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View Full Version : What invocing software do you use?



rezzy
04-07-2009, 05:04 PM
I was looking at some online invoicing, Does anyone have a favorite? Or suggestion to try?

If OS based: Windows or Linux preferred. Save the MAC stuff for someone else... Steven. ;)

vangogh
04-07-2009, 05:31 PM
I guess my invoicing software won't help you then. I use Billings (http://www.billingsapp.com/), which is a Mac program. Thought I'd share for those reading who might have Macs.

On my server I use ClientExec (http://www.newedge.com/clientexec/index.html). It's an application that was mainly developed for hosting businesses, but you can use it for ordinary invoicing too, which is how I use it. If you have a merchant account you can use it to charge a card. It may be more than you need, but I thought I'd throw it out there. It's nice if you need to charge people on a recurring basis for site management or hosting.

If I'm not mistaken you can use Quicken for invoicing. If I'm wrong I'm sure someone will correct me.

Dan Furman
04-07-2009, 08:09 PM
I use:

1) An invoice I made in MS Word.
2) Mrs. Furman

It works really well. :)

rezzy
04-07-2009, 11:10 PM
I use:

1) An invoice I made in MS Word.
2) Mrs. Furman

It works really well. :)

Can I use Mrs. Furman for my invoicing needs?.... No? :mad:

....I was thinking of freshbooks!

rezzy
04-07-2009, 11:11 PM
Steven: Do you still offer hosting?

vangogh
04-08-2009, 01:18 AM
Not anymore. I didn't really enjoy being a webhost and I didn't think I had the resources to offer the necessary support by myself. Perhaps in the future I'll offer it again and hire a 24/7 support staff, but for now I'm sending clients through an affiliate link. Most hosting companies have affiliate programs including the ones I already use.

I'm also reaching the point where my own hosting needs are growing past shared hosting so at some point I'll lease a dedicated server and move all my sites to it. It's possible when I do I'll move some of my clients there as well.

cbscreative
04-08-2009, 12:18 PM
I use a custom database I created, but I did it more for practice than for any other reason. Buying bookkeeping software is much easier.

Many small businesses use Quick Books. I've never used Peachtree, but that might also be worth checking into. Personally, I'd be very apprehensive about using an online system.

nealrm
04-08-2009, 01:35 PM
rezzy,
How many invoices do you need to send at a time? I use a combination of Quickbooks and MS Access. The data is shared between the two via some QODBC drivers. This is good if you want to automate entering and sending the invoices.

If you are sending 10-20 invoices a week, Quickbooks on its own should work.

rezzy
04-08-2009, 01:50 PM
Personally, I'd be very apprehensive about using an online system.

Maybe your right, I was just looking at a nice way to handle it. It allows the CC payments and everything to be taken care of without my interaction.

They send invoices to customers by email or snail mail.

billbenson
04-08-2009, 02:14 PM
I've resorted to writing my own, which I'm currently doing. I started with quickbooks. The problem is I have everything in a website database. The problem is I need data for my accountant, reports for me, invoicing, customer receipts, po's to my supplier etc. Its really a bad idea to have multiple databases for your information. Copying from one to the other always presents the possibilities of errors.

Its a large database table to build. Its 65 or so columns now. When you add up customer shipping, billing, addresses, additional contacts, emails, supplier info, different supplier contacts etc., it gets big.

It also allows me to shoot out a quick quote. If the customer comes back and converts the quote to an order, I enter the shipping addresses etc. When I get the ship to date from the manufacturer, I enter that. If the pricing has changed or is incorrect in my database, I edit that. If its a new product, I add it to the db which updates the e commerce cart automatically, enters costs in another table, allows me to edit product descriptions that have errors etc. The thing is, it is all in one place for updates and backups. Not in word, excel, e commerce database, and no redundant information.

I was spending up to an hour processing an order or quote. Customer calls for quote; its a new part, so I call the manufacturer for my cost, I enter my cost, part, description into the e commerce site database, I enter it into quick books, generate a quote. Next day I have an order, but the customer changes the size to a large instead of medium. I call the manufacturer for a new price, enter the new price into the ecommerce database, my cost database table, and then I update quickbooks. The customer gave me a ship to address this time, a credit card for charging, shipping method, two contact emails, etc. I enter this information in various different places, generate an order for the manufacturer, receipt for the customer, and log the information in quickbooks

It gets ugly pretty fast, but I suspect most people here have various databases and places they store info that they need for their particular business. If it can be kept in one place its a lot easier. So I'm choosing to write my own.

Evan
04-09-2009, 09:26 PM
QuickBooks could really make managing your invoicing easy. You can customize how your invoices look, can make them recurring, can e-mail them, etc. The good thing is that you can do a lot more than just invoicing as QuickBooks would manage all of you financial needs.

Then come the year end, you could print out your trial balance for the accountant to prepare your taxes. They may also want you to print out your detailed income statement or -- better yet -- to give them your QuickBooks file. This is usually just to look for anything suspicious, perhaps having revenue posted against an expense account (or vice versa). A certain type of expense could also seem large and they may want to capitalize that cost and depreciate it.

LeanRevolution
04-12-2009, 11:48 PM
You can't beat Quickbooks for the price. I have used several different applications and Quickbooks beats all others hands down.

Andrew

Vivid Color Zack
04-20-2009, 04:18 PM
Intuits Billingmanager has been fantastic for me. I've sent over a few ideas for upgrades, since this is still in some form of "beta" testing. But I support it/love it.