Why payouts don't match your sales
When you sell online, the money that lands in your bank is rarely the same as the sales you made. A platform or payment processor collects from customers, deducts its fees, refunds and sometimes reserves, then pays out the net balance, often covering several days of sales. If that payout is simply coded as income, your sales are understated, your fees are invisible and VAT may be wrong.
This page covers connecting and reconciling payout data in your accounting software. For the wider accounts and tax position of online sellers, see e-commerce accounting, and for the VAT rules see online marketplace VAT reconciliation.
The clearing account approach
A sound set-up treats each platform like a bank account. Gross sales are recorded into a clearing account for that platform, fees and refunds are recorded against it, and the payout to your bank is recorded as a transfer out of it. When everything is recorded correctly, the clearing account balance matches what the platform says it is holding. This works for Shopify Payments, Amazon, eBay, Stripe, PayPal and similar services.
Problems we fix
- Payouts coded as sales, with fees and refunds missing.
- Integration apps posting sales twice, or posting alongside manual entries.
- Clearing accounts with large unexplained balances.
- Platform fees recorded with the wrong VAT treatment.
- Currency conversions and multi-currency payouts not handled correctly.
- PayPal and Stripe balances never reconciled to their own statements.
How we help
- You invite us into your accounting software using its accountant or advisor access, and share platform reports. We never ask for passwords.
- We review how each channel is currently recorded and how large any differences are.
- We set up or correct clearing accounts and integration settings, choosing summary or detailed posting to suit your volume.
- We correct historical entries and reconcile each clearing account to platform statements.
- We give you a simple routine for checking payouts going forward.
Where an integration app itself fails to sync or throws errors, that's for the app developer or platform's support. We focus on making sure what reaches your books is right.
What we'll need
Payout and transaction reports from each platform for the period, fee invoices, details of the integration apps you use and bank statements. If duplicates have already crept in, our duplicate transaction removal service can clean them up.
Online sellers across Kent
We help online retailers and service businesses across Kent, from small Etsy shops to multi-channel sellers, get their integrations working properly. Send us a message with the platforms you use.
Frequently asked questions
Why don't my Shopify or Amazon payouts match my sales?
Payouts are net of platform fees, refunds, chargebacks and sometimes held reserves, and one payout can cover several days of sales. Recording the payout alone misses those items. Using a clearing account for each platform lets you record gross sales, fees and refunds separately and reconcile the payout properly.
What is a clearing account for Stripe or PayPal?
It's an account in your bookkeeping that acts like a bank account for the payment platform. Sales go in, fees and refunds come out, and payouts to your bank are recorded as transfers. Its balance should match the platform's own balance, which makes errors easy to spot.
Should I use an integration app or record payouts manually?
It depends on volume. A business with a few payouts a month can record summaries manually from platform reports. Higher-volume sellers usually benefit from an integration app. Either way, the posting settings must be correct, or the app can create as many problems as it solves.
Are platform seller fees subject to VAT?
Fee VAT treatment depends on the platform, where it is based and your VAT position, and it can differ between services. It needs checking for each platform you use. We review the fee invoices and set the right VAT codes in your software, linking with our VAT advice where rules are more complex.
E-commerce Accounting Integrations across Kent
We help clients throughout the county, including: