Selling on your website used to be enough. Now you need to reach customers across various websites, marketplaces, and social platforms to stay competitive.

But without a clear strategy, multichannel sales could become a burden rather than an asset. Managing all these separate platforms leads to baggy operations, a complex software setup, and messy books.

Many store owners try to solve the problem by connecting all their separate sales channels to their ecommerce accounting software. This just overcomplicates processes, gives you more work to do, and increases the risk of errors.

The smart approach is to keep one platform at the center of your operations. Instead of building a convoluted web of connections, you can run all your sales and inventory through your main store and sync it into your books with a robust ecommerce accounting app like MyWorks.

Let’s explore how this approach to multichannel ecommerce accounting works, why it’s the best choice for your business, and how to implement it with MyWorks.

What is multichannel ecommerce accounting?

Multichannel ecommerce accounting is the way you handle bookkeeping across all the platforms where you sell goods. It usually involves tracking and recording all the sales data and sending it to your accounting software, including:

• Customer orders
• Sales taxes
• Discounts and vouchers
• Refunds and returns
• Inventory

 

This setup has become standard practice for ecommerce accounting in recent years. Even small retailers might have a dedicated Shopify store and connect their Amazon, Etsy, and TikTok Shop accounts.

How multichannel ecommerce accounting works

When managing multichannel sales, sellers connect every platform to their accounting system. However, there are two main ways to achieve this:

• Connecting all sales channels to accounting: Connect every individual marketplace you sell on to your accounting software with one or more ecommerce accounting integration apps. This method creates multiple separate pathways to your books—one from each sales channel you connect.
• Connecting only your main ecommerce platform to accounting: Link every sales channel to your main online store (e.g. Shopify or WooCommerce), where the data gets centralised before sending it along to your accounting solution via an ecommerce accounting integration app.

 

Why you need a centralized approach to multichannel ecommerce accounting

While both options work, using your main ecommerce platform as the central hub is usually the most reliable and efficient option. Here are the main reasons why:

• A single source of truth for all data: All sales and inventory data runs through your Shopify or WooCommerce store, where it gets standardized before getting passed on to your books. You don’t have to worry about how your accounting software will handle different payment methods or inventory systems.

• Fewer connections to manage: Few ecommerce accounting apps provide links for every sales channel, which means you might need to add extra syncs to bridge the gaps, or use less reliable software only because it directly integrates with more sales channels. But the more integrations you add to your system, the more you have to manage—and pay for.

• Streamlined product management: if you already have a Shopify store, it’s much easier to start selling on a new channel like TikTok by connecting it directly to Shopify. From there, you can import all your Shopify products and product details (images, price, description, weight, etc) to the new sales channel. This is especially valuable if you’re consistently adding new products, as you only need to create the new product once in Shopify. From there, it will be automatically picked up and published on the sales channels your Shopify is connected to, while a Shopify integration like MyWorks will sync it to QuickBooks.

• Greater efficiency: Automating your ecommerce accounting is easier when you rely on a centralized method. There’s less to set up and monitor, giving you more time to focus on other tasks

• Less risk of errors: Using your store website as the central hub gives you a better overview of your operations, making it easier to organize data and spot mistakes.

• A better fit for most setups: The truth is that the majority of stores only use two or three sales channels besides their main ecommerce site. Therefore, there’s no real need to invest in an ecommerce accounting app that promises to sync dozens of platforms. 
• Option to filter and sort: While all the sales information flows through your store website, it’s still possible to differentiate it. An ecommerce accounting app that syncs individual orders, like MyWorks, can tell the data apart and allow you to run separate reports in QuickBooks.

 

Bonus pro tip: You can claim apps like MyWorks as a business expense for tax deductions— unless you’re using our free version, that is!

But there’s one specific scenario when a centralized system doesn’t work. If you don’t have a dedicated ecommerce site like Shopify or WooCommerce, you can’t use one of your other sales channels instead. Marketplaces like Amazon and social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram require you to connect directly to your accounting software.

How to set up multichannel ecommerce accounting with Shopify and MyWorks

Curious about how to get started? Assuming you use Shopify, this section walks you through how to make your ecommerce site your central hub and sync all your sales data to accounting with MyWorks.

If your store is set up on WooCommerce, check out the next section.

Step 1. Connect your sales channels

Choose the marketplaces you want to sell on if you haven’t already. Then use marketplace ecommerce integrations like Shopify Marketplace Connect, or the marketplaces’ own connectors (for example: Meta and Faire), to link them to your store.

Avoid adding lots of sales channels for the sake of it. As we mentioned before, most online stores take a more minimal approach nowadays to target customers more strategically. Plus, expanding your business one step at a time makes it easier to build a solid foundation.

Step 2. Install the MyWorks app

Find MyWorks in your Shopify App Store and install it. The platform opens inside your store rather than as a separate window on your device, so you don’t need to leave the software.

Once you’re inside, MyWorks prompts you to connect your QuickBooks account and authorize it to access your store data. This creates a secure and reliable connection between the two systems.

Then let MyWorks guide you through the initial setup. You can decide what data to share, how often to perform automatic updates, and whether to sync data both ways between your platforms.

Step 3. Set up order syncing

With the basics in place, decide how information from each sales channel should appear in QuickBooks. You can use MyWorks to differentiate them by assigning them different classes or customers.

Additionally, take this opportunity to configure how taxes, shipping fees, and payment methods are recorded. This ensures data lands in the right accounts.

After everything’s mapped, run a few test orders to make sure the sync is working the way you expect. Then you’re ready to go live!

How to set up multichannel ecommerce accounting with WooCommerce and MyWorks

If you use WooCommerce to power your online store, the steps look a little different, but still reasonably straightforward.

Step 1. Connect your sales channels

Choose your sales channels from the WooCommerce products. Instead of using native integrations, you must decide between plug-ins like Facebook for WooCommerce and Amazon for WooCommerce.

Step 2. Install the MyWorks helper plugin

Find and download the MyWorks helper plugin. Our app runs inside your WordPress site alongside your other WooCommerce plugins.

Follow the MyWorks guided setup to connect your WooCommerce account and your QuickBooks company.

Step 3. Set up order syncing

Once you’ve connected WooCommerce and QuickBooks, you’re ready to map details like orders, inventory, and taxes.

Once your foundation is set, determine how to display data from each sales channel in QuickBooks. In your MyWorks Settings, you can set different Class, Location, and Bank Account for each sales channel.

Before finalizing, sync several test orders to verify the integration works as intended. After confirming everything functions correctly, you’re ready to launch!

Bring order to your Shopify or WooCommerce store

Multichannel selling doesn’t have to be complex when you use your Shopify or WooCommerce store as a central hub. You can connect with as many or as few platforms as you like without creating more work or risking errors.

This is possible with MyWorks because our ecommerce accounting sync is built around the idea that your main store is your central source of truth.

Instead of pulling fragmented data from multiple different channels, we enable you to route all your sales through your Shopify or WooCommerce site first. Then, it all syncs to your accounting software following the same format and logic, making it easier to run detailed reports in QuickBooks, or to troubleshoot errors if needed.

By keeping your store as the single source of truth, MyWorks helps your accounting stay accurate and organized, even as your business grows.

Get an ecommerce accounting sync without ‘main character syndrome’ MyWorks helps you make the most of your existing ecommerce and accounting tools.  Book a demo

FAQs About Multichannel Ecommerce Accounting

What is the cost of connecting my other sales channels to Shopify?

Connecting your other sales channels to Shopify is usually low-cost or free. For example, many channels like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok Shop offer free native integrations. If you’re using Shopify Marketplace, there’s just a 1% fee per order, capped at $99 per month.

Are these marketplace integrations reliable and secure?

Most marketplace integrations are reliable and secure, as they’re usually built by the marketplaces themselves. But you can check the user ratings and reviews on the Shopify App Store to gauge their performance — generally, they should have at least 4 out of 5 stars.

What happens when a sale occurs outside of your ecommerce site?

When a sale occurs, the marketplace integration sends the data to your Shopify and WooCommerce store. Afterward, MyWorks can automatically sync the order data into QuickBooks so the sale and payment get properly recorded.

What happens when inventory changes in QuickBooks?

When inventory changes in QuickBooks, MyWorks automatically updates your Shopify or WooCommerce. Your marketplace integrations then push these changes into your sales channels, ensuring your stock levels are correct everywhere.

What if I don’t want to see all my other sales channels in Shopify?

If you don’t want to see all your other sales channels in Shopify, you can easily create a custom view. This hides all the orders from these channels by default.

Will I be able to tell my orders apart in QuickBooks once they’re synced in?

Yes, there are multiple ways to separate orders from different sales channels after you’ve synced your ecommerce and accounting solutions.

• Setting a value in a custom field in the order
• Syncing them to specific customers in QuickBooks
• Creating a specific Class for each channel