One Deposit.
Six Lines in the Ledger.
Every payout broken back into gross sales, platform fees, refunds, reserve and sales tax — and tied to the platform’s own reports, not approximated.
See the Difference
The Same Payout, Booked Two Ways
The deposit is identical. What your accounts can tell you afterward is not.
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Bank | $8,540 | |
| Sales | $8,540 | |
| Total | $8,540 | $8,540 |
Fast, balanced, and wrong in five places. Profit might land close; everything underneath it is missing.
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Bank | $8,540 | |
| Merchant and Platform Fees | $360 | |
| Refunds and Returns | $900 | |
| Reserve Held by Platform | $600 | |
| Gross Sales | $10,000 | |
| Sales Tax Payable | $400 | |
| Total | $10,400 | $10,400 |
Same bank balance. Now the fee rate, refund rate, reserve and tax liability are all on the record.
Platform by Platform
Different Reports, the Same Discipline
Shopify Payments
What nets out: Processing fees, refunds, chargebacks and any reserve, netted out of each payout.
What we tie it to: the payout detail from Shopify Payments, order by order. The clearing account for Shopify Payments has to return to zero, or something is missing.
Amazon
What nets out: Referral and fulfillment fees, refunds, promotions, reimbursements and reserve, netted into each settlement period.
What we tie it to: the settlement report for each period, split at month-end. The clearing account for Amazon has to return to zero, or something is missing.
Stripe
What nets out: Processing fees, refunds and disputes, netted out of each payout.
What we tie it to: Stripe’s payout reconciliation data, charge by charge. The clearing account for Stripe has to return to zero, or something is missing.
PayPal
What nets out: Transaction fees, refunds, holds and currency conversion, inside a balance you transfer out when you choose.
What we tie it to: the activity and balance reports, including holds and conversions. The clearing account for PayPal has to return to zero, or something is missing.
Walmart
What nets out: Referral fees, refunds and adjustments, netted into each settlement.
What we tie it to: the settlement report for each cycle. The clearing account for Walmart has to return to zero, or something is missing.
Etsy
What nets out: Transaction, processing, listing and advertising fees, netted out before each deposit.
What we tie it to: the monthly statement and deposit detail. The clearing account for Etsy has to return to zero, or something is missing.
How We Reconcile
Proof, Not Approximation
A Clearing Account per Platform
Each payout flows through its own clearing account. When the account returns to zero, the payout is fully explained. When it doesn’t, something is missing.
Tied to Platform Reports
Every figure traced to the platform’s own settlement or payout data, not estimated from the deposit.
Reserve Tracked as an Asset
Money the platform is holding sits on your balance sheet until it is released, so your cash position is real.
Month-End Handled
Settlements that cross month-end are split so each month carries its own sales, fees and refunds.
Chargebacks and Disputes
Recorded against the original sale, with outcomes followed through rather than left hanging.
Multiple Currencies
Converted at the rate actually applied, with the difference recorded rather than buried in a fee line.
A2X
Tools Summarize. People Check.
A2X turns thousands of platform transactions into clean summary journals, and for Shopify or Amazon at any real volume it — or an equivalent — is close to essential. Setup and mapping is $350 one-time.
But a connector is only as good as its mapping, and mappings drift as you add products, channels and fee types. So A2X output is reconciled back to the ledger every period, and the clearing accounts prove it.
Pricing
Priced by Channel Count
Added to the monthly bookkeeping tier.
Historical work is scoped from the free diagnostic.
Questions
Settlement Reconciliation, Specifically
What Is a Clearing Account, and Why Does It Matter?
A holding account each payout passes through. Gross sales go in; fees, refunds, reserve and the bank deposit come out. If everything is recorded, it returns to zero. It turns reconciliation from a judgment call into a check anyone can verify.
Do I Need A2X?
For Shopify or Amazon at any real volume, yes — or an equivalent. We set it up, manage the mapping and reconcile its output every period.
What About Settlements That Cross Month-End?
They are split, so each month carries its own sales, fees and refunds. Otherwise one month looks unusually strong and the next unusually weak, and neither is true.
Can You Rebuild Past Settlements?
Yes, from platform reports, as a fixed-price cleanup project. It is what makes last year’s figures comparable with this year’s.
Do You Handle Multiple Currencies?
Yes. Sales and payouts are converted at the rate actually applied, and the difference is recorded as a currency gain or loss rather than disappearing into fees.
Also Available
The Rest of the Back Office
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