Give each system one accounting role
The store or marketplace records order activity, while the processor records how customer money is settled. Decide which import creates the sale and which records the payment. Without that distinction, a bank-feed deposit can duplicate revenue that was already posted from the order export.
Maintain a clearing account for money moving through the processor. Gross customer charges, refunds, fees, reserves and releases explain the difference between the order total and the cash paid to the bank. Investigate unexplained differences rather than writing them off as fees.
Illustrative example: a Calgary seller closes the month
An online retailer has $24,000 of gross customer charges in a settlement period, $1,500 of refunds, $780 of processor fees and a new $1,000 reserve hold. The processor also releases $400 held earlier. Under these simplified assumptions, the expected payout is $21,120.
The calculation is $24,000 minus $1,500 minus $780 minus $1,000 plus $400. The gross charge figure includes amounts billed to customers, including any applicable sales tax; it is not automatically the revenue figure in the income statement. The tax and sales breakdown still comes from the underlying transactions.
Follow the return through all three records
A customer return can require an order credit, a processor refund and a stock movement. Link those records with the original order reference. If the item is damaged or has not arrived, do not assume it is available for resale merely because the customer has been refunded.
A refund that lands in the following settlement period should remain visible in the clearing reconciliation. Keeping the original sales and tax details helps the accountant review the credit treatment and prevents the same refund reducing revenue once through the store import and again through a manual bank entry.
Finish with a balance that can be explained
Compare the clearing-account balance with the processor's unsettled transactions and reserve reports. Explain timing differences individually where material. Then compare inventory movements with the actual warehouse records and the valuation policy in use.
The monthly close becomes easier when the team retains consistent exports instead of relying on a dashboard that changes as returns arrive. Owners can then assess sales performance, stock exposure and available cash without using one net deposit as a proxy for all three.
Put this into practice
Sources and current guidance
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