Ecommerce bookkeeping
- Monthly fee that scope implies at the quoted rate
- $495
- Hours of bookkeeping the scope takes each month (rounded)
- 11
- Over a year
- $5,940
The record-keeping periods these pages cite are the IRS's published figures; every fee, hour and rate is arithmetic on the numbers you typed, and no figure on this site is a published national price for bookkeeping, because there is none.
Ecommerce bookkeeping differs from a shop's or a trade's in one place that a general bookkeeper often gets wrong: the money does not arrive one sale at a time. A marketplace or a card processor settles in batches, net of its fees, refunds and reserves, and the deposit on the bank statement has to be reconciled back to the individual orders, the fees, the sales tax collected and the returns. A bookkeeper who books the deposit as revenue is understating sales and losing the fees, and the mistake compounds every settlement. This guide is for the store owner choosing a service, and the pricing calculator on this site prices the scope.
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Count the channels, not just the transactions
Each marketplace, storefront and payment processor settles on its own statement in its own shape. The number of channels drives the reconciliation work more than the number of orders, so give it to the bookkeeper first and put it into the scope sheet as its own line.
Reconcile settlements to orders, fees and tax
For every settlement: gross sales, less processor and marketplace fees, less refunds, less reserves held, equals the deposit. Sales tax collected by a marketplace on your behalf is tracked apart from your own revenue. This is the monthly work an ecommerce bookkeeper is paid for.
Agree what inventory and cost of sales look like
Stock bought, stock sold, and what is left decide the gross margin, and an ecommerce bookkeeper needs a monthly stock figure or a costing method to book cost of sales. Agree where that number comes from before the first month or the profit and loss will be a sales report.
A quote the Ecommerce bookkeeping does not explain?
Tell us which figure on a quote does not add up and we will tell you how the sheet arrives at it.
What an owner comparing bookkeeping quotes asks about the Ecommerce bookkeeping
Why does my bank deposit not match my sales report?
Because the processor deducted its fees, refunds and any reserve before paying out, and may have settled several days of orders in one deposit. Reconciling the two is the core of ecommerce bookkeeping, and it is the first thing to ask a prospective bookkeeper how they do.
What is a Form 1099-K and why does it matter to the books?
It is the annual statement a payment processor or marketplace sends reporting the gross payments it processed for you. The books should reconcile to it, which is only possible if settlements were booked gross with fees shown, not net.
Does an ecommerce bookkeeper handle sales tax?
Some do, for the states you are registered in; many do not, and marketplace-collected tax adds a layer. Ask which states and which channels the quote covers, and put the rest in the scope as an extra or elsewhere.