Complexities of Paypal and E-Bay in Accounting

[vas_guy]

As a business who does a few sales on ebay and has payments made by paypal, my accountant has said that this adds to the possibilities for problems and complicating straight forward accounts as they do not easily
reconcile.

Can someone please shed some light on this statement as I cannot see how complexity, also the ebay sales only makes up a small amount of the total sales for the year

[elainec100@cheapaccounting]

not complex at all.

sales
less fees
lees purchases
equal amount banked or balance on hand

Easy to reconcile with the reports available

[vas_guy]

not complex at all.

sales
less fees
lees purchases
equal amount banked or balance on hand

Easy to reconcile with the reports available

Then how come the accountant i used is making a big deal and reflecting the 'complexity' in the fees.

[Alison Jones]

HI

Ebay and paypal does not complicate accounts at all. Would say if I was in your situation I would be considering the need to be changing accountants.

There are enough reports on ebay and paypal that you can print out which will give the information your accountant will need and it is easy to reconcile.

I am a bookkeeper and part of our business is selling on ebay and amazon. I would say I make my bookkeeping more longwinded then is strictly necessary as I find it helpful having the details of each sale on accounts package so I create a sales invoice per ebay or amazon sale. I have a bank account on sage for Paypal and Amazon, then when I transfer payments can transfer to the bank account on sage which I find helpful knowing how much I have got in paypal or amazon accounts. For paypal fees I have a nominal code amongst the codes for bank charges and enter these in paypal account as a payment.

Alison

[David Griffiths]

Then how come the accountant i used is making a big deal and reflecting the 'complexity' in the fees.

Because he/she doesn't understand what's going on?

Paypal is essentially another bank account. You can enter individual transactions if you wish, or simply download weekly or monthly summaries.

[elainec100@cheapaccounting]

Then how come the accountant i used is making a big deal and reflecting the 'complexity' in the fees.

I think you have to ask him / her that.

It may be that you have an old fashion accountant who does not like this new internet type things!!!!! :rolleyes:

[vas_guy]

I think you have to ask him / her that.

It may be that you have an old fashion accountant who does not like this new internet type things!!!!! :rolleyes:

I'm in the process of changing accountants and since leaving him, i've questioned a few issue ie the fees he has been charging me and every time i get a different answer, 1st it was the amount of receipts in euro, then it was the 60 issues to be reviewed for a non UK director to keep on the right side of the law now its the complexity of paypal and ebay transactions.

[elainec100@cheapaccounting]

Good luck with finding someone new - there are plenty of us good ones around.

[vas_guy]

I think you have to ask him / her that.

It may be that you have an old fashion accountant who does not like this new internet type things!!!!! :rolleyes:

This is the reply:
Paypay and Ebay are very difficult to reconcile as they do not evenly match each other. I would suggest you take 30 items, all their charges etc and then match them through from one to the other and then what eventually is recorded in the bank account both paypal bank and your bank account. This is a time hungry process.

I never transferred money from my paypal account to my bank account

[CassioAcc]

No different from reconciling normal sales invoices and bank statments in my opinion.

you are making the right choice to change if your current accountant does not seem to like this type of work.

[MH1]

I've heard some rubbish in my time, but that's a new one. :D

Change accountants.

[elainec100@cheapaccounting]

This is the reply:
Paypay and Ebay are very difficult to reconcile as they do not evenly match each other. I would suggest you take 30 items, all their charges etc and then match them through from one to the other and then what eventually is recorded in the bank account both paypal bank and your bank account. This is a time hungry process.

I never transferred money from my paypal account to my bank account


What a load of thingy (swear word type thing)!

If he / she cannot cope with this type of client then I would suggest that in a few years time they may have no clients at all as this is the way that business is going!

We may not be 'modern' in the accounting profession but most of us are a bit more with it than that :rolleyes:

[Alison Jones]

That is rubbish what your accountant has said, paypal and ebay provide so many helpful reports that it makes it easy for accounting purposes which some people do monthly. I have many ebay/paypal sales in a month and I prefer to post as sales invoice on accounting package as sale happens, and allocate as bank receipt on accounting package against paypal bank account I have set up and post transfer when I transfer money from paypal to bank account so at any time I know how much money is sitting in my paypal account without the need to log onto paypal.

Alison

[ADC]

I really don't think eBay has much to do with the accounts side of things. Basically they are classed as one of your suppliers, they charge you whatever they charge you monthly and thats that. No need to record every single ebay final value fee and listing fee in your accounts package (Accountants feel free to correct me if i'm wrong)

It's paypal thats more important as far as accounts is concerned, which has already been said, you just set up as an extra bank account and record each individual transaction along with the fee.