Hey all - my wife is an artist and it is starting to grow into more of a business vs a small time hobby. What should we look at for basic book keeping, invoicing, etc? This is a handful of sales per month typically, but she's doing some stuff for some local businesses soon and we want to make sure we're tracking things correctly (invoicing, recording payments, etc). To this point, most of her stuff has been through Etsy.

We do have a friend who is a CPA who we'll reach out to soon, but thought I'd check on here too.

Should I be looking at Quickbooks or are there other alternatives?

I use Quickbooks online, it's less than $30/month & will do everything you need.

I briefly had a 3D CAD business and I used Momenteo. They have a basic free version that will let you create quotes, send invoices, track payments, all of the basic stuff.

I also liked Zoho CRM but it wasn't free and I'm cheap.

Apache said:

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I use Quickbooks online, it's less than $30/month & will do everything you need.

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I have been reluctant to move to QBO. You can still get the desktop version and it will do everything you need and runs under $200 vs paying $360-$600 per year for the online sub.

This year though it was sold as a 1 year subscription so I am assuming that the desktop version is coming to an end.

if you are looking for time tracking and invoicing, I would recommend Harvest. It's not accounting software, so if you are looking for something to do the books you might need more, but a combo of GoogleSheets and Harvest work pretty well.

CPA here. QBO with smallest subscription level to start is honesty your only real viable option. There are others, like Xero, but your CPA probably won't know it.

Thanks all....this is mostly just for things like invoicing, tracking sales and any type of integration for things like Etsy or Shopify....QBO sounds like the one that makes the most sense.

Be careful with integrations directly into QBO. Those conversations can create a mess if not monitored regularly. There are tools that sit between an Etsy and QBO and batch everything then post a batch which eliminates that risk. We used to use a product called Greenback to manage the connection between eBay and QBO for my wife's store. It works with a lot of the online platforms. Is more money but you'll spend less time possibly so there's the trade.

I thought it's pretty much accepted they're going to discontinue desktop within a few years.

Too many of us are perfectly fine with one copy every ten years for them.

Four Seasons Landscaping said:

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I thought it's pretty much accepted they're going to discontinue desktop within a few years.

Too many of us are perfectly fine with one copy every ten years for them.

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Looks like it. I was the same, 1 copy every 3 years or so and it was working fine. I was 2019 and it was trucking along just fine, only issue was that they took the ability for me to accept payments unless I upgraded to 2022. Will be interesting to see what they do next year.

Four Seasons Landscaping said:

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I thought it's pretty much accepted they're going to discontinue desktop within a few years.

Too many of us are perfectly fine with one copy every ten years for them.

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It is. Quicken went sub only a couple of years ago.

I'm a big fan of Zoho Books for small businesses, especially if you think the business might grow. They have a free version that will do what you need for now.

We use Shopify for e-commerce shop (https://www.niseyewear.com) and are looking for the same. I have heard about integration issues and was reluctant to do that but would be a lot easier aside that all data entering from one site to another. Much would prefer the program to monthly fee also, but I suppose that is no longer a choice.