Can you sell QuickBooks?

In response to a reader's question, Murph explains why you simply CAN NOT sell your license of QuickBooks.

In the past, when I've wanted to use one of my accounts on another company's system, I've had no problem selling or transferring my license so that they could use it. But this time around, there seems to be some confusion about what is and isn't allowed. Can someone who owns the QuickBooks license still use it on their own PC? Or do they have to pay for it again?

QuickBooks Pro Edition Core is a subscription service that costs $197 per user per month, while QuickBooks Desktop Edition is a one-time purchase of $29.99 per user per year. If you're only using the product during its annual price increase, then you can just buy a single copy of QuickBooks Desktop and continue to use it for free. However, if you want to keep using the product after its annual price increase, you need to pay another yearly fee. So in short: Get QuickBooks Desktop software, but make sure it stays active through at least December 2019.

We'll address these issues in more detail below. But first...

Is QuickBooks a one time purchase or a subscription?

QuickBooks has two editions available -- QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Pro -- both of which are similar except for different features. The desktop edition has all of the same features as QuickBooks Professional version 2, including inventory reports and sales & receivables management. Since many business owners don't use the data included with Premier versions (the professional version), we wouldn't recommend working with a customer who uses an older version than this unless you have lots of experience writing code for QuickBooks or other businesses, or know how much money each upgrade will cost them. If a client already owns QuickBooks Pro or Premier without any upgrades planned, buying the desktop version is probably a good move since it will save them hundreds of dollars compared to upgrading every few years. For those who would like to learn more about purchasing a QuickBooks license, see our guide to pricing and licenses .

Do I have to pay for QuickBooks every year?

No. You can cancel the purchased version anytime before December 31st of the following year, although you must wait until February 1st in order to receive your next monthly invoice for QuickBooks Desktop. Once your payment period ends and you return the previous version of QuickBooks, however, you can choose to renew your software indefinitely by paying the annual fee once again. As pointed out above, if you'd like to keep using the product after its annual price increase, then you'll need to pay another yearly fee for it as well.

Can I delete my QuickBooks and start over?

Yes! You can remove your original activation key from your computer and transfer your activation code via email to future customers so they won't have to contact support directly. This process is fully reversible if you change your mind; just let us know where it should appear and we'll get it transferred back automatically. We also offer scanning services that allow customers to scan a key into their existing account immediately instead of sending us an activation code over email or fax first. It's important to note that deleting/transferring a key may cause problems in certain programs; please go here for additional information on this subject if you come across any issues related to transferring keys after deletion or transfer.

Can I wipe out QuickBooks and start again?

If you decide that you no longer want quickbooks data anywhere on your system, click here for information on how to permanently delete your hard drive from QuickBooks records and documents. There's also software designed specifically to help you erase all forms, attachments, etc., from your computer so that you can begin fresh with fresh notebooks---just download Freshbooks (free) and follow our installation instructions carefully (it's easy!). Also note that we highly recommend that our readers back up their data before wiping out the entire database!

For more details on wiping out your QuickBooks data permanently, check out this post for referral links for tools such as FreeFileSync and WinDuplicator..

How can I sell my QuickBooks?

You can sell QuickBooks to someone who will continue using it. You might even be able to make a profit from the sale of your license. However, if you want to sell QuickBooks (or any other business software) then there are some important rules and considerations that you have to bear in mind.

Can I Sell My QuickBooks License to Someone Else?

You cannot simply sell your QuickBooks license, or any other business software, to another company. Anyone who has access to your QuickBooks system is potentially interested in buying it. This puts you at risk of exploitation, as they could turn around and use your QuickBooks data for their own gain.

The key with selling any kind of product is that you must make sure that whoever buys into your offer is fully aware of the risks involved. If they don’t understand what you do then they should never buy your product!

How Can I Sell my QuickBooks?

If you decide to sell your QuickBooks license then here are 5 things that you need to take into account:

Log In To Your Account On MyQuickBooks.com

Sign Up For A Seller Account

Write An Invoice And Receive Payment Via Check/Money Order

Use The PayPal Gateway To Send Payments

List Your Products On The Official Marketplace

Run A Website

What about licensing?

The problem with licensing is simple. You cannot sell your license to someone else.

The reason is that the software that you use to create and manage your business has a monthly subscription fee. This fee covers all of the features, such as importing data from previous versions of QuickBooks, as well as imports and exports of information. The license also allows for updating yourself wherever necessary, allowing you to always be up-to-date on any new functionality.

Is there a way to make money with QuickBooks?

Downloading software is one of the most common things you will see people do when they are trying to earn money on the side. It's true that downloading software can be a great way to make some extra cash, but in order for it to work properly, you have to know what you're doing.

How to download free software

In terms of making money with QuickBooks, there isn't much out there besides getting it at full price and selling your license to someone else. Generally speaking, if you're looking to make some quick cash, you probably want to sell your license off to someone who has an interest in accounting or billing systems in general -- not necessarily QuickBooks.

I've received many questions about whether or not it's possible for one individual to own their copy of QuickBooks and then also allow other people to use that same software without having to pay for each user (or per-seat) licensing fees. It turns out this isn't only impossible but illegal as well! QuickBooks has an agreement with Intuit called "The Partner Program" which states in part:

It further clarifies in section 3(a)(ii):

And finally, section 5(b) reads:

So if you're hoping to make money by selling your QuickBooks license -- forget it. You can't do it.

However, there are several ways you could potentially earn some income from running QuickBooks on behalf of others who want to run it too. One option would be to set up a business using QuickBooks Online and have clients sign up for subscriptions at a discounted rate. That can work fine, but what if you don't want to go through all that trouble? What if you'd rather just give your client access to your personal version of QuickBooks so they can enter transactions themselves? Well, yes you can, but it might take a little more effort than you think. There are two main options here depending on how you plan to share your copy of QuickBooks with your customers.

Can I transfer my QuickBooks license to another person?

If you're planning to let your customer download your personal copy of QuickBooks onto their own machine, then no, that will not work since they'll need to have their own copy installed first. If you were thinking of doing something like setting up a website where users could log into their account and see their balance, view recent purchases, etc., then that may very easily be accomplished with a third party solution such as FreshBooks. But if you intend to keep control over every aspect of the data entry process yourself and provide them with some sort of automated invoice system, things get a bit trickier. The best bet is probably to create a custom interface within QuickBooks itself, either via Customization or by building your own application entirely in code instead of using the built-in forms provided. Either way, you should be able to find plenty of documentation online explaining exactly how to build these interfaces. For example, check out this tutorial from Microsoft.

Another possibility is to use a service similar to FreshBooks' InvoiceCloud. They offer a free tier which allows you to receive invoices directly from your customers and automatically send payments back to them once you have verified that the payment was made. This means that you won't actually have any direct contact with your customers until after you verify that the payment was indeed made. Of course, you'll need to know how to write code and/or understand programming languages in order to accomplish this task, but it's far less complex than creating your own form within QuickBooks. Also note that while FreshBooks offers a 30 day free trial period, if you decide to switch services during that time you must cancel the subscription before the end of the month otherwise you risk being charged full price.

Can QuickBooks be purchased?

Yes, although it's unlikely that anyone will ever attempt to resell QuickBooks as a standalone product because it requires a valid serial number to operate properly. However, you can purchase copies of QuickBooks Pro Plus 2019 or Premier 2019 outright for $199.99 USD. In addition, you can also purchase licenses for both QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions and QuickBooks Professional Edition separately. These include a variety of different versions and editions depending upon your needs. A few examples include:

QuickBooks Enterprise Essentials 2019 - Version 14.0.1 [No longer available]

QuickBooks Business Essential 2019 - Version 15.0.2 [No longer available]

Quicken 2020 - Home & Student edition  [No longer available]

Intuit Affiliate Network 2020 - Version 10.4.0

You can choose between a single seat model or multiple seats model based upon the amount of usage you expect. And remember, even though QuickBooks doesn't require a serial number to function, you still need to register your copy with Intuit in order to obtain a valid key which opens the door to the rest of the programs included in the bundle. Here's a helpful link to help you figure out which package is right for you.

What is the cheapest way to buy QuickBooks?

As mentioned above, you can purchase a single seat copy of QuickBooks Pro Plus 2019 for $199.99 USD. Or, if you prefer, you can purchase a multi-user license for $699.00 USD. Unfortunately, this latter method does not come with any additional software bundled along with QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions and QuickBooks Premier 2019. Instead, you'll need to add the following products to your cart individually:

Microsoft Office 365 Personal Premium ($5.50 / mo.)

Office 365 Small Business Premium ($10.25 / mo.)

OneNote 2016 ($9.95 / mo.)

Outlook 2013 ($6.99 / mo.)

Skype for Business 2015 ($7.49 / mo.)

Access 2013 ($3.90 / mo.)

Excel 2013 ($4.44 / mo.)

PowerPoint 2013 ($4.54 / mo.)

Publisher 2014 ($8.29 / mo.)

Word 2010 ($5.85 / mo.)

Publisher 2007 ($12.99 / mo.)

Publisher 2003 ($13.89 / mo.)

CorelDRAW X7 Ultimate ($14.98 / mo.)

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 2017 Standard ($5.59 / mo.)

This adds together to approximately $800 USD. And that's assuming that none of your employees are already signed up for Office 365. So let's say you've got ten employees, five of whom are currently paying for an Office 365 subscription. Then you go ahead and factor in the monthly costs associated with those subscriptions. Let's assume that each employee pays $20 USD per month. That brings our total monthly expenses down to around $1,400 USD. Not bad considering we didn't even include any taxes yet. Now consider the fact that most small businesses aren't going to spend anywhere near $1,000 USD per year on office supplies and equipment. In reality, most small business owners spend closer to $500 USD per year on printers alone. And what happens when you eventually retire those old printers? You throw 'em away, right? Why bother maintaining expensive hardware that nobody uses anymore?

Of course, you could always opt for the cheaper route and purchase QuickBooks Pro plus 2019 for $299.99 USD. While this isn't quite the same thing as purchasing a complete bundle of related software packages, it does save you hundreds of dollars overall.

Can I still purchase QuickBooks Desktop 2022?

Unfortunately, no. Even though QuickBooks Pro Plus 2019 includes the latest version of QuickBooks Desktop, the company hasn't released a separate update for QuickBooks Desktop 2012 yet. As a result, if you wish to continue using that particular version, you'll need to upgrade to QuickBooks Pro Plus 2019.

There are several alternatives however. First off, you can purchase a fully functional version of QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 2021 for $599.99 USD. This comes with everything you need to run your entire accounting operation including QuickBooks Desktop and Payroll. Second, you can purchase QuickBooks Online for $19.99 USD per month (plus tax). This gives you access to all of the features of QuickBooks Online without needing to install anything locally. Third, you can try out the Intuit Affiliates Program. After signing up, you'll receive a unique URL containing your activation code. Whenever a sale occurs on your site, you'll receive a notification email letting you know about the transaction. All you need to do next is click on the hyperlink contained in the message and you'll be directed straight to PayPal where you can instantly approve the transaction and collect your earnings.

Finally, you can always try to find a used copy of QuickBooks Desktop 2022 somewhere online. Be aware that this is likely to be difficult due to its age. Some companies still rely heavily upon QuickBooks for managing inventory. Others still use it to manage point of sales systems. Still others use it purely for payroll purposes. Regardless of your specific situation, chances are good that you'll be able to find a copy of QuickBooks Desktop 2022 somewhere for cheap. Just search Google for "used quickbooks desktop".

As I write this, I'm sitting in front of my computer at home, preparing to read an article that has just arrived on the site.

This is a "passive" piece. There's no link included but you can see it by changing your browser's settings and going to Google Play or Apple Store. I hope you enjoy it.

I also hope you are enjoying QuickBooks as much as I am! If you've been using QuickBooks for a while you might have noticed that it's not getting any cooler - the last major build was in 2009 (version 13), which means there has been plenty of time to make significant improvements.

There have even been some changes in version 14, with things like new business templates and the ability to share documents between PCs/tablets and smartphones. But we're focusing on version 15 here...

Can I uninstall QuickBooks and reinstall?

If you've come across problems such as poor performance or crashes then simply uninstalling QuickBooks without reinstalling may solve them. However, if you want to completely start over from scratch then this won't work. Not only will it delete all your data but it will also remove all the customizations you made to put together your database and make sure that everything is set up properly before re-starting. The good news is that once you restart QuickBooks, it should run exactly as before making its own decisions about what you need to do next - so if you really don't like something about the current setup, click Exit QuickBooks and start again; this will ensure that nothing gets lost.

How do I completely start over in QuickBooks?

Let's say you've got a brand new PC with Windows 10 installed. It comes preloaded with QuickBooks Desktop 11.0 (or whatever edition you're running) so after installing a clean copy of Windows and launching QuickBooks you're ready to go. All you've got to do now is log into your account through www.quickbooksonline.com and start typing in your login details… well until you get to Account " My Files –> Your Documents (and then try again).

Then you'll be presented with downloads of the latest versions of both QuickBooks 15 and 16, complete with licenses for each one. Just right-click those links and select Open With... Then choose Microsoft Office 2016 Setup. When that finishes downloading and launches, click Next on the Welcome screen. Finally, select Accept License Agreement to continue.

You'll then be asked whether or not you wish to transfer your license from another machine that isn't connected to the Internet. You can click Agree or Cancel depending on how comfortable you are with having connections to remote computers monitoring your activity and transactions. Once you've clicked OK, the process will take around 30 minutes - longer than the entire life cycle of the product itself!

Once it's done transferring, log back into QuickBooks Online  through your web browser and click File " Open in QuickBooks Desktop Version 15 or 16 (depending on how many licenses you're wanting to review) and follow the prompts… but they should open immediately. Of course this is still a long way off being completed because if you want different editions then change the Answer boxes accordingly!

How do I uninstall QuickBooks Desktop and start over?

Now that we know how to install our software onto a fresh PC, let's talk about how best to uninstall it afterwards: First of all, locate all the files associated with it (you probably know where these files are anyway): In most cases they're located within C:\QuickBooks\QBO15\SOFTWLKZ\BIN\10_QUICKBOOKSXMLCAV1\ENGLISH\1870; however for older versions this could vary according to file name convention. Right-click anywhere inside this folder and select Properties. Scroll down to the bottom of the window and look for the Uninstall tab and check the box for DELETE ALL FILES AND DATA ON FIRST USE!. Once this is ticked then simply double-click on Start Up Repair Tool (or whatever other application suits your needs), wait for a couple of moments whilst it starts up, click Finish when prompted, Click Restart Now when finished, Log Off…. repeat until all updates are checked out then close QuickBooks Desktop and log back into your account via http://www.quickbooksonline.com/login/account/. Once logged in, go into Options ' Updates & Deletes ' Select a location (eg C:\ProgramData\QuickBooks\QBO15\) where all downloaded updates should be stored after uninstalling the old program. Once this has occurred (assuming no errors were detected during the repair process) return here and click Uninstall or Install above to move onto checking out the new edition! There's no reason why two copies of QBO shouldn't coexist happily side by side under your desktop – after all, everyone knows that businesses stay alive by keeping their books in order…

Is QuickBooks going out of business?

Not quite yet - there are more features planned for later releases, including support for iOS devices such as iPads, iPhones, iPods etc., improved security features involving WiFi shares etc., new templating engines for adding functionality such as events and tax calculations etc.; and some exciting technology based developments due to be revealed soon! So keep an eye out for us: we promise we'll be updating here regularly with information on future features too! 

QuickBooks on the Web

You CAN sell QuickBooks if you're an individual or a business, but it's very difficult to do so. There are not many options available for doing this.

Selling a QuickBooks license to someone else

If you've ever bought a QuickBooks license and then sold it to someone else in the future, you know how hard it is to do. It's even more difficult if you want to sell your own licenses to other users.

How to sell QuickBooks

You can't provide a quick and easy way for people to buy software -- or sell their private data -- from your services. So what are you supposed to do? You have two options:

Sell your desktop and use it yourself

Sell the entire QuickBooks suite -- all of its features -- including the personal records that it creates for you (you don't get anything back) and not take any responsibility for user mistakes.

But neither option works well when the person who buys your service wants the entire software package. The second option opens up a whole new set of problems.

If you're selling a personal record database, you may not want/need another person to access it. But if you're selling an enterprise data file-processing system, they may need access to grab gigabytes worth of transactions at once. That would be a huge task without the ability to work with multiple threads of code at once.

And the more programs involved, the harder the job becomes. If you try to sell everything, the buyer will end up buying too much! Only one program is really necessary for most business needs.

Having an answer for this problem seems simple enough... but alas, it's not.