Treat each platform's payout as a settlement to reconcile, not as your sales figure. Record gross sales, fees, refunds and postage separately for each channel, then check they add up to the amount that actually reached your bank. Recording bank deposits as sales gets turnover and profit wrong.
Every platform pays you a net amount after taking fees, refunds and sometimes postage. If you book that payout as a sale, turnover is understated, fees are missed, and your VAT return and profit are wrong. That matters for the £90,000 VAT threshold test too, because it counts gross sales.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross sales | £1,000 |
| Less platform fees | −£120 |
| Less refunds | −£50 |
| Less postage labels | −£40 |
| Payout to bank | £790 |
In the books, sales are £1,000, and the fees, refunds and postage are recorded on their own lines. The bank shows £790, and the two agree.
Tools such as A2X and Link My Books read settlement data from platforms including Amazon, Etsy, eBay and Shopify and post it into Xero or QuickBooks as one summary entry per settlement. They save time once volumes grow, though they still need someone to check the mapping. Related guides: refunds and returns and VAT across channels.
Sources: GOV.UK: keeping business records.
We set up proper multi-channel reconciliation for online sellers, so books and bank balance line up.
Talk to an AccountantTreat each platform's payout as a settlement to reconcile, not as your sales figure. Record gross sales, fees, refunds and postage separately for each channel, then check they add up to the amount that actually reached your bank. Recording bank deposits as sales gets turnover and profit wrong.
Platforms pay you net of fees, refunds and sometimes postage or reserves. The bank figure is the settlement, not the gross sales, so it will always be lower than your sales total.
They are useful once you have several channels or high order volumes, because they post each settlement as one summary entry. A single low-volume shop can often be reconciled by hand with a spreadsheet.
Monthly at minimum. Doing it as each settlement arrives is better, because differences such as missed fees or reserves are far easier to trace soon after they happen.