QantivE-commerce accountingWhat actually separates a specialist firm
It is not the software and it is not the pitch. It comes down to one capability: rebuilding real revenue from what the platforms pay out, every month, without you having to reprocess anything first.
An online seller never receives the value of their sales. They receive a net payout: gross sales, less commissions, less handling and fulfilment fees, less the period's refunds, less withholdings, plus the occasional reserve released from an earlier cycle. A general firm records that transfer. A specialist firm takes it apart.
Booking the net payout produces understated revenue, a false margin and incorrect output VAT. That is not a presentation detail.
Seven checks before you sign
Ask these in order. The right-hand column is not nitpicking: each one is a sign the file will be treated like an ordinary retail business.
| What you ask | A reassuring answer | An answer that should worry you |
|---|---|---|
| Rebuilding gross | Describes the path from net payout to gross revenue, and how often they do it | "We start from the bank statement" |
| Countries of storage | Asks where your stock sits before discussing VAT | Never asks |
| EU VAT regime | Separates the one-stop shop from local registrations and says when one is not enough | "OSS covers everything" |
| Inventory valuation | Explains how they value stock held by a third party at closing | Takes the platform's figure as is |
| Refunds and chargebacks | Handles them separately from sales, each with its own period | Nets them off revenue |
| Currencies | Names the rate used and how differences are treated at closing | Uses whatever the bank converted |
| Margin by channel | Produces net margin per platform, advertising and logistics included | Produces one annual blended margin |
The connector is not the competence
Many firms lead with their integrations. A connector retrieves data; it does not decide how that data is treated. Two firms on the same software can produce very different accounts, because the judgements — which period a refund belongs to, how third-party stock is valued, what happens to exchange differences — stay human.
So the question is not "what tools do you use" but "show me one marketplace payout reconciled, on an anonymised file". That one sorts the field quickly.
What moves the price
No range is given here: a credible range would need market data this site does not have. The factors that move a budget, though, are always the same.
- The number of sales channels, more than the volume: two marketplaces cost more to handle than a single store with twice the revenue.
- The number of countries where stock is held, which drives the filing obligations.
- The number of currencies and payment providers.
- The quality of what you hand over: a file with clean exports is far quicker to process.
- The frequency expected: monthly management figures are not priced like an annual filing.
Further reading
The same reasoning platform by platform: Amazon FBA accounting, where third-party stock complicates everything, and Shopify accounting, where the hard part is reconciliation. On tax, start with the EU VAT, OSS and IOSS guide.
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