Accounting for online businesses, where every channel reports differently.
Selling across Shopify, Amazon, a retail floor, and wholesale means four systems that each net out fees, returns, and settlements their own way. Dropping the deposit total into the books loses the detail — and with it, any real view of margin or inventory.
The four problems we see most in e-commerce & retail
Deposits booked as revenue
Net settlements recorded as sales, hiding merchant fees, refunds, and chargebacks entirely.
Inventory that doesn't reconcile
Stock on hand disagreeing with the balance sheet, which makes COGS — and therefore profit — fiction.
Channel margin invisible
No view of which marketplace actually makes money once fees and returns are counted.
Cash tied up in stock
Profitable on paper, broke in practice, because the money is sitting in a warehouse.
What we do about it
- Reconcile every channel gross, with fees and refunds broken out
- Get inventory and COGS tying to the balance sheet
- Report margin by channel and by product line
- Forecast cash around inventory purchase cycles and seasonality
- Integrate your platforms so it stays clean without manual entry
What this means when you go for financing
E-commerce borrowing usually funds inventory ahead of a season. Lenders want to see accurate COGS, real margin, and a cash forecast that shows the stock converts — a level of detail deposit-only bookkeeping can never produce.
The services behind the work
Most engagements start with a cleanup, then move into ongoing accounting and a loan-ready package.