Connecting ecommerce settlements to bookkeeping

Connect ecommerce settlements by recording what customers paid, what was refunded, what the payment provider charged and what reached the bank. A payout is the result of those movements. Posting it as sales income alone loses the explanation for the difference.

Separate the order from the payout

Start with an order or sales report and a payment-provider activity or payout report for the same period. Identify which system records the sale, which one records the payment, and whether an order can be paid in parts.

Note the reference that links each payment, refund and payout. A platform's payment activity can have different dates and totals from its order-based sales report, so define which report answers each question.

Use a clearing account, if appropriate for the accounting setup, to track money held by the payment provider before deposit. The accounting entry should explain the movement from a customer payment through refunds and fees to the net payout. Reconcile the clearing balance to amounts still with the provider, rather than forcing it to zero at each bank date.

Consider this illustrative reconciliation, with no GST treatment implied: customer payments of A$1,000, customer refunds of A$100 and provider fees of A$30 leave A$870 for payout, assuming no other movements. The A$870 bank deposit does not by itself describe A$900 of net customer payments or A$30 of fees. Real reports may also contain disputes, reserves, adjustments or timing differences.

Build a traceable import

Choose whether the ledger receives individual transactions or a controlled summary. For a summary, retain the underlying order and payout detail, the date range, currency and source report used. Avoid mixing a sales summary with another connector's individual order entries; that can record the same revenue twice.

Map refunds separately from fees. A refund reverses or adjusts a customer transaction; a provider fee is a cost charged by the provider. Keep the original sale and refund references together so a later return is not mistaken for a negative sale on an unrelated day.

Ask the accountant to approve GST codes and the timing of any adjustments for the business's actual sales and fees.

Match each payout to a bank deposit using the payout reference and amount. If dates differ, leave a documented amount in transit. If the amount differs, inspect the provider's transaction breakdown before posting a balancing entry. Check for a payout covering several trading days or a refund funded from a later payout.

Check before automating

Test an ordinary payment, partial refund, fee, delayed deposit and retry of the same export. Confirm that each source transaction appears once, the clearing account explains unpaid amounts, and the bank deposit matches without creating new income.

Keep a named owner for unmatched payouts and ageing balances. These checks should continue after launch, especially when the store adds a payment method or changes its refund workflow.

Australian record-keeping guidance includes sales, expenses, bank and relevant GST records. Keep the source reports and supporting transactions accessible even when the accounting system holds a summary entry.