be very focused on taxes, which is great for people like me who are absolutely lost on this stuff!


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## AnnaMarie

I'm a business newbie  but I really like the simplicity of Square. It is very user friendly, especially for someone like me who struggles with staying organized in the financial aspects.  It keeps great track of my sales and the price is right.
Cheers!
Anna Marie


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## hmlove1218

I really like Outright like others have pointed out. It links to Etsy, PayPal, bank accounts, and credit cards. Really easy to keep track of your expenses and its free unless you need other features like invoices and tax information.


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## grayceworks

I primarily work on my android tablet rather than a pc or mac, so I can't use programs like Soapmaker. I have been  using craftybase, which is online or if you have a PC I believe they have a download? not sure. But I love it! It keeps track of EVERYTHING! My inventory, best prices on supplies, when to reorder stuff, how many of a product I have in stock, what I should be charging based on my costs, etc, and which recipes are most in demand. I use it for my body products, but I also have started using it for my soap stuff, and I keep track there of what stuff I've given away, and it lets you store all your recipes as batches, and will resize batches and everything. It's got anything you can think of. 

Now if I can just develop the self-discipline to  use it regularly instead of saving up and trying to do a whole bunch of entries at once. lol

NOTE: They also do a free trial, and if you don't feel that you've had enough time to evaluate during the free trial, they'll extend it for you if you email them.


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## Spicey477

So I ended up just compiling my tax stuff on a spreadsheet (only in business since Oct) but I did register for my first paid month of Craftybase today. It really is just too good to pass up!


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## Ellacho

Great tips! Thanks everyone!


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## athallr

Glad to have found some options to check out. I need to track this for this year.


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