Ecommerce-to-accounting integrations: the move to platform workflows

February 2026

Ecommerce and accounting systems have always needed to “agree” on the basics: what you sold, what you collected, what you refunded, and what fees were taken out before the money hit your bank. A recent, practical trend in the integration landscape is that more of the workflow is being shaped by the ecommerce and accounting platforms themselves (and their built-in marketplaces, app review processes, and security requirements), rather than by custom scripts or one-off manual routines.

For small-to-medium online merchants and the accountants who support them, this matters because it changes what “good integration” looks like. It’s less about simply getting data across, and more about choosing a connection that fits your operational needs: settlement-based reconciliation, consistent tax handling, clean audit trails, and predictable month-end close. If you want background on what CarryTheOne connects and why that can reduce manual work, see CarryTheOne.

1) More emphasis on payouts and settlements (not just orders)

Many merchants still think about accounting sync in terms of orders: one order equals one invoice or sales receipt. That can work in some cases, but it often clashes with how money actually arrives. Card processors and marketplaces typically pay out in batches (daily, weekly, or on a rolling schedule), and those payouts reflect fees, chargebacks, currency conversions, and timing differences.

Across the ecosystem, integrations are increasingly expected to support a settlement-based view:

What it means in practice

• Cleaner bank reconciliation: When the accounting entry matches the net payout that lands in the bank, reconciling becomes faster and less error-prone.
• Better visibility of fees: Processor and platform fees can be captured as separate lines or accounts, instead of being “hidden” inside a net deposit that’s hard to explain later.
• Fewer timing surprises: Refunds, partial captures, and delayed payments are easier to trace when the accounting system reflects how the funds settled.

What to watch for

• How refunds are represented: Some workflows post refunds against original sales; others post them as separate negative receipts. Either can be valid, but you want consistency.
• How disputes/chargebacks are handled: Not all integrations treat them the same way, and some may require manual steps depending on your payment provider and platform.
• Multi-currency settlement: If you sell in one currency and settle in another, ask how exchange rates, gains/losses, and fee currency are captured. There is not a single universal approach across platforms.

2) Tighter permissions and security requirements are shaping integrations

Another noticeable change is that ecommerce and accounting platforms are tightening security controls: more granular permissions, stronger authentication, and closer scrutiny of apps in marketplaces. This is generally good for reducing risk, but it does affect day-to-day operations.

What it means in practice

• More structured app access: Connecting an integration may now require admin-level approval, explicit scopes/permissions, and periodic reauthorisation.
• Clearer responsibility: It’s easier to see which app has access to what (orders, payouts, customers, tax settings), which helps with internal controls—especially when an external accountant is involved.
• Potential for “silent breakages” to become “visible breakages”: Where older connections might continue running with broad access, newer policies can cause a sync to pause when credentials expire or permissions change. This is not always predictable, because platforms can update policies on their own schedules.

How merchants and accountants can adapt

• Document who owns the connection: Decide whether the merchant admin or the accounting firm controls the integration login. Shared responsibility often leads to missed reauthorisations.
• Use a simple change process: If someone changes tax settings, payment methods, or ecommerce checkout configuration, include “does this affect the accounting sync?” as a standard check.
• Schedule a quick monthly review: A 10-minute check of sync status, error logs (if available), and last successful run can prevent a messy quarter-end cleanup.

3) Tax and compliance complexity is pushing for better mapping (and fewer assumptions)

Tax calculation in ecommerce can be complicated: different jurisdictions, thresholds, inclusive vs exclusive pricing, shipping taxability, and exemptions. Meanwhile, accounting systems need consistent categorisation for reporting and filings. A practical trend is that integrations are expected to be more explicit about mapping and less reliant on assumptions like “all sales are standard-rated” or “shipping is always non-taxable”.

This isn’t about any single rule change; it’s about the reality that merchants increasingly sell across regions and channels, and accountants need transactions posted in a way that supports accurate reporting.

Practical implications

• More upfront setup: You may need to map product types, tax codes/rates, shipping, discounts, gift cards, and tips (where relevant) more carefully than in the past.
• Channel differences matter: The same product sold on your own site vs a marketplace can have different fee structures and sometimes different tax treatment. Your accounting needs to reflect that distinction if you want meaningful margins and correct tax reporting.
• Data quality becomes a monthly close issue: Inconsistent SKU usage, ad-hoc discounting, or changing tax settings mid-month can create mispostings that only become visible when reconciling payouts or preparing returns.

Questions to ask before you “set and forget”

• Does the integration post gross sales and fees separately, or only net deposits?
• How are discounts and shipping represented in the accounting system?
• Can you report by channel (e.g., Shopify vs marketplace) without manual rework?
• What happens when a tax rate changes or you add a new region?

Concluding checklist: a practical review for your next month-end

• Reconciliation fit: Are accounting entries aligned to payouts/settlements that match your bank deposits?
• Fees visibility: Are payment and platform fees posted clearly to the right accounts?
• Refunds and disputes: Do you have a consistent method for refunds, chargebacks, and reversals?
• Permissions ownership: Do you know who controls app authorisations and who will handle reauthorisation if needed?
• Tax mapping: Are products, shipping, discounts, and gift cards mapped to the right tax codes/accounts?
• Channel reporting: Can you separate performance by storefront/channel without exporting and rebuilding spreadsheets?
• Routine checks: Do you have a monthly “sync health” review to catch issues early?

Ecommerce accounting integrations shift toward cleaner, auditable data

February 2026

Connecting an online store to accounting software used to be mainly about “getting the sales in.” That is still important, but the integration landscape has been changing in a practical way: more merchants and accountants are now prioritizing the quality of the data posted to the books—how well it can be explained, reconciled, and audited—rather than how quickly it arrives.

This matters because ecommerce businesses have become more complex. Even a small store may sell through multiple channels, use several payment methods, issue refunds and store credits, run subscriptions, and handle sales tax/VAT in different jurisdictions. When the accounting entries don’t reflect that complexity, month-end close becomes slower, and it becomes harder to answer basic questions like “Why does revenue differ from payouts?” or “What’s sitting in clearing accounts?”

Trend: from “sync everything” to “post what you can reconcile”

A noticeable shift in integrations is the move away from pushing large volumes of raw transaction data into accounting ledgers, and toward posting summaries and mappings that support reconciliation. In practice, that can look like:

More deliberate grouping. Instead of one accounting entry per order, some workflows post daily or payout-based summaries. This can reduce ledger noise and make bank reconciliation more straightforward—especially when deposits are batched by a payment processor.

Clear separation of components. Integrations increasingly break down sales into parts that accountants care about: gross sales, discounts, shipping income, sales tax/VAT, refunds, tips (where relevant), and fees. The goal is not perfect detail in the ledger; it’s a posting structure that matches how cash actually moves.

Purpose-built clearing accounts. Many merchants now expect a structured “payments clearing” approach, where sales and refunds are recorded separately from the eventual payout. This can help reconcile the difference between store-level activity and the net deposit after fees, chargebacks, and adjustments.

There is no single best posting style for every business. Some merchants need order-level detail for product or customer analysis, while others only need reliable financial statements and smooth reconciliation. The practical implication is that your integration should be configured intentionally, not left on default settings.

For accountants, this trend means fewer “mystery balances” caused by half-captured activity (for example, refunds posted without the related fee reversal, or payouts posted without the underlying sales). For merchants, it means fewer surprises at month-end and a clearer path from store performance metrics to financial statements.

More attention to taxes, jurisdictions, and marketplace-style complexity

Another change is that merchants are paying more attention to how taxes and regulated amounts flow through ecommerce and into accounting. The specifics vary by country and by platform, and the rules can change. What is consistent is the need for the integration to support correct classification of amounts, even when tax calculation happens outside the accounting system.

Common real-world scenarios include:

Multiple tax regimes. A merchant might sell into several states, provinces, or countries, each with different tax rules and reporting requirements. In some setups, taxes are collected and remitted by the merchant; in others (such as certain marketplace arrangements), the platform may collect and remit. Integrations need to distinguish between tax you owe and tax that is handled elsewhere. Not all platforms expose the same level of detail, so it’s important to confirm what your store and payment providers actually provide.

Inclusive vs. exclusive pricing. Some regions commonly price products inclusive of VAT/GST, while others price exclusive of sales tax. If the integration assumes the wrong approach, you can end up overstating revenue or misposting tax liabilities.

Refunds, discounts, and gift cards. Tax treatment can differ depending on whether a reduction is a discount at time of sale, a later refund, a store credit, or a gift card redemption. The integration may need specific mappings so that liabilities (like unredeemed gift cards) don’t get mixed into revenue.

The takeaway is practical: tax-related fields should be reviewed during setup and again when you expand into new jurisdictions or add new selling channels. Merchants don’t need to become tax experts, but they do need a repeatable process with their accountant: identify where tax is calculated, where it is reported, and how it is represented in the accounting ledger.

Operational controls: audit trails, permissions, and change management

As integrations become a core part of the financial workflow, more businesses are treating them like financial systems that require basic controls. This isn’t only for large companies. Small-to-medium merchants often face the same practical risks: duplicate postings after a reconnect, changed mappings after an app update, or a new staff member adjusting settings without realizing the accounting impact.

Recent integration practices increasingly emphasize:

Traceability. Being able to trace an accounting entry back to a settlement, payout, or date range in the ecommerce platform. This is helpful for explaining variances and for responding to auditor or lender questions.

Controlled configuration. Keeping a record of key settings: chart of accounts mappings, tax handling choices, and the posting schedule. Where possible, merchants and accountants agree on who can change what, and when changes should be reviewed.

Exception handling. Instead of expecting the sync to be “set and forget,” teams plan for exceptions: partial refunds, chargebacks, negative payouts, currency conversions, and discontinued products. Some of these depend on what your payment processors and platforms provide; if the data isn’t available, the accounting workflow must fill the gap.

None of this requires enterprise software. It does require clear ownership and a habit of checking the integration’s outputs against external statements (processor reports, bank deposits, and platform summaries).

Checklist: steps to keep your integration reliable

• Choose a posting strategy on purpose: order-level, daily summary, or payout/settlement-based—based on reconciliation needs and reporting requirements.
• Confirm the “source of truth” for cash: decide whether bank deposits, payment processor payouts, or platform settlements drive reconciliation.
• Review mappings at least quarterly: income, discounts, shipping, taxes, fees, refunds, and gift cards/store credit.
• Use a clearing account approach where appropriate: so sales activity and net payouts don’t get mixed together.
• Document tax handling: where tax is calculated, whether pricing is tax-inclusive, and whether the platform remits on your behalf (if applicable).
• Check for duplicates after reconnects or app changes: reconcile a small date range before trusting a full backfill.
• Set permissions and a change process: decide who can alter sync settings and require a quick accountant review for mapping changes.
• Validate month-end with external reports: tie out revenue, refunds, fees, and payouts to platform and processor statements.

A Fresh Look for CarryTheOne

Over the past few weeks, we have rolled out an updated design for the CarryTheOne website.

The goal was simple: make the site clearer, more modern, and easier to navigate, while keeping everything familiar for existing users. Under the hood, CarryTheOne continues to do exactly what it has always done — reliably connect e-commerce platforms with accounting systems, quietly and consistently.

The new design focuses on:

• improved readability and layout

• clearer navigation across the site and Control Panel

• a cleaner visual style that better reflects how the service is used today

What has not changed is the core of the service. Integrations, data handling, and existing work-flows all continue to operate as before.

As always, feedback is welcome. We will continue to refine the design over time, but the priority remains the same: dependable integrations that merchants and accountants can trust.

US Sales Tax handling for non-US Shopify Stores now implemented

The Shopify Mobile App is considered a marketplace and as such Shopify is required to collect US Sales Tax for any US orders placed using the App, even if your store is not based in the US and does not have tax nexus anywhere in the US.

You may also have tax nexus in one or more regions in the US and be required to collect Sales Tax via your online store.

As accounting systems are primarily designed to account for domestic Sales Tax/GST/VAT/etc, the best solution in such cases is to record the foreign US Sales Tax on a separate invoice line without any domestic tax applied.

Before you proceed to your integration's Configuration Panel, you will probably first want to create a Current Liability account in your Accounting App for the US Sales Tax lines. To do this...

In Xero: click Accounting > Chart of Accounts (in the "Advanced" section) > Add Account; select "Current Liability" for the account type and fill in the rest of the details for the account;

In QuickBooks Online: ⚙ > Chart of accounts  > New > Create a new account of type "Current liability" for the foreign tax

On to the integration's Configuration Panel... You will find the option "If you have US orders with US Sales Tax, include the Sales Tax as a separate invoice line?" towards the top of page 1. Once enabled, please also check towards the bottom of the page for the options to select the current liability account (nominal code) and the "zero" tax rate to be used for the US Sales Tax lines.

Danish Translation of the e-conomic Configuration Panel is now available

A Danish translation of the e-conomic Configuration Panel is now available and will be the default language for e-conomic integrations. The translations have been auto-generated so it's possible that there are mistakes or that the translations are unclear. In these cases, please refer to the English translation by clicking on the 🇬🇧 flag.

Automated billing of Faire fees now available for QuickBooks Online integrations

Further streamline your accounting by creating bills automatically in QuickBooks Online for the fees that Faire charges you. You will find the option near the bottom of page 1 of the Configuration Panel.

QuickBooks Online is live on the platform for integration with Shopify, Faire, Wix, BigCommerce, Ecwid, etc.

 It is a pleasure to announce the addition of QuickBooks Online to the CarryTheOne platform.

With a special emphasis on proper tax handling, the QuickBooks connector is compatible with QuickBooks Automated Tax for US businesses.

Along with the expected functionality, the integration can create payment fees as journal entries to further streamline your accounting.