To anyone who owns their own business/knows about Point of sale systems.

[JamesL]

So on June 11th My new business opens it's doors for the first time, in the beginning I'm going to wing it with an old school ledger to keep track of inventory, but eventually I'd like to invest in a better mousetrap (point of sale). I was just looking for input from anyone who knows a good one (for mac preferably) or if someone knows a good way to make an inventory system/spreadsheet in number/excel.

Any input is greatly appreciated!

Thanks guys.

 

[riverbluff]

What type of business, inventory, etc...
I've done a fair amount of degree work on the topic...

Bill

 

[mayfly]

I know a lot about pos systems, mostly from food service

Products, shelf life, ordering cycles , store traffic, store layout are all the types of information that I'll need to guide you

 

[JamesL]

It's a High end body piercing shop, I need to keep track of the inventory of, body jewelry, needles, supplies like surgical scrub, gloves, ink, stuff like that. Any help would be awesome guys! Thanks.

 

[llmtelecaster]

I own a small industrial supply company and I've gotten by just fine with Peachtree for over 15 years. It's great for keeping track of inventory, deposits, bills paid, invoicing....pretty much everything. I've also got it pretty easy as I only have two employees. And all payroll stuff I do by hand. I don't have to do it that way but I just find it easier. Our POS system is done through a company called Merchant Services. Haven't ever had any problems. Their rates are a little high but their customer service justifies it.

Just get into a habit of entering in your inventory as soon as possible. It's more challenging than you would think. Keep it organized by using simple, short, and clear item descriptions. I also do a manual inventory check once and year. That's up to you, though.

Throw some questions at me if you need.

 

[JamesL]

Thanks for all of the replies, I'll look into some of the systems that you mentioned, has anyone made their own in excel/numbers?

 

[lafromla1]

The issue with doing it in Excel is that there is no way to avoid many manual entries to make sure that you still have the correct amount of inventory listed.  You will have to enter the amount of inventory you have manually, manually create an invoice and manually remove the amount of inventory sold.  And that is assuming nothing gets stolen or walks out on its own. Too many human elements to create problems.  In addition, there is no real security, so unless you are the only one who is working there, it is very easy for an employee to just go in and change an inventory number and walk off with the merchandise.  Peachtree is a solid low end accounting program and I do believe that they have an inventory feature that also creates invoices.  By creating the invoice, it automatically accounts for the inventory sold.  Your accountant will be much happier as well since you wont be handing him/her a shoebox of invoices and receipts.  I know a multi-million dollar company that still uses Peachtree as their accounting program, so if used properly, it can be a good investment.  The hardest part of setting it all up is creating the chart of accounts for the accounting side of it.  Your accountant should be able to help you with that.  If not, shoot me a PM and I'll see what I can do.

 

[swarfrat]

It's a High end body piercing shop,

So you just do earrings, eyebrows and nose rings?  :icon_jokercolor:

 

[Graffiti62]

Peachtree has been around forever, as has QuickBooks. My dad owns his own furniture repair and upholstery shop in Wisconsin, and has used QuickBooks for going on 15 years. They have their own way of doing things to a certain extent, but accountants love the capabilities it has, you can make invoices on the fly, track inventory, what have you. The only complaint I have with them is the fact that they are a little anal about servicing their product if the version you have is more than four or five years old. You can get them to do it, but you need to lay on a lot of charm and bull$hit to get through to them.

Also, in regards to doing things on computer, I know it may be a little more of an investment, but get a computer that you can use solely for the business. I've seen too many things happen to people who have run a business on the same machine they use to surf the net on recreationally. In addition, I think you've mentioned on here (I could be wrong, and if I am, I'm sorry) that you are a Mac user. I'm not bashing on Apples at all (this time), but a PC will be a better fit to use for business, mainly due to the fact that there is more software offered, and at a lower cost compared to the sometimes-hard-to-find Mac versions of programs.

Good to hear about your new business!  I wish you nothing but the best!

 

[Cagey]

That's good advice. Peachtree and Quickbooks have both been around forever and both do a good job, but as you say, Intuit (Quickbooks) can be a bit hinky about support, and they've been known to do some astoundingly bad things to their customers in the past, right out of the clear blue sky. The TurboTax debacle of a few years ago, along with other forced upgrades where non-compliance meant losing your data, are shining examples of how dim-witted and short-sighted their management can be. Plus, they've got a sort of Microsoft attitude about what is "standard" practice, which tends to translate into a "my way or the highway" kind of hubris that makes you wonder who in the hell they think they are. Microsoft finally got out of that business, I suspect for that very reason. They wanted to do things their way, and it just wasn't going to fly. You don't innovate in accounting. It is what it is and it's dry as moon dust. If you want to be fashionable, then go into clothing design, not accounting.

As for the dedicated computer, that's a no-brainer. You really don't want a machine that handles financial or business data on the Wild, Wooly Web if you can help it, Especially if it's running Windows. That's just masochistic.