E-commerce
Your platform dashboard shows sales. Your books should show profit. Most sellers can't see the difference.
Data Rich, Profit Blind
You have more real-time data than any retail business in history. Daily sales. Conversion rates. Traffic sources. Customer acquisition costs. Inventory velocity. The dashboards are beautiful. You can answer almost any question about your business in thirty seconds.
Except the one that matters most: are you actually making money? And if so, on what?
Platform dashboards are built to keep you selling. They show revenue, not profit. They show sales, not margins. The number Amazon displays is before they take their cut. The Shopify analytics don’t include credit card fees, the shipping that ran over budget, or the Facebook ad spend that drove those orders. You think you had a great month. Then you look at the bank account and wonder where the money went.
Fees Hide in the Settlement
When Amazon deposits money in your account, it’s not a simple revenue number. It’s gross sales minus referral fees, FBA fees, storage fees, advertising deductions, refund adjustments, removal order costs, and a dozen other line items. That single deposit might represent hundreds of transactions and dozens of fee types. If you just record the net deposit as revenue, you’re hiding what you’re actually paying Amazon.
Same story with Shopify and your payment processors. Stripe takes 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction. PayPal has its own structure. Then there are chargebacks, disputes, and currency conversion fees if you sell internationally. You need to see gross revenue and fees separately or you’ll never understand your real margins.
Settlement Reconciliation
Settlement Reconciliation
We break apart the settlement statements so you see actual revenue, every fee category, and net proceeds. You’ll know exactly what Amazon, Shopify, and your payment processors cost you each month.
True Margin Visibility
True Margin Visibility
Product cost plus fees plus shipping plus advertising. When all the costs are allocated properly, you see which products actually make money and which ones just move volume.
The Stuff That Gets Messy
E-commerce bookkeeping has quirks that general bookkeepers often miss. Sales tax rules that span dozens of states. Inventory that sits in Amazon warehouses you’ve never seen. Returns that show up weeks after the original sale. Cash tied up in stock while you wait for platform payouts. It’s not impossibly complex, but it requires understanding how these businesses actually work.
Most e-commerce sellers started small. Maybe a side project that grew faster than expected. The bookkeeping that worked at $50K in sales doesn’t work at $500K. You need systems that match the complexity of the business you’ve built.
Sales Tax Nexus
Sales Tax Nexus
You probably have tax obligations in states you’ve never visited. Economic nexus thresholds mean your sales created a filing requirement. We track your exposure by state and handle the filings so you’re not one audit away from a nasty surprise.
Inventory Accounting
Inventory Accounting
What did that product actually cost? Purchase price plus freight plus customs duties plus warehouse receiving. Most sellers guess at COGS because they never calculated landed cost properly. Your margins might be better or worse than you think.
Returns and Refunds
Returns and Refunds
Some product categories run 20% or higher return rates. Are you accounting for that? Returns create timing issues in the books and eat into margins that looked good on paper. We track them so your profitability numbers reflect reality.
Cash Trapped in Inventory
Cash Trapped in Inventory
You bought $40K in inventory for Q4 but Amazon holds payment for two weeks after each sale. Your biggest revenue quarter can also be your tightest cash flow month. We help you plan around the timing so growth doesn’t create a cash crisis.
What Changes
You stop guessing. That product you thought was your bestseller might barely break even after all costs. The one with fewer sales might be your most profitable SKU. You start making decisions about advertising spend, inventory buys, and product development based on actual margin data instead of revenue volume.
The compliance headaches fade. Sales tax is tracked and filed. Your books reconcile to your bank accounts. Tax season becomes straightforward because everything is categorized correctly throughout the year. You focus on growing the business while the financial foundation stays solid underneath.
Profitability by Product and Channel
Profitability by Product and Channel
See which SKUs and which sales channels actually make money. Maybe Amazon drives volume but your own site has better margins. Maybe that new product line isn’t worth the advertising spend. The data tells you where to focus.
Confident Inventory Decisions
Confident Inventory Decisions
Historical data shows what sold, when it sold, and what it actually cost. You buy smarter. You stock smarter. You stop tying up cash in products that sit in storage collecting fees.
Greater Boston's Trusted Bookkeeping Partner
The Next Step:
A Short Conversation
We'll ask a few questions, figure out what you need, and give you a straightforward quote.