Virtual Assistant Services
Ecommerce Bookkeeping Services
Ecommerce bookkeeping is what generalist bookkeepers fail at most consistently. Shopify settlements that bundle merchant fees, refunds, chargebacks, and tips into a single bank deposit that needs to be unbundled before anything else can be reconciled. Amazon FBA fee reports running into the thousands of line items. Stripe and PayPal payouts that lag the underlying sales by 2-7 days. Sales tax obligations triggered by economic nexus in 30+ states. Inventory landed cost that has to account for COGS, shipping, customs, and Amazon storage fees. And underneath all of it, a CPA who needs categorized, reconciled, accurate financials to do tax strategy. A dedicated ecommerce bookkeeping VA from The Human Capital handles all of it inside your stack.
Our ecommerce bookkeeping VAs are trained on QuickBooks Online and Xero, on direct integrations with Shopify, Amazon Seller Central, Stripe, PayPal, and Square, on the reconciliation workflows that A2X, Synder, and Webgility automate (and the manual workflows that they do not), and on the multi-state sales tax compliance reality of running a DTC brand in the post-Wayfair era. Starting at $700 per month, with no per-transaction charges and no lock-in.
What Your VA Handles
Scope of support.
Shopify, Amazon, and Marketplace Sales Reconciliation
Your VA reconciles sales from every channel — Shopify, Amazon, Walmart Marketplace, Etsy, eBay, Faire, Wayfair — back to deposits in your operating bank account. Bundled merchant settlements are unbundled into gross sales, refunds, processing fees, chargebacks, and other components, with each posted to the correct account. Multi-channel sellers get a single accurate view of revenue rather than rough estimates based on Shopify dashboards alone.
Stripe, PayPal, and Payment Processor Reconciliation
Stripe and PayPal payouts arrive 2-7 days after the underlying sale and are net of fees, refunds, and disputes. Your VA reconciles every payout against the underlying transaction set, posts processing fees as an operating expense, tracks chargeback disputes through resolution, and ensures the timing differences between sales and payouts are reflected correctly in your books. Cash flow reporting becomes accurate rather than approximate.
Multi-State Sales Tax Tracking and Filing Coordination
Economic nexus rules trigger sales tax registration obligations in any state where you cross thresholds — typically $100,000-$500,000 in sales or 200 transactions per year. Your VA tracks taxable sales by state in real time, monitors threshold crossings, coordinates with TaxJar, Avalara, or Sovos for filing, and ensures the right collection happens on the storefront side. Multi-state tax exposure stops being a year-end emergency.
Inventory and Cost of Goods Sold Tracking
Accurate COGS is the difference between knowing your gross margin and guessing at it. Your VA tracks landed cost per SKU — supplier cost, inbound freight, customs, Amazon inbound fees — applies COGS at the time of sale rather than treating inventory as an expense at purchase, and manages inventory writedowns for damaged, lost, or obsolete stock. Margin reporting becomes real rather than aspirational.
Amazon Fee Categorization and FBA Cost Tracking
Amazon's fee report runs to thousands of line items per month for active sellers — referral fees, FBA fulfillment fees, storage fees, long-term storage fees, removal fees, advertising costs, customer return fees. Your VA categorizes every fee against the right cost account using A2X or Synder where they help, and manually where they do not. The actual economics of selling on Amazon become visible rather than hidden inside lump-sum settlements.
Ad Spend and Marketing Expense Categorization
Your VA tracks Meta Ads, Google Ads, TikTok Ads, Amazon Ads, and influencer/affiliate spend by channel, posts each to the right category, reconciles ad platform billing against bank statements, and produces a marketing P&L that integrates with your overall financials. Customer acquisition cost reporting becomes possible because the inputs are tracked correctly throughout the year.
Refund, Chargeback, and Return Processing
Refunds, chargebacks, and returns are routine in ecommerce and they affect revenue, COGS, processing fees, and shipping all at once. Your VA processes every refund correctly across the affected accounts, tracks chargeback disputes through resolution, manages restocking workflows where applicable, and ensures returned inventory hits the books in the right period. Revenue reporting accuracy holds up under scrutiny.
Monthly Financial Reporting with Ecommerce Metrics
Your VA produces monthly P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow reports — augmented with ecommerce-specific metrics: gross margin by channel, contribution margin after ad spend, CAC, AOV, channel mix, and inventory turn. The reporting package gives leadership the visibility they need to make pricing, channel, and inventory decisions with current data rather than gut feel.
Tools & Platforms
Your VA works in your stack.
Who This Is For
Built for businesses like yours.
DTC brands doing $500K-$10M in annual revenue who have outgrown spreadsheet bookkeeping but cannot justify a $90K+ ecommerce-specialty controller in-house yet.
Multi-channel sellers operating across Shopify, Amazon, and one or more marketplaces who need consolidated, accurate financial reporting across every channel.
Amazon-focused sellers who need a bookkeeper who actually understands FBA fee structures, inventory landed cost, and Amazon-specific reconciliation patterns.
Subscription ecommerce and recurring revenue businesses (Klaviyo, ReCharge, Skio, Bold) where deferred revenue accounting and revenue recognition matter.
Ecommerce groups preparing for fundraising, acquisition, or audit who need clean, reconciled, ecommerce-aware financials produced consistently.
The Cost Comparison
What the alternatives actually cost.
| Role | Local Hire | Freelancer | THC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ecommerce Bookkeeper | $50,000–$70,000/yr fully loaded; ecommerce accounting firm: $1,500-$5,000/mo | Generalist freelance bookkeeper: $40-$80/hr, no Shopify/Amazon expertise | $700–$1,300/mo, dedicated, ecommerce-trained, multi-channel ready |
A full-time in-house ecommerce bookkeeper costs $50,000–$70,000 per year fully loaded — only justifiable above a meaningful revenue threshold. Ecommerce-specialty accounting firms charge $1,500-$5,000 per month with packages that often exclude the work that actually matters (multi-state tax, inventory landed cost, Amazon fee categorization). The Human Capital provides a dedicated ecommerce bookkeeping VA at $700-$1,300 per month — trained on Shopify, Amazon, Stripe, PayPal reconciliation and on the reality of multi-channel DTC bookkeeping. No percentage of revenue. No surprise add-ons.
Case Study
Real results from real clients.
Challenge
A DTC brand crossed $3M in annual revenue selling across Shopify, Amazon FBA, and Faire — and discovered that their generalist bookkeeper had not categorized Amazon fees correctly, missed multi-state sales tax registration thresholds in five states, and produced a P&L that overstated gross margin by 12 points by treating inventory as an expense at purchase.
Solution
The Human Capital placed a dedicated ecommerce bookkeeping VA to rebuild the books from the prior fiscal year forward — proper Amazon fee categorization, A2X integration for Shopify reconciliation, landed cost setup for inventory, and multi-state sales tax registration coordinated with TaxJar.
Result
Accurate margin reporting was restored, which immediately changed pricing and channel decisions on multiple SKUs. Multi-state tax registration was completed and back-tax exposure was negotiated with the affected states. Monthly close went from 45 days to under 10 days. The brand was acquisition-ready for the conversations they began with strategic buyers six months later.
Getting Started
Four steps to a dedicated VA.
Book a free 15-minute strategy call so we can understand your channel mix, your current accounting platform, your tooling (A2X, Synder, TaxJar), and the specific gaps you are seeing today.
We match you with a dedicated ecommerce bookkeeping VA whose experience fits your channel mix — typically within 48 hours.
Your VA completes a structured onboarding week including platform access, channel reconciliation setup, COGS configuration, and sales tax exposure assessment under Client Manager supervision.
By week two, your VA is running daily and weekly reconciliation across every channel, tracking multi-state sales tax, and producing the monthly reporting package your leadership needs to make decisions.
FAQ
Common questions.
Do you use A2X, Synder, or Webgility?
Yes — where they help. A2X is excellent for Shopify and Amazon settlement reconciliation; Synder is strong for Stripe and PayPal; Webgility handles QuickBooks-side ecommerce integrations. Your VA will recommend the right tool for your stack and configure it correctly. For channels where automation tools fall short — most marketplaces beyond Shopify/Amazon — your VA handles reconciliation manually with the same precision.
Can you handle multi-state sales tax exposure?
Yes. Your VA tracks taxable sales by state in real time, monitors economic nexus thresholds, coordinates registration in states where you cross thresholds, and handles ongoing filing coordination via TaxJar, Avalara, or Sovos. For brands with prior exposure (sales above threshold in states where you were never registered), your VA can coordinate voluntary disclosure agreements with affected states to minimize back-tax penalties.
Will my bookkeeping VA correctly track inventory landed cost?
Yes. Landed cost — supplier cost plus freight, customs, duties, and Amazon inbound fees — is configured properly in QuickBooks or Xero during onboarding, and applied per SKU on receipt. COGS hits the P&L at the time of sale rather than at purchase, so gross margin reporting actually reflects gross margin. Inventory writedowns for damaged, lost, or obsolete stock are processed against the right accounts.
Can your VAs work for Amazon-only sellers, or only multi-channel brands?
Both. Amazon-focused sellers benefit from VAs who deeply understand FBA fee structures, inventory placement service fees, long-term storage fees, removal fees, and the reconciliation pattern of Amazon settlements. Multi-channel brands need VAs who can keep multi-platform financials consolidated and accurate. We match you with a VA whose experience profile matches your channel mix.
How do you handle subscription and recurring revenue ecommerce?
For subscription brands using ReCharge, Skio, Bold, or similar platforms, your VA handles deferred revenue accounting correctly — recognizing revenue over the subscription period rather than at the time of charge, tracking active subscriber economics, and producing the cohort and retention reporting that subscription brands need. This is standard scope, not an upcharge.
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Get Started
Ready to delegate?
Book a free 15-minute strategy call. We will match you with a dedicated VA trained in your service within 48 hours.