QuickBooks Point of Sale

Question from one of our client's who recently upgraded to QuickBooks Point of Sale 2013: I set up a 4th Store location where we keep inventory.  I transferred inventory there (Store #4) from the HQ location.  When I look at the Item List from the Home Page, and move all the way to the right of the Item List, there is a column for Inventory at HQ, Store #2, Store #3, but no column for my Store #4. How can I get the Store #4 inventory to display?

Will's Answer: Right click on the columns and add the Qty 4 field.

It was that simple. Our client even emailed back saying "Thanks. That was an easy one."

Q & A with Will English
Many times QuickBooks users need some questions answered but not a full consultation. Will is more than happy to assist. Depending on the complexity of the situation, he will offer to answer a few simple questions at no charge as a professional courtesy. He wants the end users to be able to continue to use their software efficiently. If the questions/issues require him to develop documents and/or spend a lengthy amount of time to answer and explain how to perform certain functions, he will charge his regular hourly rate. As an Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor in both QuickBooks Financial and Point of Sale software and over 15 years’ experience with the QuickBooks products, Will has the expertise necessary.

Q: I need a quick way to update all inventory in QuickBooks POS 2010 - 2013 so it makes ALL items "Mobile" to use with GoPayments.
Will’s answer: Export to Excel, change the mobile flag to Yes, and re-import.

Q: I need a way to integrate outlook contacts with POS and Outlook.
Will’s answer:  You can do this through QuickBooks Financial (QBF). If we synch all clients to QBF, you can use the QBF tool to synch to Outlook.  You may need to consider QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions due to List limits.

Q: Can you create a customer contact printout screen that includes the client name, address, map, multiple contacts such as his/hers emails and mobile numbers?
Will’s answer:  You can create a report that has the same information.

Q: Does POS 2013….
1. Fix the issue with making coupons?  When we make a coupon in POS 2010 and copy the barcode to add to the actual coupon we print or put in an email- the barcodes do not scan.  Do they in 2013?  I tested it and it didn't seem to work and I wonder what I might be doing wrong.  (current process is to open Price manager in POS and create coupon and copy the barcode).
Will’s answer: It works for me.
2. Is there a mobile app for 2013 besides GoPayment?  I am curious because it would be nice to use my iPad instead of a laptop to run around to do inventory. 
Will’s answer: It will run on an IPad, but not for inventory.  We rent and sell Inventory scanners.

One of Will’s colleagues is evaluating the new POS 2013 for her client. She posted the following inquiry to an online forum where the QuickBooks Point of Sale experts provide answers & information:

I'm evaluating POS for a client. Now that 2013 has been released can anyone please tell me if the touchscreen functionality is fully functioning in all areas of the software as my client will be using one workstation for all of his needs and really doesn't have room for a keyboard? Additionally, is the touchscreen functionality work differently on the Basic vs. Pro version? I'm hoping it's only the features/functionality of just the software that is different.

Will’s reply:
The sales and receiving screens really benefit from the touchscreen interface.  I would question entering a lot of new inventory items using a touchscreen keyboard.  I think the customer will get pretty frustrated.  I would have a keyboard and mouse to be plugged in during data entry sessions and then removed during sales. I would also encourage your client to invest in a commercial grade touchscreen, like an ELO or HP all-in-one, designed for retail use.

One of our San Diego retail clients is opening a second location in Southern California. Last Friday Will installed the hardware and software at the new store as well as he performed the system configuration. Our client had the following request.

Client Request:  Please tell me your instruction for transferring items by using Purchase Order (PO) transaction.

Will’s response:  You will need to create a PO listing the items in your new store.  If they are not in the imported list, then you need to export out of POS San Diego and import into the new store, Costa Mesa.  Then, receive the items into inventory in Costa Mesa.  Sell the items out of San Diego on account for Costa Mesa. Create a payable for Costa Mesa in QuickBooks file as well as create a bank account called transfer.  Make payment for Costa Mesa from invoice and pay bill created into the transfer account.

Get the sales, inventory and customer information that helps you understand your business so you can make better business decisions. QBPOS + GoPayment gives small retailers mobile payments without sacrificing the powerful tools they need to run their store. This is a major move as Intuit continues to enable their 8 million customers to use GoPayment and reinforce Intuit’s SMB cloud platform.

Some of the new functionality 
–     New Welcome to QuickBooks Point of Sale pop up screen
•      Can be hidden if not needed
•      Quick links to common tasks
•      Link to mobile sync demo

Some of the new features
–     In 2013, the new function is called In Progress
•      You can see how many activities are In Progress
•      You can easily switch between In Progress activities
•      Much improved Quick Picks

Mobile Functionality:  POS goes mobile! Ring up sales on smartphones and tablets —in store. . . in the field . . .anywhere!
Some of these features include
–     Mobile Synch using Go Payment on the mobile device
–     Items can be set to synch or not with mobile device

To learn more about the key improvements made for the release of QuickBooks Point of Sale 2013, read this article: http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/articles/inf19956.

Question from a client:Why are POS inventory adjustments classified as an EXPENSE?

Answer from Will English: That is by default.  You can change the account where it posts by going to Company Preferences and Accounts under the Financial Section.  You can also change the POS adjustment account to a COGS account in QBF if you wish and it will maintain the connection.  One thing to consider is that if you have a negative expense that means you are receiving incorrectly.

Question from a new QBPOS User: This is only my second day using QuickBooks Point of Sale (QBPOS). I just did a return as a cash refund instead of on the customer's credit card for a phone order. How do I fix that?

Answer from Will English: Assuming that you are using Intuit's merchant account, you will do a return receipt and use the customer credit card # just like you did for the sale.  Otherwise, the customer credit card will not be refunded.  Now this leaves the problem with the cash refund as now your cash drawer will be off.  To fix this, copy the receipt, change the date to the date of the refund "sell" the item and take cash. Then your cash will be correct and your customer will have their refund.

Excerpt from the QuickBooks Point of Sale Handbook for Wineries:

Choosing the Right Versions for Your Winery
This can be a difficult task for the end user.  Unless you have a good grasp of both QBPOS and QBFS feature functionality and can apply that to your knowledge of the operational and accounting needs of your organization, it is extremely difficult to make the right decision when starting out.  Unfortunately, making the wrong decision often leads to the need to spend additional dollars and time you would have not otherwise had to spend to upgrade – or worse, buying something you did not need and wasting those dollars.

The question then becomes, where should you go to learn about the products?  In our opinion, what you need is a full product demonstration that is based on your business model and needs.  Whether these are done on-line or in person is of little difference in today’s world, but it is important that you understand what you are looking at before you make a purchasing decision. 

Contact us to schedule a no-cost initial consultation with Will English.
 

Q & A with Will English regarding web sales and the inventory at HQ.

Q: I have POS 8 multi store, HQ and a remote store. HQ is the real store and the remote is a PC taken out for outside events. The inventory is at HQ. Is there a way to update the inventory with the sales from the remote with just a store exchange? We might start using the remote for web sales so we also want the sales to reflect the inventory at HQ.

A: Not really. The sales will drive the inventory quantities negative and you will to do a transfer slip to transfer the inventory. Keep in mind there is no receiving with transfers, it assumes the transfer is magic.

Submit your QuickBooks questions to Will at info@englishmgmt.com.

Q & A with Will English:

Q: Will QuickBooks Point of Sale (QBPOS) let you classify your sales like QuickBooks financial using classes? We have 3 different classes – landscaping, nursery & lawn maintenance.

A: In QuickBooks POS, you use departments instead of classes. That being said, departments are not transferred over to QuickBooks Financial.  If you are using version 10, multi-store is built into the system.  Using the Multi-store feature allows you to assign a class to a specific store.  My guess, having worked with a number of companies in your industry, is that you are only using POS for the Nursery.  If so, then go to the File Menu, then Preferences, and then Company. Next, go to the Multi-store setting and check the box Use Classes with QuickBooks.  Then you can choose the Nursery class for your store.  Keep in mind that if you have an earlier version of POS, this will only work if you have the Multi-store version.