Once you’ve configured SellerZen with your QuickBooks Online account, then use these few tips to make the most out of our service.
Tip 1: Showing Order IDs on the Sales tab in QuickBooks Online
Want to view the Order ID for your invoices and other transactions? Click on the Gear icon and then check the “Memo” field. Checking this box will display the Memo field, which contains the Order ID.
If you’re going to search by Order ID on QuickBooks Online, then you’ll have to use an Advanced search. Filter by the “Memo” field and type in the Order ID.
Tip 2: Showing True Profit Per Invoice on SellerZen
Calculating your true profit per invoice is a difficult task, and Amazon doesn’t make it easy. Most sellers assume that each sale is profitable. But this may not be correct if a repricer is incorrectly configured or prices are continually being lowered to win the Buy Box. SellerZen will show you the profit per invoice on your Orders page if you have the Cost entered in the QuickBooks inventory. You’ll need the Plus subscription with inventory tracking/pricing enabled in settings.
You can also view a detailed breakdown of the sale by clicking on the Order ID. Using SellerZen, you can see at a glance the profit per invoice.
Now with a quick glance at the Profit column, you can see any invoice and inventory item that is costing you money.
Tip 3: Search by Order ID, customer name, or item on SellerZen and then click on “View” to see the document in QuickBooks Online. Partial searches are also allowed
Tired of having to use Amazon to search for information? Use our search function to search for partial or full customer names, order IDs, and more!
Tip 4: Run a Profit & Loss Report see all of your income and expenses, broken down into detail depending on how you mapped the transactions
Once you’ve assigned the non-order transactions under the Settlement tab, you can run more detailed reports that give you a better picture of your finances in QuickBooks Online. Take a look at a sample report below using custom transaction mapping.
If you need help creating these accounts, feel free to ask us with using the chat icon on the bottom right of the screen.
Tip 5: View FBA returns and reimbursements on SellerZen
Using SellerZen, you can easily see which orders have never been returned to you using the green and red truck icons. The green truck icon means Amazon has received the return. A red truck icon indicates Amazon has not received the product.
If customers receive a refund a don’t return your item, then you should receive a reimbursement from Amazon. If you haven’t been reimbursed after 45 days, then you can request one.
Tip 6: View Reimbursements on SellerZen
Get an overview of all Amazon reimbursements on SellerZen. Click on Inventory Adj > Reimbursements to see how you’ve been paid.
In the example above, you’re able to view the Reimbursement document as well as the Cash or Physical quantity reimbursed. If you’re reimbursed inventory, then we’ll make the proper adjustments to your QuickBooks Online inventory.
Combine these 6 tips with using shortcuts in QuickBooks, and you can be saving yourself some valuable time every day!
Logo design is an often overlooked aspect of a company. Now that you’re more comfortable with the process and working to expand your business, you’ll need to think about a logo. Don’t underestimate the power of a well-designed logo–it’s the image that represents your business, and it’s the image that goes on all of your communications and print materials. When are you ready for a logo, take some time to think about how you want your brand to be perceived. If you’re still in the planning stages, then read our article for some tips on choosing a company name.
Here are some mistakes people make when designing a logo:
Plain or hard to read font
Many small business owners just use their names or their business names as logos. While this is fine for some businesses, business owners often make the mistake of choosing a font that “looks” good. Sometimes, this results in a logo with Comic Sans or some cursive that makes the name difficult to make out. In addition to looking unprofessional, these mistakes make the business look amateurish.
Take a look at the fonts below and think about what emotions or thoughts each of those fonts evoke. The cursive font, while “fancy,” is a bit confusing at first glance while the font below the cursive conveys a sense of casualness. The two fonts on the right are Courier New (top) and Times New Roman (bottom).
Cheap graphics that look like they come from clip art
Small business owners often look for ways to save money, and many will attempt to create their logos using free logo design websites online or through their word processing suite. The result is that the business owners use very cheap graphics, and in some cases, graphics that may not accurately represent the brand.
Using free clip art images or cartoonish images gives customers the wrong idea about your business, namely that you’re too cheap to pay for a professional logo designer. Take a look at a sample clip art image below that some small business might use as part of a logo for some auto-related business. These kinds of images don’t inspire confidence.
Inappropriate or suggestive graphics
Some businesses can get away with sexually suggestive graphics, but having a crude or “gimmicky” graphic can be a turnoff for your customers. You don’t want your customers looking at your website or logo and making fun of it. While memorable, these kinds of graphics don’t represent your brand very well. For example, one such design was the University of Santa Catarina’s Oriental Studies logo, which was immediately pulled in 2015 after it became viral on social media platforms.
Cluttered graphics or confusing graphics
When people look at your logo, they should have an idea of what service you provide or what you do. If you are a small photography studio, then you don’t want to use graphics of trees or flowers in your logo, even if you specialize in that type of photography. Similarly, if you provide a service, like computer repair, then you don’t want to use a graphic of a doctor. Such confusing images will frustrate your audience and hide what your business provides.
Too bright colors or brash conflicting colors
Businesses often think that being flashy will attract customers. They make take out advertisements with business lettering that is bright and flashy, but this may not be a good idea since such presentation may look gaudy. Colors may work for some businesses, but keep your audience in mind. When you randomly choose colors for each letter, you may get something like this:
Now that we’ve covered some mistakes people often make when designing their logos, here are some helpful tips. While logo design is a matter of preference and industry, many big businesses are moving toward minimalistic, clean designs. McDonald’s, for example, has dropped all lettering and shading in favor of a simple, yellow arched “M.”
Use colors with care
We saw above how using colors randomly can be gaudy, but that doesn’t mean you should avoid colors altogether. Colors can inspire certain moods. When we see the color green, we may think “growth” or “organic,” while the color white may evoke thoughts of “purity” and “peace.”
Colors and their significance are ingrained in our psychologies and cultures. It’s the reason why brides wear white at weddings and why we wear black at funerals. Keep in mind though that colors and their meanings differ from culture to culture. So if you’re hoping to reach an international audience, you may want to look into the implications for other cultures. For instance, whereas the bride may wear white at a wedding in the US, white would be worn by people at a Chinese funeral.
Come up with a logo that tells a story
Creating a logo that represents your brand is no easy task. You want a logo that is unique and tells a story if you are using some specific kinds of graphics. Perhaps the most famous of these logos is the Toyota logo with its three ovals, each symbolizing the customer, brand, and business philosophy. These ovals, or ellipses, are arranged in a stylized “T” for Toyota.
Simple can be good
Your logo doesn’t have to be elaborate with many graphics representing the business. One favorite style today is the minimalist logo. This design philosophy is modern and clean. If you include both text and image in your logo, both should be separate from each other so that you can always use the image separately. Many brands have moved toward this simplistic design, like McDonald’s, Twitter, and Nike.
Your logo should scale well
Remember that your logo will appear on all your documents, so it should be able to resize and still look good. It should look clear on a business card as well as on the front of your building if you have a physical presence. Your logo will be on letters, emails, and any promotional material, so scale the logo to different sizes to get an idea of how each size would look. Adjust accordingly–if your text is small in comparison to the image, then such a logo may not look good on a business card.
Don’t make drastic changes
Once you’ve decided on a logo, you’ll have it everywhere. Thus, investing time in your logo is essential–if you don’t take the logo seriously and your business grows large enough, you’ll have to take some time to redesign your logo. And if you do a complete redesign, you’ll have lost all of the brand recognition you’ve established with your old logo. Additionally, you’ll have to redesign all of your communications and promotional materials to reflect your new logo. Once you’ve decided on a logo, it’s easier to make small, subtle changes rather than creating a new one.
A good logo design is an essential part of your business. You may not need a logo immediately. But once your business begins to grow, you’ll want to have a logo that represents what you do. You don’t have to go it alone when creating a logo. Numerous websites will offer logo designs for small businesses, and we listed some below.
Design Contest and 99 Designs allow you to set a price to elicit bids from designers. You can choose different packages that will determine how many submissions you’ll receive. This way, you get many logos to choose from without having to contact ten different designers and having to manage ten different people.
If you already know what you want and want a cheaper alternative to logo design, then you can try any number of freelance websites like DesignCrowd or Fiverr. These sites allow you to set your price for different freelance designers (amongst other specialties). The quality of the results you get will vary widely though.
Audience is everything. In business, our audience is the customer. The importance of advertising should never be underestimated, especially in a marketplace that is becoming increasingly competitive.
Many new sellers can benefit from marketing their products. Branding and marketing will stick with customers long after the purchase. Sellers must know their audience and market accordingly. Just coming up with a “reasonable” price based on how much it costs you can lead to missed opportunities.
Think about McDonald’s and Carl’s Jr. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, each focused their marketing on a specific audience: kids and young adults, respectively. Their advertising campaigns and their products specifically targeted their audiences. McDonald’s pushed Happy Meals with toys and included PlayPlace in some of their locations while Carl’s Jr. focused on sex appeal and big burgers to market to older audiences. Even Carl Jr.’s commercial with Paris Hilton was a wild success because of the discussion it generated.
Sellers can benefit from asking some simple questions to focus their audience, branding, and marketing. It is difficult for sellers to market to the same audience as a big, established company, so to compete, sellers must find a niche segment. Some questions that sellers can ask are:
What are their educational levels?
Who is my target demographic (age, ethnicity, gender)?
What are their income levels?
What are their values?
Where do they live?
What are their jobs?
What are their personalities?
The answers to these questions will help sellers focus their branding and lead to better marketing. For example, take a company that wants to sell reusable water bottles. The target audience is college graduates in their 20s. Research shows that this demographic is concerned about health and the environment. Knowing the age, educational level, and values of a demographic will determine the materials the company can use to manufacture its bottles, and that information will also affect the price of the finished product. Too low of a price will diminish the audience’s impression of quality, while a high price may alienate the audience.
Details about the target demographic will also affect the kind words used on the product packaging, as well as the language and tone on the website or product page. Being able to say that the product is 100% biodegradable, BPA free, or that a portion of the proceeds go to plant a tree will appeal to this target demographic. Such features can be prominent in the features section of the detail page.
Make sure that your photos follow Amazon’s image policies. Our article not only provides some tips for product photography, but it includes some advice for Amazon images as well.
New sellers who are thinking about branding and marketing would be best served to consider their audience instead of just jumping in and assuming that people will buy products based solely on price. While price is often the determining factor in many people’s purchases, it’s not the only factor.
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