Where online sellers lose the thread
Four failures, and we see all four constantly.
- The deposit is treated as the salePlatform fees, refunds, chargebacks and shipping are netted out before the money arrives. Booking the deposit as revenue understates sales and expenses at the same time, which hides the real margin.
- Summary entries nobody reconcilesA connector posts one lump sum a month and it is never tied back to a payout report. Errors do not announce themselves, they just accumulate.
- Inventory expensed on purchaseStock bought in one period and sold in another lands entirely in the wrong month, so profit swings for reasons that have nothing to do with the business.
- Sales tax counted as incomeMoney collected on behalf of a state is a liability, not revenue. Treated as revenue, it inflates the top line and leaves an obligation nobody has recorded.
What we do about it
Payouts are reconciled to the platform settlement reports, so gross sales, fees, refunds and shipping each land where they belong and the net ties to the bank.
Inventory is tracked so that cost of goods sold moves with units actually sold, and the balance sheet figure can be reconciled against a physical count instead of being taken on faith.
Landed cost is handled properly, which matters more than most sellers expect. Freight and duty folded into unit cost is the difference between a product line that looks profitable and one that is.
The result is a margin number you can make pricing and purchasing decisions from, which is the whole reason to do any of this.
What this looks like when it works
We hired Deb in 2019 because our books were a mess and inventory numbers were all negative for our e-commerce company. Within a year, Deb convinced us to start using an inventory management program and our growth has been continuous ever since. She manages the programs and the integration to Quickbooks, helping us manage our profit margins in real time.
Already a year deep in it?
Common, and fixable. Historical payouts can be unwound and re-reconciled from the settlement reports, which still exist even when nobody has looked at them. Inventory can be rebuilt from purchase records forward.
That work is scoped as cleanup, quoted after we have seen the file.
Questions we get
Why do my Shopify sales never match my bank deposits?
Because the deposit is net. Platform fees, refunds, chargebacks, shipping collected and sales tax are all removed before the money lands. Booking the deposit as revenue understates both your sales and your expenses, and quietly misstates your margin.
What is wrong with summary journal entries?
Nothing, if they are built correctly and reconciled to the payout reports. The problem is that most automated connectors post a single lump sum that nobody ever ties back to anything, so errors compound silently for months.
Can you handle inventory?
Yes, and it is a large part of why people come to us. Cost of goods sold that moves with actual units, inventory that reconciles to a count, and landed cost handled properly rather than expensed at the moment of purchase.
Which platforms do you work with?
Shopify and Amazon most often, plus the payment processors, third-party logistics providers and inventory systems that feed them. If you are running something less common, the reconciliation logic is the same and we will learn the report format.
Do you handle sales tax?
We make sure sales tax collected is recorded as the liability it is rather than as revenue, and that it reconciles to what your filing service reports. We do not prepare or file the returns themselves.
Start with a look at your actual books.
No cost, no obligation, and no sales pitch. You get a straight answer about where your books stand, and you can do whatever you want with it.
Prefer to talk first? (833) 653-7545 or hello@gotomybookkeeper.com