Bookkeeping for Shopify & Amazon Sellers

In short

E-commerce books look simple because everything is electronic, but they aren't. Amazon, Shopify and Etsy pay out net of a dozen fee types, hold reserves, and refund on their own schedule, while inventory ties up cash before anything sells. We break payouts apart, track inventory and cost of goods, and keep sales tax separate. Most sellers sit in Moderate or Complex.

How the money moves

How money comes in and goes out

Money comes in from marketplace and store payouts. An Amazon settlement can include product sales, shipping credits, referral fees, FBA fees, storage fees, advertising charges and reimbursements, all netted into one deposit every two weeks.

Money goes out to suppliers, often weeks before the stock sells, plus freight, packaging, apps and ads. That timing is why profitable sellers still run short of cash.

Common problems

Where the books usually go wrong

Net payouts

Booking a $9,300 Amazon deposit as $9,300 of sales hides thousands in fees and makes your margin impossible to read.

Inventory and cost of goods

Profit depends on what the goods you sold actually cost. Without that, the profit and loss is a guess.

Sales tax

Marketplaces usually collect and remit sales tax for you, but your own Shopify store may not. Mixing the two causes errors.

Reserves and chargebacks

Money the platform is holding isn't in your bank yet, and it needs to be tracked until it is.

Every month

What we do every month

Break every payout into sales, refunds, each fee type and reserves
Record inventory purchases and cost of goods sold
Keep marketplace-collected sales tax apart from tax you collect yourself
Reconcile each sales channel's balance to its settlement reports
Report gross margin by channel so you can see where you really make money

A month of books, for example

A seller of kitchen gadgets sells on Amazon FBA and her own Shopify store. A month brings two Amazon settlements and daily Shopify payouts. We'd turn about $46,000 in deposits into $61,000 of sales, $14,500 of Amazon and Shopify fees, $2,100 in refunds and $1,600 still in reserve, then match $19,000 of product cost to what sold. Her real margin by channel is on one page.

Illustrative example, not a client story.

Getting started

What we need from you

Access to Seller Central, Shopify and any other channel's payout reports
Supplier invoices for inventory purchases
How you count inventory: an app, a spreadsheet, or a periodic count

Software and statements we work from

Amazon Seller Central
Shopify
Etsy
Walmart Marketplace
A2X
PayPal
QuickBooks Online

Price

What it costs

Single-channel sellers with modest volume can fit Moderate, $400 to $600. Multi-channel sellers with inventory and high order volume usually sit in Complex, $600 to $800 and up.

One flat monthly price, set after the free review. See the pricing guide or estimate your tier.

Questions

Common questions

Do you use a connector like A2X?

If you have one, we work from it. If you don't, we'll tell you in the review whether it's worth adding for your volume.

Who handles sales tax filing?

Marketplaces usually remit for sales they facilitate. For your own store, we keep collected tax separate and ready; filing we'd discuss in the review.

Can you track inventory?

We record purchases and cost of goods sold in the books. Unit-level inventory lives in your inventory app or spreadsheet.

I'm also on Etsy and TikTok Shop. Is that too many channels?

No, it just means more reconciling. Each channel gets its own clearing account so nothing gets lost.

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Bookkeeping for Shopify and Amazon sellers