A blog on e-commerce accounting and management

The subject

Selling online produces a set of books that looks nothing like a conventional retailer's. Platforms pay out net amounts, stock is held by third parties in several countries, money arrives through payment providers that keep their fees first, and a sale can be undone weeks after it was recorded.

These topics are poorly documented. What exists is either too general to be useful or written to sell a tool. This blog exists to close that gap, one problem at a time, taken to the end.

What it covers

• Rebuilding revenue from marketplace payouts.
• Fee families, refunds, chargebacks and currencies.
• VAT on distance selling: thresholds, the one-stop shop, imports, stock held abroad.
• Valuing inventory held by a third party, and inventory discrepancies.
• Management reporting: net margin by channel, cash, the figures that drive decisions.

No services are offered

Qantiv is a publication. This site sells nothing, offers no engagement, issues no quote and accepts no work.

There is no commercial offer, no price list and no enquiry form here. Everything published is informational and general: it describes principles and common cases, not your situation. It is not advice and does not replace a professional's analysis of your own file.

If a piece is useful to you, use it to ask better questions of whoever keeps your books. That is what it is for.

The method

• One subject per piece, taken to the end rather than skimmed.
• No invented figures: a rate, a threshold or a price that has not been verified is not published.
• Where a treatment depends on judgement, that is stated rather than settled in one line.
• Pieces are dated and corrected when the rule changes.
• No sponsored content, no affiliate links, no paid partnerships.

Contact

To report an error, suggest a subject or ask a technical question: contact@qantiv.com. Reasoned corrections are welcome and get applied.