Top 10 Reasons Free QuickBooks Connectors Could Be Right for Your Ecommerce Business — and When They’re Not

So, you need to sync your ecommerce data with QuickBooks, but don’t want the hassle of manual entry. Fortunately there are several software options to help you import this data automatically. But which one do you choose? When considering your options, it might seem like it’s just an average apples-to-apples comparison, but let’s dig a little deeper to understand what factors you should consider when choosing.

 There are a plethora of apps that help you solve challenges when you use QuickBooks. When it comes to ecommerce accounting, having a trusted tool to sync  data between your sales channels and QuickBooks can save you a lot of time and money. But choosing the right one isn’t always easy. As with most purchases you consider in life, the allure of FREE is hard to pass up and Intuit offers free connectors for several e-commerce platforms and now even has baked-in solutions to their platform.

First, a bit of history

The connectors offered by Intuit were originally developed by a company called OneSaas. Intuit acquired OneSaas in early 2021 and rebranded them as QB connectors. They also repriced them to be free as a way to accelerate the integration of third-party ecommerce solutions with the QuickBooks platform.

Fast forward to 2022. QuickBooks announced its QuickBooks E-Commerce module – with new functionality specifically tailored to Shopify, Amazon and eBay sellers. This allows sellers on those platforms to update orders and payouts from their stores to QuickBooks. This replaces the free apps for those sales channels and is included with basic QuickBooks Online packages.

If you are just getting started with ecommerce and your business is very simple without inventory, tax and operational workflow needs, this is great news for QuickBooks ecommerce users. However, if your business does require more robust capabilities or if you also sell on channels outside of those three, the built-in connector won’t work for you.

Top 10 scenarios when choosing a free or built-in QuickBooks ecommerce connector is a solid choice: 

Let’s get right to it. Here are scenarios that make your business right-sized for using a free connector. 

1. You’re just getting started.

If you’re kicking off a new business and have only a few orders per month to manage, this is a great place to start. Once you set up the basics, the free app will pull in each order and post it in QuickBooks as it comes in. 

Limitation: If you’ve been in business a while and are looking to sync historical orders, this solution won’t work well because these apps don’t support bringing in any historical data.

2. You require a simple one-way sync

If you’re looking to post every order in a simple way into QuickBooks and collect only 1 type of payment, the free app can handle it.

Limitation: If you want to group transactions, summarize them by day or use multiple payment methods, the free apps won’t work for you.

3. Your accounting needs are basic

If your accounting is simple and you post all orders the same way without needing different posting logic, the free solution will work well.  

Limitation: If you support multiple payment methods or allow refunds and returns on your sales channel, you’re going to end up with a lot of manual work.The app does not support multiple transaction types, multiple posting types or journal entries.

4. You sell in only one tax jurisdiction

If you have sales tax requirements in only one jurisdiction, the free app should post your transactions correctly. 

Limitation: If you have multiple tax jurisdictions, you might be in for a time-consuming task of manual entry and corrections. Taxes are complicated and these free apps aren’t developed to handle the complexity.

5. You sell on a single channel

If you’re only selling on one sales channel, free apps can usually handle posting transactions reliably. If you sell on more than one channel, you’ll need to add multiple apps. 

Limitation: If you’re a multi-channel seller, You’ll have to utilize a separate connector for each channel and you won’t be able to sync inventory across multiple channels because free apps aren’t built to support multi-channel selling.

6. You have time and patience for manual reconciliation and closing books each month

If you have limited sales volume and have the time to manage reconciliation of expenses and payouts manually, then the free apps will get you through this stage of your business. 

Limitation: If you don’t want to do the manual work (and the accountant-level math involved) you need a solution that will sync expenses or payouts from marketplaces so your books are easy to close each month

7. You don’t need any complex transaction tracking.

If your accounting is simple and you don’t track payouts across different merchant processors, you can likely manage things on your own. 

Limitation: If you need to enable customizable accounting rules, such as tracking payout across different merchant processors, the free solution will not give you what you need. 

8. Your purchasing workflow is manual

If you don’t do purchasing in QuickBooks and prefer to manually create purchase orders, free apps will do the trick. . 

Limitation: If you need to check inventory levels before posting or create purchase orders automatically, the free QuickBooks apps won’t work.

9. You’re a die-hard do-it-yourselfer (DIY)

If you’re a DIY fan and prefer to figure things out on your own, free apps are your opportunity for experimentation.   

Limitation: If you need help with setting up your accounts or need ongoing ecommerce and accounting expertise, a free app is not a good fit. The free apps typically provide limited or no support and are not consistently supporting the app with updates and fixes.

10. You use QuickBooks Online

Apps are moving online, but QuickBooks is still developing their online version to come up to speed with the robust functionality of its Desktop version. If your accounting is simple enough to need QuickBooks Online and you have only one sales channel, a free solution may work okay for you. 

Limitation: If you use QuickBooks Desktop (Pro, Premier or Enterprise) you’re likely to experience many issues with connecting to a free app, if you are able to at all. Businesses typically choose QuickBooks Desktop because they have more complex accounting needs. And, if you need to access your accounting and connector app from anywhere, there are many options for hosted services.

Bonus tip:

The new ecommerce functionality included in QuickBooks Online

Conclusion

When you’re building and growing a business, who wants to incur unnecessary expenses? We all know the answer is no one. There are many reasons you should take advantage of the free QuickBooks sync connector apps available in the Intuit app store. Sometimes covering the basics gets the job done. 

But, free connectors sync basic information. It won’t provide reporting or insights, so you’re on your own in terms of visibility into your business performance and making decisions based on data. So if you’re in growth mode or are a multi-channel seller and need the time and tools to help you focus on your strategic mission, then working with a more sophisticated platform will help you save time, money, and headaches. 

Webgility’s products are designed to work with QuickBooks and bring together all your commerce apps, like Amazon, Shopify, WooCommerce, eBay, Etsy, and more. With automation enabled by Webgility, you can cut time and money spent on tedious accounting tasks and inventory updates. Webgility can support growing ecommerce businesses with capabilities for multi-channel order management, multi-location inventory tracking, complex tax needs.

Webgility also helps you sync your inventory across multiple channels, manage pricing, and helps you list your products on various marketplaces. It fully reconciles your marketplace payouts so closing your books and reconciling accounts is a breeze.

Add Webgility’s analytics engine, Webgility Intelligence, and you can access all the KPIs and insights that give you complete visibility into your business performance and profitability. 

Schedule a demo or start a free trial today so you can grow faster and win.