---
title: Now Commerce alternative for wholesalers
Metadescription: Now Commerce is a QuickBooks add-on - orders post there and QuickBooks invoices. Where that fits, and what an accounting-agnostic portal does instead.
author: Dan Edwards
author_role: Founder
author_url: https://danedwardsdeveloper.com
author_linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-edwards-developer
published: 2026-08-26
---

Token estimate: ~1,200

# Now Commerce alternative for wholesalers

Now Commerce is a wholesale ordering portal built as a QuickBooks add-on. Orders you take post into QuickBooks, and QuickBooks does the invoicing. That tether is the whole comparison - it is the reason the product works well if your books are already there, and the reason it does not fit if they are not.

By **[Dan Edwards](https://wholesalehandler.com/about)**, Founder.

## Where the invoice is raised

Now Commerce does not invoice. Orders placed in its portal are added to QuickBooks as sales orders or invoices, and everything after that - consolidating, statements, payment terms - is QuickBooks doing its job.

Wholesale Handler raises the invoice itself, from the orders you have marked processed, and exports finalised lines to [CSV](https://wholesalehandler.com/articles/how-data-export-works-on-wholesale-handler) for whatever your accountant uses. Neither arrangement is better in the abstract. They differ on one question: whether your ledger should be the system that holds your orders.

## If you are not on QuickBooks

Now Commerce is sold to wholesalers already running QuickBooks Desktop or Online, and the two-way sync is most of what you are buying. On Xero, Sage, FreeAgent, a spreadsheet or an accountant who wants a file, that value is unavailable rather than reduced.

Wholesale Handler is [accounting-agnostic](https://wholesalehandler.com/articles/wholesale-ordering-software-without-erp-integration) by decision. It integrates with no accounting package at all, which means it cannot strand you when you change one.

## Customers who will not order online

Now Commerce's pitch is moving your wholesale customers from phone and email to online ordering. That is the right goal for most accounts, and it is also where portals usually stall - the chef who sends a voice note and the shop that has texted the same order for nine years.

Wholesale Handler covers those accounts as [managed customers](https://wholesalehandler.com/articles/how-customers-and-invitations-work-on-wholesale-handler). You hold the record and place their orders yourself, so they do not sign in and do not have to be persuaded, and their lines still reach the same order list, production totals and invoices as everyone else's. One invitation promotes them later if they change their mind.

## Modules against one price

Now Commerce is sold modularly - a base portal, a separately-priced sales rep portal charged per rep, and add-ons for shipping, 3PL and spreadsheet order import. It is month-to-month with no contract, which is a point in its favour, but working out your real monthly cost means adding up which modules you need.

Wholesale Handler is one [flat fee](https://wholesalehandler.com/articles/flat-fee-wholesale-ordering-software) with everything in it, and no per-user or per-order charge.

## Where Now Commerce is the better fit

-   **Your inventory lives in QuickBooks** and you need buyers seeing real-time stock from it.
-   **You run outside sales reps** who need their own accounts and assigned customers. Wholesale Handler is one sign-in per business.
-   **You need backorders, returns or multi-location fulfilment** - all things Now Commerce has and Wholesale Handler does not.
-   **You are already on QuickBooks Desktop**, which not much modern software still supports.

## Q&A

**Q: Can Wholesale Handler sync with QuickBooks?**
A: No, and it is not planned. It exports finalised invoice lines to CSV for any package instead. One named integration commits to the next one indefinitely, and each is a permanent maintenance cost carried by every subscriber, including those who do not use it.

**Q: Will my customers have to learn a new system?**
A: Only the ones you invite. Managed customers carry on phoning or texting you, and you place the order. That is the main practical difference between the two products for a phone-first customer book.

**Q: Does either process card payments?**
A: Wholesale Handler does not - it records payments both sides confirm and does not hold the money. Now Commerce shows customer payment information in its portal, with the money handled through QuickBooks rather than by the ordering software.