i had a thread on this a few months ago, but it's official now. the Intuit is shutting down and everyone has to move to their new system - merchant payment service.
http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/artic...
i spent 30 mins with the rep on the phone and here are the details as I SEE THEM:
- tenants can't just log in and pay unless they receive an invoice that has a clickable link
- you can't send an invoice with a link if you do not have quickbooks (online or desktop)
- quickbooks costs $13 per month
- $.50 per transaction still applies.
i am upset because not only i have to learn quickbooks, but because the tenants have to get a clickable link from me. as of now, i NEVER send out invoices. . in addition, there;s a $13 per month charge.
Like you guys, I received the notice that IPN is shutting down and have been researching on different services to use. I'm a commercial landlord and rent to businesses. Some of the businesses who are regional or national will send me checks from their corporate office. However, I have other businesses who are mom&pops and I have been using IPN for them. To add my experience in speaking with Intuit CSR:
- Intuit Payment Network is completely going away
- The last date to submit a request for payment is 5/31. It is completely shutting down 6/30.
- To use their new service einvoice, you have to have either Quickbooks Online or Quickbooks Desktop 2015/2016. Any earlier version of Quickbooks will not have the einvoice feature (I happen to use 2014)
- Einvoicing will not allow you send people money, only receive. Unfortunately I used IPN to sent money to some vendors/contractors.
- While they don't admit it, the trend is moving to Online and likely fading out Desktop.
This is my research into potential replacements (research only, no actual experience):
DWOLLA - looked promising, very similar to IPN, however recently got fined for lacking proper security measures. To sign up with them requires both myself and tenant submit sensitive information like SSN/TIN and bank/routing. This was a deal breaker.
Erentpayment - $3 per transfer. Too expensive. Loads of other features I don't use. I rather just have tenants mail me a check in that regards.
Cozy.co - Too new. Still seem to be working out kinks. ACH transfer time too slow. I'll give them a few years to standardize and mature.
As I have commercial tenants, most of the sites set up for residential tenants don't really work for me. I don't need their credit/background checks, leases, etc. I just need a way for ACH payment. I looked into Chase in the past, and it seemed to have a limit (I remember $5000). Unfortunately, some of my tenant's rent are above this.
Alas, I decided to just shell out the money to update to Quickbooks Desktop 2016 to use their einvoicing. I am certainly aware that in 2-3 years, Intuit is somehow going to make me pay again. Hopefully by that time, there will be a better viable option to switch to.
Of note:
If anyone is wondering, Quickbooks Online will allow one Tax ID Number per account. That means if you want to maintain separate books and have 2 LLC's, you need 2 accounts. Yes, that's a ripoff. That's why I'm sticking with the Desktop, which is 1 user license, but with it, I can create as many accounts/files as I want. But again, wouldn't be surprised if in 2-3 years, they are discontinuing desktop support.
I just talked to Intuit Payment Network, and the person I talked to claimed that the only change was that the invoices/payments could no longer be downloaded to Quickbooks. I run Quickbooks 2013 and asked if I had to upgrade, she recommended that since the invoicing is "easier" in 2016 but said it wasn't mandatory. Tenants can still set up automatic payments, no need to create a new account, at least that is what the customer service lady I spoke to claimed.
None of this seems to agree with the info in your link. I asked about the "big changes" coming and when the info was being sent out, she said it went out today and I have not received the e mail. I will keep digging for info...
@George P. You are right. I have been using Quickbooks pro desktop for years for our other business. Our clients used to be able to have a login and they could go on and view previous invoices and make payments. From what I've understood with the new stuff, you need to email invoices from Quickbooks and from there, it will have the link for them to pay. I am not sure if they are able to still set up automatic payments through the system or not.
As far as a monthly cost goes, I don't pay anything a month until a credit card or checking account makes a payment. I set up my account through the merchant service center and they have 2 different options of a monthly subscription - pay as you go or a $20 monthly subscription. I did the pay as you go until we started consistently going above that breakeven point to where I would be saving money having the subscription. If you get Quickbooks online, I hear there is a subscription fee each month regardless.
I completely agree about not wanting to send out invoices each month, especially since you don't already do it. I haven't really learned the entire range of what Quickbooks can do, so maybe there is a way it can automatically create the invoices for you and you would just click a button to send them, but then you still have the annoyance of sending invoices out....not really sure.
The only thing I can think of is you getting a debit card and setting up automatic payments through the merchant service center. Doing that makes it so you don't have to create invoices, but you are still doing more work than you'd probably like.
i am so disappointed in Intuit's communication and the 4 times i have called/spoken to them, i have received confusing/incomplete/different messages. in addition, i think the CS reps are not aware of the process and details because they can not explain exactly what's needed.
she told me "the emails are going out today", yet, i have not gotten emails to explain the process.
- i do not want to be forced to pay $13 for quickbooks monthly
- i do not want to have to invoice my tenants. they are not babies and they know when the rents are due
i am thinking of going to either cozy or venmo.
Yup they changed it. What is the cost for using Cozy or Venmo?
You should look at ipn.com - no monthly fee and it does not integrate with the new version of QuickBooks.
Yup they changed it. What is the cost for using Cozy or Venmo?
You should look at ipn.com - no monthly fee and it does not integrate with the new version of QuickBooks.
venmo and cozy are free. cozy is a little clunky to work with. hard to set up and it needs all the info of the tenants before u can proceed. which is a pain. I just wanted a dashboard for payments, not to a cloud accounting like cozy is trying to be.
venmo is free and they have an awesomely easy to use app. I think you can log in with Facebook account as well. I use it with an investor monthly and love the ease and appearance.
I don't know that it looks as "classy" as cozy though.
I still use QB Pro 2009 desktop so fees are a non-issue. We all create invoices to receive tenant payments, and I too don't send them. If there's a choice to Send By Email, that would be an acceptable solution to me.
There's an old adage in software (works in many environments too):-
and that includes the marketing hype of "Get the latest and greatest, Update Now!"
I still use QB Pro 2009 desktop so fees are a non-issue. We all create invoices to receive tenant payments, and I too don't send them. If there's a choice to Send By Email, that would be an acceptable solution to me.
There's an old adage in software (works in many environments too):-
and that includes the marketing hype of "Get the latest and greatest, Update Now!"
i am with u, but in this case, they are "breaking the process" and we will need a new process. that's the second change i have to do in 2 yrs.. first WilliamPaid now this pile of dung.
I took a closer look at the fine print. The special discount of $13/month for a quickbooks subscription applies to the first year of quickbooks subscription (50% off normal rates). The following year, its $13 and $26 respectively for the two online plans; the $26/ plan is needed in order to be able to issue recurring invoices, which most landlords will likely want. For some reason, having recurring invoices doubles the cost of the service. So total cost for the year after initial year is $312 plus transaction fees. This is definitely not going to encourage me to start using quickbooks as I don't like their tactics.This makes cozy and even some of the other providers with $3-$5 transaction fees look like a bargain. Disappointed to see this one go...
Yup they changed it. What is the cost for using Cozy or Venmo?
You should look at ipn.com - no monthly fee and it does not integrate with the new version of QuickBooks.
Unfortunately Intuit paymentNetwork and IPN.com is the same thing. That is the service that is getting shut down FYI in case you already use this service.
@George P.- I'm pretty annoyed with their customer service also- I can't seem to get the same answer twice on anything. I am considering upgrading/updating to Quickbooks 2016 once I figure out what they mean by the "invoicing being easier", but also wondering how many years that will last before I have to shell out $2-400 again to continue to use their service. But for me, the cost of that broken down by the month plus the $.50/transaction fee is less than what I would be paying if I switched to something with a $3/transaction fee.
Currently I have Quickbooks 2013 set to automatically generate invoices month (which don't get sent out), and Intuit Payment Network is set to automatically e mail invoices monthly as well. Most tenants pay using the link in the e mail, some have set up automatic payments, and occasionally someone will click on the pay link on my website to pay rent or an app fee.
I am not ok with $3/ transaction fee that other companies are charging, and Cozy looks tempting but tedious. I'll have to look into Venmo.
Hackers attack Venmo, use google and search for it. Peer to peer systems are vulnerable.
@George P.- I'm pretty annoyed with their customer service also- I can't seem to get the same answer twice on anything. I am considering upgrading/updating to Quickbooks 2016 once I figure out what they mean by the "invoicing being easier", but also wondering how many years that will last before I have to shell out $2-400 again to continue to use their service. But for me, the cost of that broken down by the month plus the $.50/transaction fee is less than what I would be paying if I switched to something with a $3/transaction fee.
Currently I have Quickbooks 2013 set to automatically generate invoices month (which don't get sent out), and Intuit Payment Network is set to automatically e mail invoices monthly as well. Most tenants pay using the link in the e mail, some have set up automatic payments, and occasionally someone will click on the pay link on my website to pay rent or an app fee.
I am not ok with $3/ transaction fee that other companies are charging, and Cozy looks tempting but tedious. I'll have to look into Venmo.
crap, i forgot about their limit. i remember it was a problem one time.
argggh!!
i can't use erentpayments because it's $3 per transaction, which would be $100 per month.
I still use QB Pro 2009 desktop so fees are a non-issue. We all create invoices to receive tenant payments, and I too don't send them. If there's a choice to Send By Email, that would be an acceptable solution to me.
There's an old adage in software (works in many environments too):-
and that includes the marketing hype of "Get the latest and greatest, Update Now!"
That's pretty much my mantra. I still use QB 99 (not even the pro version). My accountant thinks I'm crazy, but it does what I want it to do, and I've saved hundreds of dollars by refusing to upgrade for the last 17 years.
I still use QB Pro 2009 desktop so fees are a non-issue. We all create invoices to receive tenant payments, and I too don't send them. If there's a choice to Send By Email, that would be an acceptable solution to me.
There's an old adage in software (works in many environments too):-
and that includes the marketing hype of "Get the latest and greatest, Update Now!"
That's pretty much my mantra. I still use QB 99 (not even the pro version). My accountant thinks I'm crazy, but it does what I want it to do, and I've saved hundreds of dollars by refusing to upgrade for the last 17 years.
do you send invoices from qb99? how do you collect rent?
I still use QB Pro 2009 desktop so fees are a non-issue. We all create invoices to receive tenant payments, and I too don't send them. If there's a choice to Send By Email, that would be an acceptable solution to me.
There's an old adage in software (works in many environments too):-
and that includes the marketing hype of "Get the latest and greatest, Update Now!"
That's pretty much my mantra. I still use QB 99 (not even the pro version). My accountant thinks I'm crazy, but it does what I want it to do, and I've saved hundreds of dollars by refusing to upgrade for the last 17 years.
do you send invoices from qb99? how do you collect rent?
:-) I'm very old school. Most of my tenants come to our store and hand it to me personally, some in cash. Others use the good old USPS. None of our tenants have requested an electronic payment option, though a couple of them use their bank's online bill pay system.
@George P.- I'm pretty annoyed with their customer service also- I can't seem to get the same answer twice on anything. I am considering upgrading/updating to Quickbooks 2016 once I figure out what they mean by the "invoicing being easier", but also wondering how many years that will last before I have to shell out $2-400 again to continue to use their service. But for me, the cost of that broken down by the month plus the $.50/transaction fee is less than what I would be paying if I switched to something with a $3/transaction fee.
Currently I have Quickbooks 2013 set to automatically generate invoices month (which don't get sent out), and Intuit Payment Network is set to automatically e mail invoices monthly as well. Most tenants pay using the link in the e mail, some have set up automatic payments, and occasionally someone will click on the pay link on my website to pay rent or an app fee.
I am not ok with $3/ transaction fee that other companies are charging, and Cozy looks tempting but tedious. I'll have to look into Venmo.
crap, i forgot about their limit. i remember it was a problem one time.
argggh!!
i can't use erentpayments because it's $3 per transaction, which would be $100 per month.
Hi George, we are working on a monthly pricing option to reduce the cost for our customers that process multiple transactions per month. We don't have the final pricing yet, however it is definitely something we are trying to release in the next few months once we finish the current features we are working on. Thanks for the feedback!
@George P.- I'm pretty annoyed with their customer service also- I can't seem to get the same answer twice on anything. I am considering upgrading/updating to Quickbooks 2016 once I figure out what they mean by the "invoicing being easier", but also wondering how many years that will last before I have to shell out $2-400 again to continue to use their service. But for me, the cost of that broken down by the month plus the $.50/transaction fee is less than what I would be paying if I switched to something with a $3/transaction fee.
Currently I have Quickbooks 2013 set to automatically generate invoices month (which don't get sent out), and Intuit Payment Network is set to automatically e mail invoices monthly as well. Most tenants pay using the link in the e mail, some have set up automatic payments, and occasionally someone will click on the pay link on my website to pay rent or an app fee.
I am not ok with $3/ transaction fee that other companies are charging, and Cozy looks tempting but tedious. I'll have to look into Venmo.
crap, i forgot about their limit. i remember it was a problem one time.
argggh!!
i can't use erentpayments because it's $3 per transaction, which would be $100 per month.
Hi George, we are working on a monthly pricing option to reduce the cost for our customers that process multiple transactions per month. We don't have the final pricing yet, however it is definitely something we are trying to release in the next few months once we finish the current features we are working on. Thanks for the feedback!
i think your pricing of $3 per transaction would work for 5-10 properties max. once we are over that (i am close to 30), i might as well pay buildium $60 and get the kitchen sink.
i speak for a lot of us.
@George P.- I'm pretty annoyed with their customer service also- I can't seem to get the same answer twice on anything. I am considering upgrading/updating to Quickbooks 2016 once I figure out what they mean by the "invoicing being easier", but also wondering how many years that will last before I have to shell out $2-400 again to continue to use their service. But for me, the cost of that broken down by the month plus the $.50/transaction fee is less than what I would be paying if I switched to something with a $3/transaction fee.
Currently I have Quickbooks 2013 set to automatically generate invoices month (which don't get sent out), and Intuit Payment Network is set to automatically e mail invoices monthly as well. Most tenants pay using the link in the e mail, some have set up automatic payments, and occasionally someone will click on the pay link on my website to pay rent or an app fee.
I am not ok with $3/ transaction fee that other companies are charging, and Cozy looks tempting but tedious. I'll have to look into Venmo.
crap, i forgot about their limit. i remember it was a problem one time.
argggh!!
i can't use erentpayments because it's $3 per transaction, which would be $100 per month.
Hi George, we are working on a monthly pricing option to reduce the cost for our customers that process multiple transactions per month. We don't have the final pricing yet, however it is definitely something we are trying to release in the next few months once we finish the current features we are working on. Thanks for the feedback!
i think your pricing of $3 per transaction would work for 5-10 properties max. once we are over that (i am close to 30), i might as well pay buildium $60 and get the kitchen sink.
i speak for a lot of us.
Thanks George, the pricing we are considering would have you around $35 but that isn't set yet. That is why we are adding it for people with multiple transactions per month. Thanks again.
Personally, I use Cozy. Its very simple to use. You setup the property address. Then you add the tenant's name and email with the lease details and send them an invitation.
Personally, I use Cozy. Its very simple to use. You setup the property address. Then you add the tenant's name and email with the lease details and send them an invitation.
there lies my problem.... "send them an invitation". why? they have to accept?? "what's that, why do i have to, should i, is it something i could do". those are the questions i dont want to answer. or care to answer.
i want them to go to www.xxxxxxxx.com and log in. then say "pay these people, here's their info". B A M! gets done!
@Jeff Bridges Yes it is but not in the near future.
I get so many email - that Intuit is getting rid of the QuickBooks Pro, Premier PC desktop version. It is not, at least not for couple years. Intuit is working on the online version and adding new features every couple months. But it is not yet ready for Rentals.
As for Flips yes and no - depending on what details you would like to track.
Personally, I use Cozy. Its very simple to use. You setup the property address. Then you add the tenant's name and email with the lease details and send them an invitation.
there lies my problem.... "send them an invitation". why? they have to accept?? "what's that, why do i have to, should i, is it something i could do". those are the questions i dont want to answer. or care to answer.
i want them to go to and log in. then say "pay these people, here's their info". B A M! gets done!
I don't know; if you never tried it then you don't really know what it's like. I think it's simple and I have several tenants using it. Tenants can pay by ACH, debit card, or credit card. There's no charge. No monthly charge, no per-transaction charge. It's free.
Personally, I use Cozy. Its very simple to use. You setup the property address. Then you add the tenant's name and email with the lease details and send them an invitation.
there lies my problem.... "send them an invitation". why? they have to accept?? "what's that, why do i have to, should i, is it something i could do". those are the questions i dont want to answer. or care to answer.
i want them to go to www.xxxxxxxx.com and log in. then say "pay these people, here's their info". B A M! gets done!
If they have to go to xyz.com and login it means you had to tell them to make an account anyway... and you already answered the "why do i have to, should i, it something i do" All an "invitation" is, is an email to sign up same was xyz.com.
Personally, I use Cozy. Its very simple to use. You setup the property address. Then you add the tenant's name and email with the lease details and send them an invitation.
there lies my problem.... "send them an invitation". why? they have to accept?? "what's that, why do i have to, should i, is it something i could do". those are the questions i dont want to answer. or care to answer.
i want them to go to www.xxxxxxxx.com and log in. then say "pay these people, here's their info". B A M! gets done!
If they have to go to xyz.com and login it means you had to tell them to make an account anyway... and you already answered the "why do i have to, should i, it something i do" All an "invitation" is, is an email to sign up same was xyz.com.
no, maybe i didn't explain it correctly. i dont want them to HAVE to accept an invitation. i want them to have a log in, pick my company and hit "payment".
@Dawn Anastasi i do have an account with cozy. in fact, i was in it in the other day when i was researching who to go with.
and this is what i saw:
here are the first thoughts that came to my mind:
- i have two properties in there, what's the next step to collect rent?
- where is "send a payment"?
- where's "pay me"?
- how do you do anything here?
and here's one of the properties....
- what is this? i dont want to create a lease. i already have a paper lease.
- what's "create a listing"? what is this junk?
- i dont want to create applications, i already have paper application.
at the end of the day, i am running a business and dont have time to start yet another process which has to be learned.
@lucas hall, i know you are listening... why dont you make it simple and have to put features that most people really dont understand or dont care about?
@Lucas Hall , tagging you for my previous post.