Specialist accountants
Matching marketplace payouts to your sales
The amount a marketplace pays into your bank is what is left after it takes its fees, refunds and other amounts. Your accounts need the full picture, not just the payout.
The short answer
A payout is your sales minus everything the marketplace has taken off: its fees, refunds to customers, money held back, and sometimes VAT it accounts for itself. If you record only the payout as income, your sales and your costs will both look too low. Each payout needs splitting back into sales, fees, refunds and other items, using the marketplace's own reports.
What sits between your sales and your payout
This is a general explanation. Each marketplace sets its own fees and payout rules, so check your own marketplace's reports and terms.
| Item | What it is | How it shows in your accounts |
|---|---|---|
| Selling fees | The marketplace's charge for each sale, and any monthly subscription | A cost, not a reduction in sales |
| Fulfilment and storage fees | If the marketplace stores and sends your goods, its charges for doing so | A cost |
| Advertising | Paid promotion on the marketplace, sometimes taken from your payout | A cost |
| Refunds and returns | Money returned to customers, which may fall in a later payout than the sale | Reduces sales, and the returned goods may go back into stock |
| Money held back | Some marketplaces hold part of the balance back for a time, for example to cover refunds | Still owed to you, not lost |
| VAT the marketplace accounts for | On some sales, the marketplace is responsible for the VAT, not you (see below) | Needs separating so it is not counted twice or missed |
| Currency | Sales in other currencies, converted at the marketplace's rate, sometimes with a fee | Sales and conversion costs recorded separately |
| Timing | A payout can cover sales from part of one month and part of the next | Sales belong in the period they were made |
An example
Made-up round numbers, to show the idea only. Over two weeks you sell £1,000 of goods. The marketplace takes £150 in fees, refunds £50 to a customer and holds back £100. You receive £700. If you record £700 as sales, your sales are £300 too low and your £150 of fees are missing from your costs. The £100 held back is still owed to you and should appear when it is paid.
Where VAT comes in
GOV.UK says an online marketplace is liable for the VAT on goods sold by overseas sellers when the goods are in the UK at the point of sale, and on goods outside the UK sold in consignments of £135 or less. If the seller is established in the UK, the seller is liable for the VAT on goods in the UK.1 Which sales fall where affects what goes on your VAT return. See VAT for online sellers.
How it gets sorted
Marketplaces provide reports that break each payout down into sales, fees, refunds and other items. Someone, whether you, a bookkeeper or an accountant, uses those reports to record each part in your accounts and checks that the total matches what reached the bank.
Software exists to help with this. Some tools connect to marketplaces, read the payout reports and post a summary of each payout into accounting software, split into sales, fees and refunds. We do not name or recommend products. Ask your accountant which tools they use and whether the cost is in their fee.
When to get help
This part is our judgement. If you sell through more than one marketplace, in more than one currency, or your bank balance and your sales figures never seem to agree, a bookkeeper or accountant who works with marketplace reports may save you time. See Accountant or bookkeeper?
Sources
- HMRC, "Charging VAT when goods are sold if you're an online marketplace operator", last updated 20 June 2025. GOV.UK. Checked 12 October 2026.