Frequently Asked Questions

Dual-platform selling is one of the most common bookkeeping challenges for product-based businesses — and one of the most misunderstood. The most important thing to know: Etsy deducts their fees before depositing your payment. That means your bank deposit does NOT equal your gross sales. If you're only tracking what hits your bank account, your revenue is understated and your fee expenses are invisible. For accurate books you need to record: gross sales from each platform separately, platform fees paid (Etsy listing fees, transaction fees, payment processing fees, Shopify subscription), payment processing fees, refunds and returns, and shipping costs. Both Shopify and Etsy have native integrations with QuickBooks Online that automate much of this — but they still need to be set up and reviewed correctly. That's exactly the kind of system we build for product-based businesses at Opal Operations.