Ecommerce Bookkeeping in Los Angeles

Short answer: Ecommerce bookkeeping in Los Angeles turns Shopify, Amazon, Etsy and TikTok Shop payouts back into gross sales, fees, refunds and reserves, so revenue and margin are real. Inventory purchases, freight and duties are recorded as inventory and moved to cost of goods as units sell. Marketplace and direct sales stay apart, so sales tax figures come from the right numbers.

The payout problem

Shopify, Amazon, Etsy and TikTok Shop do not send you your sales. They send you what is left after fees, refunds, ad charges and reserves. If the books record only that net deposit, revenue is understated, fees are invisible and margin looks better or worse than it really is.

Los Angeles has a lot of product brands that started in a garage or a Downtown showroom: apparel, beauty, food and accessories. Many of them hit the same wall around the second year, when inventory grows, a 3PL comes on board and nobody can say what a unit really costs to ship.

What we record for an online store

Gross sales by channel, with platform fees, payment processing, shipping labels and refunds on separate lines.
Amazon settlement reports broken into sales, FBA fees, storage, advertising and reimbursements.
Inventory purchases, freight in and duties recorded as inventory, then moved to cost of goods sold as units sell.
3PL invoices split between storage, pick and pack, and outbound shipping.
Gift cards and preorders kept as liabilities until they are fulfilled.
Sales tax collected by state, kept apart from income.

California sales tax and marketplaces

California treats large marketplaces as the seller for sales they facilitate, so Amazon and similar platforms collect and remit tax on those orders. Sales from your own Shopify site are different: if you have a California seller's permit, the tax you collect is yours to report. Since October 1, 2026, the rate for deliveries inside the City of Los Angeles has been 10.25 percent, and California rates depend on the delivery address and on where you are engaged in business, so orders to other cities can carry other rates. CDTFA Publication 105 explains the rules.

We keep marketplace sales and direct sales apart in the ledger so your return is built from the right numbers. If you have nexus in other states, we track tax collected by state so your filings line up.

Sales tax filing is done by you, your CPA or a tax tool. We make sure the numbers in the books match.

Margin by channel

Once payouts are grossed up and inventory is recorded properly, you can compare channels on equal terms. Many brands find that the channel with the most sales is not the one with the best margin once fees, returns and shipping are counted. Amazon storage and advertising, Shopify app subscriptions and payment fees, wholesale terms and chargebacks all land in different places, and we keep them on separate lines so the comparison is honest.

That view also helps with cash. Inventory is usually the biggest use of cash in a product business, and a balance sheet that shows inventory on hand, purchase orders paid in advance and payouts held in reserve tells you how much money is really available.

A monthly close for an online brand

Pull payout reports We download payout and settlement detail from each platform, not just the deposits.
Gross up the sales Each payout is booked as sales, fees, refunds and reserves, then matched to the bank.
Move inventory Purchases and landed costs go to inventory, and cost of goods is recorded from your counts or your inventory app.
Report by channel You see sales, fees and gross margin for each channel, plus a cash view of what came in.

When the books are a year behind

If tax season is close and the books are empty, we start with payout reports and bank statements, which are complete even when receipts are not. Inventory gets a reasonable opening count with you, and we rebuild the year from there.

Ecommerce by city

Ecommerce brands in Downtown LAFor Fashion District brands selling to boutiques and straight to shoppers online, with each kind of sale kept apart.

Where we work

We keep books for businesses across the City of Los Angeles, the Westside, the Eastside, the San Fernando Valley, the San Gabriel Valley, the Gateway Cities and the South Bay.

Questions

Do you use A2X or a similar connector?

We can work with payout connectors you already use, or record settlements from the platform reports directly.

Can you track cost per unit?

We record landed cost into inventory so cost of goods reflects freight and duties. Unit level costing depends on your inventory system.

Do I need to collect sales tax on Amazon orders?

California treats Amazon as the seller for orders it facilitates. Confirm your own obligations with your CPA.

Ecommerce bookkeeping for Los Angeles brands