Bookkeeping for Retail & Online Stores

Retail bookkeeping is deceptively difficult because the numbers appear straightforward and are not. A store selling through a physical point of sale, its own website and one or more marketplaces has three or more sources of truth about what it sold, none of which agrees with the bank, and each of which reports in a different form.

The core issue is gross versus net. A marketplace reports the order value, then deducts commission, referral fees, payment processing, advertising, shipping charges and refunds, and settles the balance on a delayed cycle. For GST purposes the gross sale is what you report, and the fees are separate expenses on which credits may be available. A retailer who records only the deposited amount understates sales, understates expenses and gets the BAS wrong in both directions at once. The error is invisible in the bank feed, which is exactly why it persists.

Cross border sales add another layer. Goods sold into Australia below the low value threshold generally carry GST collected by the marketplace rather than the seller, and goods sold to overseas customers are generally GST free exports where the relevant conditions are met. Selling across both domestic and international channels without separating them produces a return that is wrong on every line.

Inventory is where retail cash actually sits. Stock on the shelf is money already spent, and slow moving lines tie up working capital that could be funding stock that sells. Without cost of goods tracked properly, revenue tells you nothing about profitability, and pricing decisions are made on instinct. Periodic stocktakes reconciled against purchases and sales also surface shrinkage, which no retailer wants to look for and every retailer has.

Gift cards and store credits are the last piece. Money received for goods not yet supplied is an obligation rather than revenue until it is redeemed or expires, and treating card sales as income in the month they are sold distorts both the strong month and the quiet one that follows.

We reconcile your point of sale, website, marketplaces and payment providers back to your bank, separate domestic from export sales for GST, track inventory and cost of goods so your margins are real, handle unearned revenue correctly, run payroll for your retail staff, and prepare your BAS.