“Why does the marketplace payout never match the orders?”

Ecommerce

Payouts reconciled to the fees and returns inside them, so margin is after deductions rather than before.

Why the payout never matches

Because the deposit is net of things the order never mentioned: commission, fulfilment fees, advertising, returns processed after the sale, and adjustments from a previous period. One deposit can span three weeks of activity.

So the reconciliation is done by hand, or not done, and reported margin is gross of deductions that materially change it.

The payout is reconciled to the transactions inside it — sales, fees, refunds and adjustments — rather than to an order total, so the bank line clears against real components.

Returns post as credit notes against the original sale, restoring stock and reversing the cost of sale, so margin corrects itself rather than being adjusted later.

How Books handles a payout

What changes for margin

Cost of goods, marketplace fees and shipping are all deductions on the same ledger, so contribution per channel is a query. A channel that looks profitable on revenue and is not on contribution becomes visible in the month.

Multi-currency holds the rate on the day, and inventory across warehouses posts as movements happen.

Nine days, and the ninth is your first close.

Other ways in

Ecommerce, answered.

Bring the handover that hurts most.

Half an hour on your own numbers is usually enough to say whether Books is the right place to start.