Bar Code Software

[CaftCandles]

I am looking for a Bar Code Software that will pretty much track everything that I do from pruchasing to selling (shipping). I want if to track what and how much I purchase to what and how mush I sell. I would like to have 100% traceability, if I buy a case of wax for example it should track the wax through production up to the point of candles being sold. It should also manage my inventory and accounting (accounts payable / accounts recievable) and has to be linked to a website for cyber sales, etc. Ive looked around some and all I have found only covers 1 aspect like warehousing or point of sale. I need it to do everything.

Any help would be great.

[Stella1952]

Wow. It sounds like you need a relational database program, like MS Access or OpenOffice Base. Both have add-ons which support input from bar codes, but customizing and setting them up would be a bear, unless you are very business techy.

Quickbooks would do the job. You have the advantage of choosing from general templates to set up the business which would save you a lot of time over putting all the design features and data in yourself. I have used the QB program in a manufacturing environment and it really works well. I took a quick look at what they are offering these days and they have a LOT of products from which to choose which all integrate with one another, from raw materials to inventory topoint of sale and the hardware to run all of it..

Intuit has really expanded their services! They are MOGULS now!! They offer "cloud" based solutions as well as software you can install on your computer. You can let them manage all the bells and whistles or you can use other solutions that plug in to the software. For example, they offer credit card processing, but you can get your own and simply enter the transactions manually if you wish. Check out the links above... looks a little pricey but it's a whole lot more powerful than stand-alone programs you have to piece together by importing, converting, etc.

Good luck & please let us know what other solutions you find. :-)

Edited December 1, 2011 by Stella1952

[CaftCandles]

Thanks Stella,

I have a copy of QuickBooks that is 10 years old which is the last time I used it. I planned to use that software for my accounting but I didn't know that Intuit has improved their products to the point of managing small businesses. I have been searching the net for specific software manufacturers to meet my needs, I guess I was thinking to big. I will do a little reasearch tomorrow and give them a call to see if they have anything to match my needs. From the links you posted, I think they might do the trick. As far as "Cloud" based solutions I'll have to say NO. I would not trust putting all of my company information on someones server or on the internet. There are to many punks out there in their parents basement or garage cyber hacking today, I have enough problems keeping my own PC clean from those little B*****D's!

Thanks Again! I'll let you know when I find something.

[annie123]

Stella is right Quickbooks will do it. As long as you enter all your vendors receipts and all you sales receipts.

Edited December 1, 2011 by annie123

[Kitn]

You can buy a cool gadget called neat receipts that scans all your receipts and keeps track of everything to get all the data from them. It is about $200.00.

[AlwaysWondering]

Quickbooks and Intuit will create bar codes?

[CaftCandles]

You can buy a cool gadget called neat receipts that scans all your receipts and keeps track of everything to get all the data from them. It is about $200.00.

Is that scanner sold by Intuit?

[Stella1952]

Neat Receipts is not just a "gadget," it's software that comes with or without the little scanners. I tested Neat Receipts software on my computer, used my own flatbed scanner and checked out how it works. For normal invoices, I wouldn't waste my time with the scanner - just save the invoices and input the amounts into your bookkeeping software. I consider this a SNUP (serves no useful purpose) system because I already have a scanner/printer. I can make a copy of any receipt (or a whole page full of them), enter the transactions into Quickbooks then file the copy & original for recordkeeping purposes. I really don't need Neat Receipts to do that. If one has a very small business and no bookkeeping software program, it could be useful I suppose, but one should really get some kind of program to use for accounting and bookkeeping. It's far easier to have everything in ONE place. Even humble free bookkeeping and accounting software is better than trying to piece together spreadsheets, handwritten records or data from several other programs into a set of books.

BTW, there are quite a few OpenSource programs that are far less pricey (or free) than Quickbooks. Some are stand-alone and others are web-based (cloud). I found a great comparison of proprietary (Quickbooks, Peachtree, Sage, etc.) and Open Source programs at Wikipedia that are worth checking out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_accounting_software

Quickbooks has become very expensive over the years... The web-based programs have some advantages - for a fee, you use the software, your data lives on their servers, they maintain the software (apply updates, etc.). Some people find this to be a good solution and would rather pay a monthly fee and leave the nerd and security stuff up to the pros which relieves them of worries related to their own computer system, backups, failures, updates, etc. I have always preferred to keep my stuff on my computer, build and maintain my own website & e-commerce software, but that's just me. As computing becomes more and more complex, using web-based solutions that provide online shopping, website integrated with accounting and business management software is a good solution. Time vs money is the issue... if you don't have the expertise and time to do all of that crap yourself, you are better off paying a monthly fee and getting an all-in-one web based solution.

[annie123]

You can enter all your receipts, expenses, supplies bought manually into Quickbooks, no need to buy a scanner. I don't think that Quickbooks does bar codes but I know that you can do inventory using Quickbooks and there is no need for bar codes. I used to work for a promotional products company, we bought tons of wholesales items for resale with logos and things like that we had to figure out the cost of the item plus the cost of embroidery, retail prices, profit, how many t-shirts we bought in a month, how many pens we sold in a month...Quickbooks is amazing. The trick is to enter all your data...everything.

If you have an old copy of Quickbooks you can upgrade it ot you may want to look on e-bay for an older version.

No I do not work for Quickbooks

[Stella1952]

I don't think that Quickbooks does bar codes

I wasn't sure either, so I checked their website. They not only support barcodes now, but sell the scanners, etc.

If you have an old copy of Quickbooks you can upgrade it ot you may want to look on e-bay for an older version.

QB only supports versions from a certain amount of time back; QB Premier Manufacturing & Wholesale 2012 only upgrades from 2009 forward - if you have previous versions, you will not be able to do a one-step upgrade, if at all. There is no discount in price for the new version vs. the upgrade, at least on their site: http://quickbooks.intuit.com/premier/whats-new/

Quickbooks has changed enormously, so it really pays to keep up with them. I had not done so and was stupified at what I learned on their website. The difference between "Pro" and "Premier", for example, is a module improvement in the Inventory area.

If you will be using QB for payroll or more complex, integrated tasks, it's not a wise idea to buy an old version because the tax tables will be out of date and the software will not be upgradable.

Quickbooks is amazing. The trick is to enter all your data...everything.

I agree, Annie. The time consuming part is setting up QB to cover all the aspects of each person's business - no two are exactly alike. Then one must sit down and diligently enter all the transactions and information so QB can work its magic. Without the data entry, QB can't do a thing! The good thing is that there is lots of help available (even classes!) to get you through the steep learning curve

No I do not work for Quickbooks

Me either, but on some days when it's barfing and belching, I feel like I should be getting a check from them LOLOL!!!

Quickbooks and Intuit will create bar codes?

Quickbooks is one of many products offered by Intuit..

The short answer is,yes, but not all versions, etc. Check out the links provided in my posts above (the different colored text indicates a link) to read about their features and packages. Their Point of Sale program supports bar codes, creation of bar code labels, hardware, etc. If you are still confused, they have an online chat where you can ask questions.

Edited December 2, 2011 by Stella1952