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eBay Accounting Assistant Frequently Asked Questions

Download the Accounting Assistant User Guide

About eBay Accounting Assistant

General Questions

Troubleshooting: Installation and Setup

Troubleshooting: General

About eBay Accounting Assistant

Where can I download eBay Accounting Assistant?                                                               Go to the eBay Accounting Assistant page. You can download the application from here.

Which QuickBooks products are supported?                                                                            The following QuickBooks products are supported:

  • QuickBooks 2004, 2005, or 2006 Desktop Edition in one of the following versions:

    • QuickBooks Pro®

    • QuickBooks Premier® (including all industry-specific editions)

    • QuickBooks Enterprise®

  • QuickBooks Online Edition

  • QuickBooks Simple Start Desktop Edition

  • QuickBooks Simple Start Online Edition

Accounting Assistant does not support

  • The Canada, UK, Australia or any other international version of QuickBooks

  • Any QuickBooks versions prior to QuickBooks 2002

  • Quicken

  • PeachTree

  • Microsoft Money

Support for additional accounting software packages will be considered for future versions of eBay Accounting Assistant.

Who can use eBay Accounting Assistant?                                                                              The associated eBay user must have a subscription to Selling Manager, Selling Manager Pro, Blackthorne, Blackthorne Pro, or eBay Stores. You can try any these subscriptions free of charge for 30 days.

How much does eBay Accounting Assistant cost to use?                                                     eBay Accounting Assistant is free to download and use.

I currently download my PayPal transactions into QuickBooks through PayPal's Download History function. How is this different from what eBay Accounting Assistant provides? How will eBay Accounting Assistant interact with this file? Should I use one or both of these?   The file downloaded from PayPal will contain all transactions during the timeframe you request. eBay Accounting Assistant on the other hand will only import those PayPal transactions related to sales you have made on eBay that were paid with PayPal. If you want to use the PayPal Download History file, you can still use eBay Accounting Assistant to import your eBay Sales and eBay Fee data. In this situation, we recommend that in the eBay Accounting Assistant Import screen, you choose to not import your PayPal transactions. Importing PayPal fees through eBay Accounting Assistant while also using the PayPal Download History file will result in duplicate records being created in QuickBooks.

How much historical data is available to import via eBay Accounting Assistant?            
eBay Accounting Assistant will only download, at most, the last 60 days of eBay Sales, eBay Fees and PayPal Transactions. eBay does not maintain customer sales data for more than 60 days.

General Questions

Can eBay Accounting Assistant be used on the Mac?                                                         eBay Accounting Assistant does not run on the Mac. Mac support will be considered for future versions of Accounting Assistant.

Will I be able to use Accounting Assistant to import all of my PayPal transactions and PayPal fees? Will it download all shipping cost I paid for with PayPal? Will it download all the transactions I use my PayPal card for?                                                                             Accounting Assistant will download PayPal transactions that are directly related to a buyer checking out an eBay item. At this point, Accounting Assistant does not import other PayPal transactions, such as shipping costs or other PayPal transactions. We will consider this for the next releases of Accounting Assistant.

I am using several eBay User ID names with the same QuickBooks company file. Can Accounting Assistant support multiple eBay accounts?                                                        Yes, Accounting Assistant supports multiple eBay users using the same QuickBooks company file or different company files. To define a new user in Accounting Assistant, please follow these steps:

  1. Choose "Log Off" from the Accounting Assistant File menu.

  2. Choose "Manage Users" from the File menu.

  3. Click on "New" to add a new user. This will start the interview process again for that new user.

Does the Accounting data reside on my computer where the application is running or on eBay's servers? Does eBay get data from my QuickBooks file?                                      
We are aware of the fact that sellers' QuickBooks files store sensitive data. All Accounting Assistant information resides in a local database on your system. The Accounting Assistant database file is located at C:\Program Files\eBay\Accounting Assistant\Database\ebaysdk.mdb. Your eBay username and password are used to retrieve sales and account information from eBay. Accounting Assistant does not upload your QuickBooks Accounting records to eBay.

How do I match up eBay sales with QuickBooks inventory items?                              Accounting Assistant supports 2 possible modes for matching eBay sales to QuickBooks items: Generic inventory item matching: all eBay sales are matched to a single generic QuickBooks item.

Specific inventory item matching: each eBay sale has to be matched to a QuickBooks item. Accounting Assistant automatically matches an eBay sale to a QuickBooks item:

  1. If the QB item name is the same as the eBay item title

  2. For items that were listed using selling manager products, Accounting Assistant will try to match eBay sales to QuickBooks inventory items based on the selling manager product name or part number.

  3. If you manually map a sale of a multiple-quantity eBay item to a QuickBooks item (in Accounting Assistant) then all other sales of this item will be matched automatically to the same QuickBooks inventory item.

Other auto-match methods will be considered for future releases of Accounting Assistant.

Troubleshooting: Installation and Setup

When trying to import from QuickBooks during the interview process, Accounting Assistant is reporting the following error: "Failed to call QuickBooks: Code=3176, Severity=Error, Message=A related object is already in use, or failed to acquire the lock for this object." Accounting Assistant is not able to update QuickBooks. This typically happens if you have other QuickBooks windows open which access that same data.

  1. Please close QuickBooks and re-open it.

  2. Close any windows that are open in QuickBooks (but still keep the company file open).

  3. If you have any other 3rd party applications that access QuickBooks, please make sure they are closed.

  4. Close and re-open Accounting Assistant and try again.

I am using QuickBooks 2002. When trying to import from QuickBooks during the interview process, Accounting Assistant is reporting the following error: "Unexpected error. Check the qbsdklog.txt"                                                                                                                 Accounting Assistant uses the QuickBooks SDK, which requires installing the following update to QuickBooks 2002: http://www.quickbooks.com/support/index/ndxw_10_updates2.html  If you are using QuickBooks 2002, please install this update, reboot your computer and launch Accounting Assistant again.

When trying to import from QuickBooks during the interview process, Accounting Assistant is reporting the following error: "Begin Session error = 800706f4" (in qbsdklog.txt)                    This error might be happening because of an incomplete registration of all QuickBooks files during QuickBooks program installation. Please do the following:

  1. Reboot your computer.

  2. Make sure QuickBooks is not running.

  3. Find the file REBOOT.BAT (or REBOOT if your Windows Explorer's preference is to hide file extensions) in the C:\Program Files\Intuit\QuickBooks Pro directory, and run the utility by double-clicking on it.

  4. Reboot your computer again and try using Accounting Assistant.

During installation, I get error 1406 "Could Not write value to key \Software\Microsoft\.NETFramework\AssemblyFolders\Intuit Developer Network. Verify that you have sufficient access to that key, or contact your support personnel."                      Please follow these steps to confirm administrative rights on your home computer:

  1. Select Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management.

  2. In the Computer Management dialog, click on System Tools > Local Users and Groups > Users.

  3. Right-click on your user name and select Properties.

  4. In the properties dialog, select the Member Of tab and make sure it states "Administrator".

The Accounting Assistant installation cannot be completed; Or: unable to run Accounting Assistant after the installation.                                                                                           Please follow these steps:

  1. Run Windows update: http://v5.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/v5consumer/default.aspx?ln=en-us

  2. Install .Net framework 1.1: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=262d25e3-f589-4842-8157-034d1e7cf3a3&DisplayLang=en

  3. Install MDAC 2.8: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6c050fe3-c795-4b7d-b037-185d0506396c&DisplayLang=en

  4. Install Jet 4.0: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1e268b39-533e-48b0-b8d7-1781befde1f8&displaylang=en

  5. Install the QuickBooks SDK: http://developer.intuit.com/uploadedFiles/QuickBooks_SDK/Download/QBFC3_0Installer.exe

  6. Reboot your computer.

  7. Open "Add/Remove Programs" from the Windows Control Panel. If Accounting Assistant appears in the list then uninstall it.

  8. Delete the C:\Program Files\eBay\Accounting Assistant directory (if it exists).

  9. Make sure the directory: C:\Program Files\eBay exists and if not then create it.

  10. Download the following zip file: http://download.ebay.com/accounting_assistant/us/eaa_full_1.0.1900_NoInstaller.zip

  11. Extract the zip file into the C:\Program Files\eBay\ directory.

  12. Run eBayAccountingAssistant.exe from the C:\Program Files\eBay\Accounting Assistant directory (you may want to create a shortcut to this file on your desktop).

After entering my eBay username and password I am getting the following error: "The underlying connection was closed. Unable to connect to the server"                            Accounting Assistant is not able to connect to the eBay API. This is typically associated with special proxy (or firewall) settings on your machine which are blocking Accounting Assistant from creating a secure connection with eBay.                                                                                                   The following could help fix this issue:

  • Please check your proxy settings or try to disable any proxy servers. If you are not sure how to do that, please try the following:

    1. Open Internet Explorer

    2. Choose Internet Options from the Tools menu

    3. Click on the "Connections" tab   

    4. Click on "LAN Settings"

    5. Uncheck the "Use a proxy server for your LAN" checkbox

    6. Click on "Ok" (twice)

    7. Close Accounting Assistant, re-open it and try again.

  • Reconfigure or Disable personal firewall applications installed on your computer: Norton, ZoneAlarm, McAfee, Outpost, SurfSecret, Sygate, BlackICE.

  • Please make sure you can sign-in to eBay using Internet Explorer.

  • Contact your Internet Service Provider or system administrator to make sure that applications on your computer are not blocked from making HTTPS connections to api.ebay.com.

  • Try installing Accounting Assistant on another computer in your network or try connecting your computer to another network.

Troubleshooting: General

The export to Quick Books does not work as expected- sale receipts are not created in QuickBooks. What is wrong?                                                                                               Sales information will not be exported into QuickBooks unless the sale record in Accounting Assistant displays an orange checkmark. When you click on a sale, it should say "ready for export" at the lower part of the window.

To get a sale to show as "ready for export" it needs to be marked as paid. Sales are automatically marked as paid if the item was checked out and paid with PayPal. Also, if you have marked the item as paid in selling manager, it would show as paid in Accounting Assistant. You can also manually mark a sale as paid in Accounting Assistant by selecting a payment method for that sale in Accounting Assistant.

If you are using the mode where Accounting Assistant maps to unique QuickBooks inventory items, you also have to associate each sale with a QuickBooks inventory item. If you do not do that then
the sale will not be ready for export.

Once you exported a sale, it should show up as a sale receipt and a customer entry in QuickBooks will be created. To view the sale receipt that was created, click on the "All Sales" view in Accounting Assistant. Exported sales will have a green checkmark next to them. Once you click on a sale, there would be a link in the lower part of the window to "View Sale Receipt in QuickBooks". Click on this link to open the created sale receipt in QuickBooks.

When trying to export to QuickBooks I get the following error message: "There is an invalid reference to QuickBooks DepositToAccount" …"The specified account is invalid or of the wrong type". What should I do?                                                                                                 The PayPal bank account does not have the correct type, which is "bank".                                    Please follow these steps:

  1. In QuickBooks choose Lists->Chart Of Accounts

  2. Locate an account named "PayPal". Right click on it and select "Edit".

  3. Make sure the account type is "bank". If it's not, then choose "bank" and click on OK.

  4. If you have accounts named "PayPal_1" or "PayPal_2" please repeat steps 2 and 3 for them as well (most likely you do not have these accounts).

  5. Locate an account named "Undeposited Funds" and make sure its type is "Other Current Asset".

  6. Close Accounting Assistant.

  7. Rename C:\Program Files\eBay\Accounting Assistant\Database\eBaySdk.mdb to eBaySdk_old.mdb

  8. Copy C:\Program Files\eBay\Accounting Assistant\Database\Access\eBaySdk.mdb to C:\Program Files\eBay\Accounting Assistant\Database.

  9. Run Accounting Assistant to start the interview process.

I am getting the following error when exporting to QuickBooks: "There is an invalid reference to QuickBooks ItemSalesTax "..." in the SalesReceipt. QuickBooks error message: Transaction Sales Tax is currently disabled by preferences."                                                  You do not have Sales Tax turned on in QuickBooks.                                                                     To enable "Sales Tax" in QuickBooks:

  1. In QuickBooks, Go to menu->Edit->Preferences.

  2. Scroll and find "Sales Tax" from the list box and select it.

  3. Click on the "Company Preferences" tab.

  4. Choose "Yes" for "Do you charge Sales tax?".

  5. Click "OK". If you are asked to select a "Most common sales tax" item, select an existing one or create a new one.

  6. From Accounting Assistant, perform an export to QuickBooks.

I cannot export to QuickBooks.                                                                                               First, please make sure that your QuickBooks company file resides on your computer's hard drive and not on a network drive. Then, please choose "Import from QuickBooks" from the "Tools" menu.
If the following error message is displayed- "Could not determine the version of the QuickBooks company data file, or the data file has been modified and requires a newer version of QuickBooks"- then follow these instructions:

  1. Close QuickBooks and Accounting Assistant.

  2. Open Accounting Assistant and try to import from QuickBooks (without opening QuickBooks).

  3. You will receive a dialog asking you to open QuickBooks and try again.

  4. Open QuickBooks and choose to open an existing company file. When selecting the company file from your local drive, please ensure that the "Open file in multi-user mode" checkbox is not checked.

  5. Try the export to QuickBooks again.

I changed my password on eBay and now cannot login into Accounting Assistant. How can I get Accounting Assistant to recognize my new password?                                               Please follow these steps to change your password in Accounting Assistant

  1. Run Accounting Assistant and click on "Cancel" in the login dialog.

  2. From the Accounting Assistant menu, select File -> Manage Users -> Change Password and update your password.

  3. Select File -> Login.

I cannot login into Accounting Assistant- receiving error message "Unrecognized database format" (or another database-related error).                                                                        Your Accounting Assistant database file might be corrupted. To repair the database file, you would need to close Accounting Assistant and run the Accounting Assistant database repair utility- AARepairer.exe. Please email us to get this utility.

I would like to delete all the information in Accounting Assistant and start from the beginning. How can I do that?                                                                                                  If you would like to effectively delete all the information in Accounting Assistant and start from the beginning, please follow this process:

  1. Choose "Log Off" from the Accounting Assistant File menu.

  2. Choose "Manage Users" from the file menu.

  3. Choose the user in the list box and click on "Remove".

  4. After you removed the user, click on "New" to create a new user. This will start the Accounting Assistant "interview" process again. Make sure your company file is open in QuickBooks when you start the interview process.

Another option is to start from a completely new Accounting Assistant database:

  1. Close Accounting Assistant.

  2. Rename C:\Program Files\eBay\Accounting Assistant\Database\eBaySdk.mdb to eBaySdk_old.mdb

  3. Copy C:\Program Files\eBay\Accounting Assistant\Database\Access\eBaySdk.mdb to C:\Program Files\eBay\Accounting Assistant\Database.

  4. Run Accounting Assistant to start the interview process.

I first downloaded my sales data to a "dummy" QuickBooks file. Now I want to start using the real QuickBooks file. How can I do that?                                                                              You would need to set up your accounting assistant user again in order to associate it with another QuickBooks company file. See the response to the previous question.

I am having difficulties and cannot find the answer here. What should I do?                    Please email us.  Please include the following log files:

  1. The Accounting Assistant log file located at C:\Program Files\eBay\Accounting Assistant\eBayAccountingAssistant.log (if your Windows Explorer preferences are set to not display file name extensions, then you will not see the ".log").

  2. The following QuickBooks log files in the QuickBooks directory (for example: C:\Program Files\Intuit\QuickBooks Pro\ ):

qbsdklog.txt
qbsdkold.txt
QBWIN.LOG
QBInstanceFinder.log



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