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Industries

Ecommerce (Amazon and Shopify)

Short answer

Finbryn sorts Amazon and Shopify payouts into sales, fees, refunds and reserves inside QuickBooks Online, Xero or Sage 50, tracked against GST/HST by province. We watch the C$30,000 small supplier threshold, flag when a store is close to needing a GST/HST account, and track landed cost by SKU so channel margin is visible, not buried in one bank deposit.

Management report

Illustrative client · August 2026

CAD

Reviewed before sending
Profit and loss
LineAugJul
Revenue142,380131,904
Cost of sales(51,260)(48,115)
Gross profit91,12083,789
Payroll(46,300)(45,900)
SoftwareNoted(6,480)(5,490)
Rent(8,000)(8,000)
Other operating(9,215)(9,870)
Net income21,12514,529

Reviewer's note

Software is up on last month after two seats were added mid-month. Revenue includes one milestone invoice that will not repeat next month.

Illustrative. An example of the document, not a client's figures.

Exceptions report

Where the books usually hurt

  • Marketplace payouts land as one lump sum that hides sales, fees, refunds and reserves

  • Cost of goods sold gets estimated instead of tracked by SKU and inventory location

  • Sales tax nexus creeps across states as revenue grows and nobody notices until a notice arrives

  • Multiple sales channels mean multiple ledgers that never quite reconcile to the bank

Why Canadian ecommerce books drift first

A marketplace payout is not revenue. It is gross sales minus Amazon or Shopify fees, refunds, advertising and a reserve, wired to your bank as a single number in Canadian dollars. Sellers who book that deposit as income lose the split between what customers paid and what the platform kept, and lose it by province, which matters once GST/HST enters the picture.

Finbryn connects Seller Central and Shopify to QuickBooks Online, Xero or Sage 50 and reconciles each payout against the bank and against platform reports directly, because connector feeds can drift during a high-volume month like November. Cost of goods sold is tracked by SKU from supplier invoices and freight or duty paperwork, instead of one blended percentage that hides a losing product line inside a profitable one.

GST/HST and the small supplier line

A business stops being a small supplier, and must register for GST/HST, once worldwide taxable revenue passes C$30,000 in a single calendar quarter or over four consecutive quarters, and registration is due within 29 days of crossing that line, charged retroactively on the sale that triggered it. We track that threshold against your rolling sales data and flag it early rather than after a Canada Revenue Agency notice arrives. Once registered, filing frequency follows annual revenue: annual up to C$1.5 million, quarterly from there to C$6 million, monthly above that. HST participating provinces (Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island) blend federal and provincial tax into one rate; other provinces charge the 5% federal GST plus their own provincial sales tax separately, and we keep those two calculations apart in the books rather than merging them.

What changes when you switch to Finbryn

You keep the QuickBooks Online, Xero or Sage 50 file. GST/HST return preparation is handled as preparation support: the actual filing rests with your own CRA business number and account, or with a credentialed Canadian signer where one is engaged. Books close by business day five with a named pod and a recorded handover memo if anyone on it ever changes.

Questions

Frequently asked questions: Ecommerce (Amazon and Shopify)

Do you connect to A2X or Link My Books for Canadian sellers?

Yes, either one, matched to whichever connector already links your marketplace to QuickBooks Online, Xero or Sage 50.

Do you track GST/HST separately from provincial sales tax?

Yes, HST provinces get one blended rate, non-HST provinces get GST and PST tracked as two separate lines, matched to where each sale actually shipped.

Can you tell me when I need to register for GST/HST?

Yes, we watch your rolling sales against the C$30,000 small supplier threshold and flag it well before the 29-day registration window opens.

Do you file the GST/HST return for us?

We prepare the return and the supporting reconciliation. Filing sits with your own CRA account or a credentialed Canadian partner, never quietly done on your behalf.

Do you handle inventory-based cost of goods sold, not just marketplace fees?

Yes. Cost of goods sold is tracked by SKU and inventory location rather than estimated at year end, and reconciled against the marketplace settlement data A2X or Link My Books brings in. That gives you a gross margin number by product, not just a lump payout figure.

Do you work with A2X or Link My Books?

Yes, either one, depending on which the seller already has connected to their marketplace and accounting software.

Can you track cost of goods sold by product?

Yes, when landed cost and inventory data are available from the seller's supplier records or 3PL.

What are the common bookkeeping challenges for a ecommerce (Amazon and Shopify) business?

Beyond the basics, sales tax nexus creeps across states as revenue grows and nobody notices until a notice arrives and multiple sales channels mean multiple ledgers that never quite reconcile to the bank come up often in this industry. We build the chart of accounts and reconciliation process around those specific patterns rather than a generic template that ignores how the business actually operates.

What software do you support for ecommerce (Amazon and Shopify)?

We work inside Shopify and Amazon Seller Central, along with the other tools listed on this page that are common in the ecommerce (Amazon and Shopify) industry. If you have no file yet, we set one up in your name so you own it from day one.

Next step

Talk to the team that would run your books

A short call covers your setup, your software and what a first month would look like. You get a written scope and price after it.