![]() Periodically, as my author community grows, and I meet authors at fairs and festivals every season, the conversation of what method to use to track sales comes up. There are a lot of choices out there... PayPal (Zettle), Square, Stripe, Venmo, a bank's processor, the old-school paper notebook. Depending on your math acumen, and your comfort level with technology, one choice may be better for you than another. These choices are as personal as which genre you choose to write in... or not. It's important to do your due diligence and research the options to select the one that works best for your process. If you find that the one you chose isn't working quite the way you expected, you can always try another option. Just like when choosing genres, I'm a firm believer that trying out the systems that you think will fit before making a final decision is the right way to go. Don't do what someone else is doing just because it's been recommended to you... take your own test drive. I use PayPal (Zettle) for all my transactions. Here’s why: The unit is small, operates via Bluetooth to my phone, and holds a charge for the whole day. I like the ease of use, the instant reporting, and refund features. It allows for swipe, chip, manual entry, and contactless payment options all in one unit. Reports can be downloaded directly to Excel for proper sales tracking, which makes end-of year Profit & Loss Statements easier. I can track my inventory, setting the number of books I have before a show, and the system automatically does the math for me at each sale. No more remembering to keep a paper tally-mark notebook or counting to see how many books I have left at the end of the day. This system tells me how many are left in the box, and I can easily determine if I need to pack more for the next day’s event, as it easily allows me to update the inventory. I also like that with this checkout system, I can take credit, debit, cash, and (on a rare occasion) checks. An added bonus is that if I put in how much money someone gives me in cash, it tells me how much to give them back in change. For those of us who are math deficient, and get very flustered when dealing with numbers and cash, that’s a tremendous boon! Having the option to at any time see my inventory as a list or as a grid with graphics is also quite nice. I find that with eleven of my own books, plus a board game, and several community service anthologies to sell, it’s much easier to quickly checkout customers by just scanning for a book cover rather than searching for a title. I love that PayPal also allows me to give the customer the option to input their contact information to join my customer list right at the point of sale… or not. Also, I can send receipts as texts or emails… no receipt printer required. I can control whether or not sales tax is applied to my sales, and I can offer on-the-spot discounts, if I choose. This is a nice option if one or two of my books get a little damaged by the rain. I don’t have to necessarily lose those sales, I can simply discount them… and I don’t have to figure out the math on my own - it’s a win-win. And, speaking of tax… remember this: as a small business owner, you must pay income tax on all sales transactions At least, we do in Michigan. Research your state’s rules. So, decide if you are going to add tax to each transaction as a separate line item, and take it at the time of the sale; or will you price your books to include tax, so you don’t have to worry about a special line item and avoid that whole $0.99 thing? Check with your bookkeeper or tax professional… don’t get caught paying too much or not enough tax when you sell. Because my small business includes other services (editing, formatting, coaching, websites, etc.) that I integrate into my website, in addition to book sales in person, I use PayPal Invoicing in cooperation with Point of Sale… so, there’s no need to have two different accounting systems. You can also set up PayPal to process payments through a QR code that you post on your table. I haven't used that as a payment option yet, but it's nice to know it's available. Finally, I like having the option to either leave the funds I earn at an event in my PayPal account, or instantly transfer what I earn to my “regular” bank account. Again, having the flexibility when dealing with income and expenses is a nice thing. For me, using PayPal (Zettle) is the right choice. It gives me the flexibility I need, it tracks my sales AND my inventory, and it does all the math for me. Best of all, I only pay transaction fees when I use it… so if I don’t use it, there isn’t a “lease fee” I need to worry about. The fewer numbers I have to worry about, the better!😁
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