Preparation

The link with Sage sits in each sales channel integration you have created in the software.

Before linking Sage with Tradebox you will need to:

• Create your Sales Channel(s) (integration with eBay, Amazon, Websites etc)
• Configure Sage for use with Tradebox
• Create Sales Summaries in Tradebox

The Sage Accounts Link is configured on a channel by channel basis, allowing you to use different settings for posting to Sage per channel. Within the channel list, the Accounts Link icon  will be ticked or blank to indicate which channels have been linked to Sage.

This article covers setting up an accounts link to post summary financial transactions directly to your ledgers; the SI transactions have the same functionality as Sage's Batch Invoices. This allows for a many-in, fewer-out connection where Sage receives only a summary of the financials in a given time period. This connection type does not offer stock control within Sage or the creation of individual invoices or sales orders; if you're looking for those see our guide to setting up a classic Sage Accounts link instead.

Before setting up your first Accounts link, make sure your accounts software in Configuration >  Accounting is set to Sage 50. This covers Sage 50, Sage 50 Professional, Sage 50C, Sage 50Cloud, Sage 50 Essentials and Sage Instant Accounts.

You should also check your Stock Control setting within Configuration > Stock Control.

None if:

• For a UK sale all items you sell have the same VAT treatment e.g. you only sell standard rated or only sell zero rated goods
• You don't need stock control in Tradebox e.g. you have another system that already manages your stock control, or you don't sell physical goods

It should be set to Tradebox if:

• For UK sales you sell a mix of items with different tax treatments

or

• You don't have a stock control system already in place and want to use Tradebox to track quantities of stock in your business

Accounts Software is not a valid choice if you are posting summary entries to Sage 50.

Setting up your Summary Accounts Link

To set up your Accounts link, double click on the channel and then go to the Sage 50 tab.

Connection

Choose the Sage Company you want to connect to. You should have created the logon names specifically for Tradebox One; TBUSER in the Company Selection section and TBSERVICE in the Service Logon section. If you assigned passwords to those logons in Sage, enter those now. Click Connect to Sage.

Once the connection is made you will be automatically taken to the Postings page. Use the Next and Back buttons in the bottom right to move through the screens of the accounts link wizard.

Postings

Set the Create Sales As option to Summary Entries (Batch Invoices). At this point most of the other options become irrelevant and will be greyed out. There are two exceptions to this:

•  Posting Currency: if the channel currency is something other than GBP, this will allow you to choose between GBP and the native currency of the channel. Once the accounts link is fully set up, the posting currency becomes locked and cannot be changed without deleting and recreating the accounts link.
• Include Foreign Sales Tax: This setting is specific to eBay channels. On sales shipped to the USA, Norway, Australia or New Zealand, eBay collects and remits sales tax on your behalf. Generally speaking, you as the seller don't receive this amount, but eBay can sometimes present the sales tax value as part of the order. Tick this box if you would like the sales tax value to be included on your summaries. You would also need to tick the Include Foreign Sales Tax box in the main Details section of the eBay channel to ensure this value comes through. If unticked, Tradebox will not include the sales tax on the summaries in Sage, regardless of whether the other box is ticked in the channel details. For more information, click here.

Customers

Summary accounts links run the postings through a single generic customer account in Sage. If you've created this already, choose it from the dropdown list (note that it must match your posting currency). If you haven't and want to create the customer now, click the  button then enter the customer account reference (max 8 characters) and a name to help you identify that account when working in Sage. 

Nominals

On the Nominals screen, you'll choose the Sales Nominal and Shipping Nominal that you want Tradebox to post the summary values to. You can also choose a Sales and Shipping Department here if required.

Tax Codes

The tax codes section of the Accounts link displays the tax codes as specified in the Configuration > Tax Rates section of Tradebox and their corresponding Sage Tax Code. By default Tradebox tracks the 5 tax codes displayed above that apply to the majority of users and maps these to the default Sage codes that represent the same tax treatment. If you use any rates other than these, or you don't use the Sage default tax codes (e.g. you've changed VAT schemes in Sage and had to set up new tax codes) then make the appropriate changes in this screen. 

When you're done, click Finish to complete the accounts link wizard then Save to close the sales channel.

Once you've processed your sales into Tradebox and you're ready to create a summary and pass it to Sage, follow our guide here.