Workaround for categorizing Amazon vs Whole Foods transactions?

jdj

Hi. I'm still evaluating if Simplifi is right for us and am stuck on a coding issue.

In our Chase credit card transactions, purchases made at Amazon and Whole Foods (ordered online) all show up as Payee = "Amazon" and category = "shopping" in Simplifi. If I view the transactions on Chase's site, they show categorizations appropriately as Shopping (Amazon purchases) or Groceries (Whole Foods). It seems the category isn't getting imported into Simplifi. I've spoken to customer support at both Simplifi and Chase they they blame the other guy.

Anyone else seen this or figured out a workaround?

SRC54

@jdj
Simplifi doesn't download categories from banks, only Payees.  You just make a rule that Amazon is shopping and Whole Foods is groceries.  I am assuming that Chase downloads the correct payee.  I know I don't differentiate among Amazon, Amazon Marketplace or Amazon Kindle.  I just say Amazon.  But the categories change.

I categorize things very differently.  I divide among food, beverages, sundries, supplies, and Amazon could be anything from those to apps to devices, upkeep etc.

I hope this helps some.  

Coach Natalie

Hello @jdj,

Thank you for posting your inquiry to the Community!

It looks like @SRC54 recommended using Transaction Rules for the transaction in question, so I'd definitely suggest doing so wherever possible. For example, if Whole Foods is always "Groceries", you can create a Category Rule for Whole Foods and "Groceries". More details on using Transaction Rules can be found here. 

Otherwise, I'd definitely suggest taking a look at our Idea post requesting the ability to sync major online retailer order details here and adding your vote and feedback. 

Let us know if you have any additional questions!

-Coach Natalie

DannyB

Hi @jdj

Is there anything unique about the imported data from Chase that identifies Whole Foods from Amazon Marketplace? I am able to separate out Marketplace spending from my various Amazon subscriptions paid with my Amazon Chasencard.  The info in the "Appears on your Chase - Amazon Rewards statement as" is different for "AMAZON Mktp" or "Prime Video".  Does the "Appears" info in your Simplifi transactions include a distinction for your Whole Foods purchases?

jdj

Thanks Steve. The issue is that everything comes into Simplifi as just payee=Amazon, even Whole Foods orders. So there doesn't seem to be a way to differentiate transactions.

I realize Amazon purchases could mean any number of categories, but it'd be nice to at least pull out Whole Foods orders as groceries.

jdj

Hi Natalie. To restate my point: no transactions from Whole Foods online orders show up in Simplifi as "Whole Foods". They show up as Amazon since that's the platform the orders are made on. So a rule would not work if it's only based on payee data, as far as I understand rules. What's missing is the category data from the bank.

jdj

Thanks @DannyB. I don't see any additional data besides Payee = "Amazon" and Category = "Shopping". I know when I log into Chase, there's a bit more information, but not on the Simplifi import. Seems Simplifi is stripping out useful data. This is all I get:
 

DannyB

@jdj
If you click on the 3 dots to the right of the amount you can select Edit Transaction; This will open the Edit Transaction window.  In the web app you will find this information at the top of the edit transaction window:

This is a screenshot of a general purchase entry.


This is a screenshot of an Amazon Video entry.  This entry is automatically categorized and matched to a recurring bill. The above entry will be categorized as General Expenses.


I believe there is a way to "teach" Simplifi to make distinctions based on this information.  I would be interested to see if this "Appears on" information is different for Amazon purchases and your Whole Food purchases.