new electrician wants invoicing software

[tepalia02]

Hi, im a new electrician and i would like some simple invoicing software to use when I start trading so if anyone can recommend one that'd be great

Are you looking for paid software? I worked at a power equipment company. They used 'Sage' for invoices etc.

 

[kwired]

It's "QuickBooks Pro" online, at $30.00 a month.

I guess I could see on line versions possibly doing that.

I don't use an online version, not worth the cost to me. If a majority of my work were service calls or other short time jobs where it would be desirable to collect payment before leaving the job, maybe it would be worth it. Yes I do have some those kind of jobs but they don't take up a majority of my time.

I spent maybe $150-200 on a desktop version back in 2007 and finally upgraded it to 2022 desktop version for around $200 this year. I mostly did that because I was having too many problems with the old version on a newer computer, some features just didn't work right anymore, like printing invoices - kind of an important feature.

 

[gadfly56]

I used Wave for a few months, but got frustrated at some of its limitations. After having used Quickbooks Online for almost a year now, I realize it also has limitations. But a lot of times, what you want to do is already programmed in, it just takes learning how Quickbooks wants you to do things. And sometimes, with both Wave and Quickbooks, if you find something not possible to do in the accounting program, it might be because they recommend against managing your money that way to start with.

Example, there's no easy way to use a personal account to purchase inventory and count it as a capital contribution to the business - but that's probably because they would prefer you make your capital contribution as an entirely separate transaction for transparency reasons, to be less likely to get in trouble with tax regulations.

Inventory is never part of your capital assets, which would be things like vehicles and other durable goods.

 

[mtnelect]

I guess I could see on line versions possibly doing that.

I don't use an online version, not worth the cost to me. If a majority of my work were service calls or other short time jobs where it would be desirable to collect payment before leaving the job, maybe it would be worth it. Yes I do have some those kind of jobs but they don't take up a majority of my time.

I spent maybe $150-200 on a desktop version back in 2007 and finally upgraded it to 2022 desktop version for around $200 this year. I mostly did that because I was having too many problems with the old version on a newer computer, some features just didn't work right anymore, like printing invoices - kind of an important feature.

QuickBooks Pro Online runs my business. Also, I pay $19.95 for Intuit Payment Solutions to process credit cards in the field and online payments.

 

[kwired]

QuickBooks Pro Online runs my business. Also, I pay $19.95 for Intuit Payment Solutions to process credit cards in the field and online payments.

I'd say in nearly 25 years in business, I could almost count on my fingers the number of requests to pay via credit card I have had. Might be the other way around if I were in a large city and a majority of work was service work. I have taken credit cards for payment before via Pay pal. One the biggest payments I ever took was for doing work for General Electric for hooking up a job site office trailer at a wind farm project. Site supervisor wanted to pay me with credit card, I said about only way I can accept it is via Pay pal, he was fine with it. I even added enough extra to the invoice to cover the processing fee that Pal takes from the transaction and came out about same as if they paid me via cash or check.

 

[mongoosesparky]

Quickbooks works awesome for me. Although they do charge fees for online billing and transfers to your bank account that add up.

 

[kwired]

Quickbooks works awesome for me. Although they do charge fees for online billing and transfers to your bank account that add up.

That is where you need to decide when the convenience is worth the cost. This might be worth it to some that don't know other methods of doing such things for either free or less cost.

Not that difficult to print an invoice to a PDF file and attach it to an email, for anyone that has much "computering experience". Electronic payment methods, someone always wants at least a little of the transaction amount if they are involved in processing it in any way.

 

[Todd0x1]

You going to take credit card payments? Square's basic invoicing is free.

 

[mtnelect]

Square doesn't charge a monthly fee, but charges a processing fee, up to 3.5 %. QuickBooks charges a monthly fee $19.95 plus a processing fee of 2.5%. If you run a business, you can write it off on your Schedule C. I do not charge my customers any fees !

 

[gadfly56]

Square doesn't charge a monthly fee, but charges a processing fee, up to 3.5 %. QuickBooks charges a monthly fee $19.95 plus a processing fee of 2.5%. If you run a business, you can write it off on your Schedule C. I do not charge my customers any fees !

Don't convince yourself that just because you don't break out the fees on an invoice, the customer isn't paying for them. You're either charging a higher rate to cover them, or you're paying it out of pocket and reducing your profit. Binary solution set.

 

[ptonsparky]

Don't convince yourself that just because you don't break out the fees on an invoice, the customer isn't paying for them. You're either charging a higher rate to cover them, or you're paying it out of pocket and reducing your profit. Binary solution set.

I tried not to pay out of pocket. Sometimes it was warranted, but not an everyday occurrence.

 

[Todd0x1]

Square doesn't charge a monthly fee, but charges a processing fee, up to 3.5 %. QuickBooks charges a monthly fee $19.95 plus a processing fee of 2.5%. If you run a business, you can write it off on your Schedule C. I do not charge my customers any fees !

Square charges a credit card processing fee of 2.6% + $0.10 for card reader transactions, 2.9% + $0.30 for emailed invoices and 3.5%+ $0.15 for manually keyed transactions. QB is 2.4%, 2.9%, and 3.4% +$0.25 respectively. So the cost is pretty much the same.

 

[James L]

Hi, im a new electrician and i would like some simple invoicing software to use when i start trading so if anyone can recommend one that'd be great

New electrician?
You mean you just got a job as a helper?

 

[kwired]

Square charges a credit card processing fee of 2.6% + $0.10 for card reader transactions, 2.9% + $0.30 for emailed invoices and 3.5%+ $0.15 for manually keyed transactions. QB is 2.4%, 2.9%, and 3.4% +$0.25 respectively. So the cost is pretty much the same.

Bottom line is those providing the card processing service are the ones making easy money.

To the consumer making a $25 purchase, they sort of don't even notice and like the convenience of using the card.

To those accepting the payment, they lost maybe 2-4% of what they could have made, adds up at the end of the day, but at same time they might have sold more than they would have if not accepting said payment methods. This kind of critical for the restaurant business, small shops, convenience stores, even many big box stores. Any place that makes lots of individual sales transactions every day.

Might not be so critical for service businesses that make limited number of sales transactions a day. Those tend to be higher dollar amounts in the transactions they do make, so where the other businesses I mentioned before maybe still have a big mix of cash payments mixed in there, this group could end up having that 2-4% taken off the entire day's sales in fees on the payment method if all the sales of the day are paid by credit card.

If you are a retailer and are liquidating certain items, say already taking a loss- if customer uses credit card you kind of taking even more loss on the item.

You can bet most retailers already have a certain amount factored into their base markup of many items to offset this cost they pay for accepting credit card payments. Consumer does not see it itemized in any way but it is effecting the marked price.

 

[Todd0x1]

These days everyone expects to pay with credit card, the processing fees are a cost of doing business like rent, vehicles, etc which needs to be factored into pricing. Many times it is worth it to pay that %3 to get the money immediately vs waiting for a check and spending time(=$) chasing down payment. I have a rental business catering to an industry that does not pay upfront. At first I didn't take credit cards because I didn't want to pay the fees. Usually took 3 or 4 phone calls or emails and 30-45 days to get a check in the mail. Then I started accepting credit cards for an additional 3% fee. No one wanted to pay the fee so I was still waiting for payment. Then I switched to only taking credit cards without adding on a separate fee, card on file when job goes out, final invoice and charge when it comes back, and I no longer have to chase that money and wait to get paid. Totally worth it. I use square, and most customers are paying with business cards usually amex. All the bank based processors advertise lower rates but read the fine print and you find those rates are only for basic non-rewards consumer visa/mc and every other card type is higher rate than square.

 

[mtnelect]

With QuickBooks the customer has two choices on paying their invoice. Credit Card and Bank Transfer, Bank Transfer cost me $0.50 ...

 

[OK Sparky 93]

It's "QuickBooks Pro" online, at $30.00 a month.

What the heck do I have, that I pay $85.00/month

 

[OK Sparky 93]

Don't convince yourself that just because you don't break out the fees on an invoice, the customer isn't paying for them. You're either charging a higher rate to cover them, or you're paying it out of pocket and reducing your profit. Binary solution set.

And who wants to reduce their profit because the customer wants or needs to pay with a card.

 

[OK Sparky 93]

I was curious how others handle card transactions.

I think I would rather figure in an extra 5% on the bill, and then offer a 5% cash discount., and not dig into what I really want to profit.

 

[gadfly56]

I was curious how others handle card transactions.

I think I would rather figure in an extra 5% on the bill, and then offer a 5% cash discount., and not dig into what I really want to profit.

Doing this likely violates your TOS with the various banks holding the cards. I know that gas stations seem to get away with this and for that I have no explanation.