Sort sales into QuickBooks accounts

Your TireTutor sales reach QuickBooks Online in four hops: TireTutor, then Square, then Synder, then QuickBooks. Synder is an app that copies your Square sales into QuickBooks. Each sale arrives as a QuickBooks invoice. A sale paid in full in one payment has one line for each item on the work order. A Smart Rule is a Synder setting that changes each invoice line as it arrives. The rule reads the line’s name and sets its QuickBooks product. Each product points to one income account, so the sale lands in the right account.

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Before you start

You need all four of these:

• A QuickBooks Online company, connected to Synder.
• Your Square account, connected to Synder and receiving your TireTutor sales.
• A Synder plan with Smart Rules turned on.
• A CSV file of your chart of accounts, and one of your products and services.

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Check which sales Synder can sort

Synder can sort only the lines Square receives. A sale reaches Square one line per item only when the customer pays the full amount in one payment.

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How each kind of payment reaches Square

A one-line sale goes to your catch-all account. Your bookkeeper splits it out from the reports in Reports & Data, as Exporting reports shows.

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Know what each line is called

The rule matches words in each line’s name, so it helps to know the names.

• Tires. The name is the brand, model, size, load index, and speed rating, for example Michelin Defender 2 215/60R16 95H. The size has no LT or ST in front of it.
• Parts. The name is the part name, for example Suspension Strut (Front Left).
• Labor. The name is the name of the service, for example Tire Installation. A labor line for a brake job can carry the word “brake”.
• Fees. A sale with a shop fee carries a Shop Supplies Fee line. A tire sale with a disposal fee carries a Tire Disposal line.

The rule cannot tell a light-truck or trailer tire from a passenger tire, because the size carries no LT or ST. All tires post to one tire account. Move light-truck and trailer tires to their own accounts in QuickBooks if you track them apart. Open a few of your own invoices in QuickBooks before you build the rule. The words on them are the words the rule must match.

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Add your income accounts to QuickBooks

Each kind of sale needs an income account in your chart of accounts. Use the names your bookkeeper already uses. These are the usual ones.

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Accounts the rule writes to

Your account names can differ. The steps are the same.

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Add a product for each account

The rule never sets an account. It sets the line’s QuickBooks product, and the product points to its account. So each account needs one product.

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Products the rule sets

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Build the rule in Synder

Build every branch inside one rule. Type each word the way it appears on your QuickBooks invoices. To change the rule later, select the pencil icon beside it on the Rules page. When your branches are done, select Update Rule.

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Branches in order

The rule checks each line from the top branch down. It stops at the first branch that matches, so the order matters. Put labor before parts. A labor line carries its service’s name, so a brake job can match a brake parts word.

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Words for each kind of part

Add these inside branch 6, one condition for each kind of part. A short word matches inside longer words. “rim” matches “trim” and “primer”, so the wheels row leaves it out. Your vendors name parts their own way. Run a few real sales through the rule, then add the words your vendors use.

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Send unsorted lines to your catch-all account

When Synder finds no matching QuickBooks product for a line, it can make a new one. That product posts to Square sales unless you change it. Point it at your catch-all account instead, so nothing lands in Square sales.

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How you know it worked

Open the invoice for a new sale in QuickBooks. Read the Product/service column. A line that matched a branch shows your product, such as PASSENGER TIRES or MISC LABOR. A line that keeps its own name matched no branch. In Synder, select Smart rules, then Executions. Each run of your rule shows the status Executed. The rule logs one run for each line it changes. Select Show execution to see the branch each line took. A green line is a branch that matched. A yellow line is a branch the rule skipped. To check the sync itself, open the sale’s sync record in Synder. Status reads Synced, and the log shows an invoice and a payment created.

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If it doesn’t work

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A line kept its own name

No branch matched it. Add its words to the right branch, then test the sale again.

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A sale did not run the rule again

Synder skips a sale that is already in QuickBooks. It shows Synchronization skipped — transaction already exists. To run the rule again, open the sale’s sync record in Synder. Select Rollback sync, then Sync again.

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The rule failed with Exception during update

Two rules changed one invoice. Move every branch into one rule. Turn the other rules off.

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Lines landed in Square sales

The sale reached Square as one line, or Synder sends new products to Square sales. Check the payment in Check which sales Synder can sort. Then check the Synder setting in Send unsorted lines to your catch-all account.

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A line needs to move in QuickBooks

Open the invoice. Change the line’s Product/service to the right product, and leave the amount as it is. Select Save.

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Many lines need to move in QuickBooks

QuickBooks Online Advanced and QuickBooks Online Accountant have Reclassify Transactions. It moves many lines at once. For help with Synder itself, contact Synder support.