Ecommerce Bookkeeping for Online Sellers
Dari & Associates provides bookkeeping for U.S. ecommerce businesses selling through online stores, marketplaces, and payment platforms. We help keep sales activity, payouts, processing fees, refunds, operating expenses, bank accounts, and credit cards organized and reconciled within a consistent monthly bookkeeping process.
Our practice is led by a Certified Accountant and QuickBooks Online Advanced ProAdvisor with more than 10 years of experience supporting U.S. clients. Whether you sell through Shopify, Amazon, another marketplace, or a combination of channels, we can build the bookkeeping workflow around the systems and records your business uses.
Online sales create more bookkeeping activity than the bank deposit shows.
An ecommerce business can generate hundreds or thousands of customer transactions while only a smaller number of platform or processor payouts reach the bank account.
Those payouts may reflect sales activity together with processing fees, refunds, chargebacks, marketplace charges, and other adjustments reported by the platform.
That makes ecommerce bookkeeping different from simply categorizing the deposit that appears in the bank feed.
The bookkeeping process needs to use the available platform reports, accounting records, and bank activity to keep the financial records organized around how the business actually receives and spends money.
Ecommerce businesses we can support
Shopify Stores
Online businesses selling through Shopify and receiving payouts through Shopify Payments or other payment processors.
Amazon Sellers
Businesses selling products through Amazon marketplaces and maintaining their bookkeeping from available marketplace and banking records.
Multi-Channel Sellers
Businesses selling through more than one online store, marketplace, or payment channel.
Direct-to-Consumer Brands
Businesses selling products directly to customers through their own online storefronts.
Marketplace Sellers
Businesses selling through platforms such as Etsy, eBay, Amazon, or other online marketplaces.
WooCommerce Stores
Businesses operating online stores through WooCommerce and connected payment platforms.
Growing Online Businesses
Ecommerce businesses that need a consistent monthly bookkeeping process as transaction volume and operating activity increase.
What ecommerce bookkeeping can include
Ecommerce Transaction Categorization
Business transactions categorized consistently within the accounting system.
Bank Reconciliation
Business bank accounts reconciled against their corresponding statements.
Credit Card Reconciliation
Business credit card activity reconciled as part of the recurring bookkeeping process.
Platform & Processor Payout Bookkeeping
Available payout reports and related deposits reviewed and recorded within the agreed bookkeeping workflow.
Processing & Marketplace Fees
Merchant processing fees and marketplace charges recorded from available source information when included in scope.
Refund & Chargeback Bookkeeping
Refunds, chargebacks, and related activity maintained from available platform and accounting records where applicable.
Vendor & Operating Expenses
Supplier, software, advertising, shipping, fulfillment, and other business expenses maintained within the bookkeeping records.
Accounts Payable Support
Vendor bills and payment activity maintained when accounts payable is included in the engagement.
Payroll Bookkeeping Support
Payroll-related accounting activity recorded and reconciled using available payroll reports.
QuickBooks Online Management
Recurring ecommerce bookkeeping maintained within QuickBooks Online based on the agreed workflow.
Month-End Close
Relevant bookkeeping activity brought together through a recurring month-end process.
Financial Reporting
Agreed financial reports prepared from the completed bookkeeping records.
A platform payout is not the whole sales story.
The amount deposited into the bank may not represent the underlying sales activity by itself.
Depending on the platform and payment processor, a payout can reflect customer transactions together with fees, refunds, chargebacks, reserves, or other adjustments shown in the platform records.
Where the necessary reports and source information are available, the bookkeeping process can use that information together with the corresponding bank activity rather than relying only on the net deposit.
This creates a more organized record of ecommerce activity inside the books.
More sales channels mean more financial activity to organize.
An ecommerce business may receive activity from Shopify, Amazon, Etsy, eBay, WooCommerce, Stripe, PayPal, Square, or other systems.
Each platform can have its own reports, payout timing, fees, refunds, and transaction structure.
A consistent bookkeeping workflow helps keep the accounting records organized as activity moves through different platforms and eventually reaches the business bank accounts.
The activity between the sale and the deposit matters.
Payment processors and marketplaces can deduct fees or make other adjustments before funds reach the bank.
Refunds and chargebacks can also create additional bookkeeping activity that needs to be reflected from the available records.
When these items are included in the engagement and supported by platform reports, they can be maintained separately from the underlying deposit so the bookkeeping records provide a clearer picture of the activity recorded through each system.
Keep the costs of running the online business organized too.
Ecommerce businesses can generate operating expenses across suppliers, shipping, fulfillment, advertising, software subscriptions, merchant fees, contractors, payroll, storage, and other business activity.
Consistent categorization and reconciliation help keep those expenses organized within the accounting records.
The appropriate accounting treatment for inventory, cost of goods sold, freight, duties, and other product-related costs depends on the business and its accounting requirements.
Dari & Associates does not provide tax advice through this bookkeeping service.
Product businesses may need inventory and cost information reflected in the books.
For ecommerce businesses that sell physical products, inventory and cost of goods sold can affect both the balance sheet and financial reporting.
The bookkeeping records may need information from ecommerce platforms, inventory systems, suppliers, fulfillment providers, or other source records.
Where inventory-related bookkeeping is part of the engagement, we work from the available records and the accounting structure established for the business.
Questions about inventory valuation methods, tax treatment, or accounting policy should remain with the client's CPA or appropriate accounting professional.
Keep sales tax bookkeeping separate from sales tax compliance.
Online sellers may encounter sales tax activity across ecommerce platforms and marketplaces.
From a bookkeeping perspective, available records may include amounts collected, withheld, remitted, or otherwise reported by a platform.
Where relevant to the bookkeeping engagement, this activity can be maintained within the accounting records based on the available source information and the accounting structure established for the business.
Sales tax registration, nexus analysis, tax calculations, filings, compliance advice, and tax positions are outside the standard bookkeeping scope and should remain with the client's tax professional or sales tax provider.
Ecommerce bookkeeping inside QuickBooks Online.
QuickBooks Online can provide the accounting foundation for an ecommerce business when activity from sales platforms, payment processors, bank accounts, credit cards, payroll, and operating expenses is maintained consistently.
Dari & Associates is led by a QuickBooks Online Advanced ProAdvisor and can maintain the recurring bookkeeping process in QuickBooks Online according to the agreed engagement scope through our QuickBooks Online bookkeeping service.
Bring ecommerce activity together every month.
Throughout the month, financial activity may move through ecommerce platforms, payment processors, bank accounts, credit cards, payroll systems, suppliers, advertising platforms, and other services.
A recurring month-end process brings the bookkeeping activity within scope together.
Relevant accounts are reconciled, supported transactions and balances are reviewed, outstanding bookkeeping items are addressed where the records allow, and agreed financial reports are prepared from the completed books. That is the core of our monthly bookkeeping.
Financial reports built from organized ecommerce books.
Once the recurring bookkeeping is complete, financial reports can provide a consistent view of the revenue, expenses, assets, liabilities, and equity recorded in the accounting system.
Depending on the engagement, reporting can include a profit and loss statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, and comparative financial reports.
Ecommerce books already behind or difficult to rely on?
High transaction volume and multiple platforms can make ecommerce bookkeeping difficult to keep current.
If several bookkeeping periods are incomplete, catch-up work may be the right starting point. If the books are current but contain reconciliation differences, duplicate transactions, incorrect classifications, or unreliable balances, cleanup may be more appropriate.
Keep the ecommerce books organized throughout the year.
Consistent bookkeeping gives your CPA or tax preparer organized accounting records to work from when year-end or filing time arrives.
Our role is to maintain the bookkeeping records within the agreed scope.
Tax returns, sales tax compliance, tax positions, tax advice, audits, assurance, and services outside the bookkeeping engagement remain with the appropriate professional.
One bookkeeping workflow across the online business.
- 01QuickBooks Online Bookkeeping
The accounting file where the online business's activity is maintained.
- 02Bank & Credit Card Reconciliation
Statements and books brought into agreement each month.
- 03Accounts Payable & Receivable
Supplier bills and payments kept current when in scope.
- 04Payroll Bookkeeping Support
Payroll activity recorded and reconciled from payroll reports.
- 05Month-End Close
A structured close that brings each month's records together.
- 06Financial Reporting
Reports prepared from completed, reconciled books.
- 07Monthly Bookkeeping
The recurring process that keeps the store's books current.
Questions about ecommerce bookkeeping
- What is ecommerce bookkeeping?
- Ecommerce bookkeeping is recurring bookkeeping for online businesses. It covers sales activity, platform and processor payouts, fees, refunds, operating expenses, bank and credit card reconciliations, month-end close, and financial reporting.
- Do you provide bookkeeping for Shopify stores?
- Yes. We can maintain bookkeeping for Shopify stores using the available Shopify, payment processor, bank, and accounting records, based on the agreed engagement scope.
- Do you provide bookkeeping for Amazon sellers?
- Yes, for businesses selling products on Amazon marketplaces. Amazon DSP delivery businesses are a different industry with separate bookkeeping needs, and we cover them on a dedicated page.
- Can you work with businesses selling through multiple platforms?
- Yes. Many online sellers use a combination of Shopify, Amazon, Etsy, eBay, WooCommerce, Stripe, PayPal, and similar platforms. We build the bookkeeping workflow around the reports and records each platform provides.
- Can you reconcile ecommerce payouts?
- Yes, where the required platform reports and source records are available and payout reconciliation is included in scope. A payout deposit may include fees, refunds, or other adjustments, so the platform records are used together with the bank activity.
- Can you record processing fees, refunds, and chargebacks?
- Yes, where they are supported by available platform and accounting records and included in the engagement scope.
- Do you provide inventory and COGS accounting?
- Product businesses may need inventory and cost of goods sold information reflected in the books. We maintain bookkeeping from the accounting structure and source records available within the agreed scope. Inventory valuation methods, accounting policies, and tax treatment should remain with your CPA or another appropriate accounting professional. We do not provide inventory management.
- Do you handle ecommerce sales tax?
- We can maintain relevant sales-tax-related bookkeeping activity from available records when it is included in scope. Sales tax nexus analysis, registration, calculation, filing, and compliance advice are not part of our standard bookkeeping services and should remain with your tax professional or sales tax provider.
- Can you maintain ecommerce bookkeeping in QuickBooks Online?
- Yes. Our practice is led by a QuickBooks Online Advanced ProAdvisor, and ecommerce bookkeeping is part of our QuickBooks Online bookkeeping work.
- Can you help if our ecommerce books are behind or need cleanup?
- Yes. If bookkeeping periods are missing, catch-up bookkeeping brings them current. If the books are current but contain errors or unreliable balances, QuickBooks cleanup may be the better starting point.
Keep the books moving with the business.
If sales are growing across online stores, marketplaces, and payment platforms while the bookkeeping is becoming harder to manage internally, we can review your current workflow and discuss a recurring bookkeeping process for your business.