Online seller bookkeeping template
Type the shop name and the year. The page builds an Excel workbook for the books of an online shop: a Ledger sheet with one row per sale, fee, shipping charge, tax line, refund, adjustment, or payout, an Orders sheet with one row per item sold, a Log sheet with the name and year, and an instructions sheet that says what each sheet and column holds. The monthly books, sales tax by state, and sales by product pages open the filled-in workbook and do the adding.
The workbook is built in your browser. Nothing you type is uploaded.
What the workbook will hold
The workbook is a layout to fill in. It holds values only and has no formulas, so it does not add anything up. Once the Ledger sheet is filled in, the monthly books page opens the workbook and totals each month by type, with fees by fee type and a journal entry for each month. Once the Orders sheet is filled in, the sales tax by state page reads it and totals orders, taxable amount, and tax collected for each ship-to state, and the sales by product page reads the same sheet. The payout to journal entry page opens the Ledger sheet as well and puts every row on it into one entry, so it fits a sheet that holds the rows of one payout.
This tool is independent. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Etsy, Shopify, Amazon, eBay, or any other marketplace. Marketplace names are used only to describe the exports people bring to it.
What gets checked
- Before the download starts, the finished workbook is read back in your browser: its sheet names, each header row, and each row count are compared with what was asked for.
- The Log sheet carries the shop name and the year as typed.
- The Ledger sheet is the first sheet in the file, the one opened when no sheet is asked for by name, and its header row, as read back from the file, is matched the way the monthly books page matches it: date, row type, description, amount, fees, and net are each found in the column written for them.
- The Orders sheet is found under its own name, and its header row is matched the way the sales tax by state page matches it: order id, ship-to state, taxable amount, and tax collected are each found in the column written for them. The Item total column is never taken for the taxable amount or the tax.
- Both sheets are run through the same row readers the tools use, and each reads as a list with nothing entered yet: no rows, nothing unreadable, nothing left out.
- Each word the Instructions sheet gives for the Type column (Sale, Shipping, Tax, Fee, Refund, Payout, Adjustment) is counted by the monthly books page the way the sheet says.
- The workbook holds values only. No cell contains a formula.
How it works
- Answer two questions. Type the shop name and the year. Both can be left blank.
- Build the workbook. The Excel file is put together in the browser, read back to confirm its sheets, header rows, and row counts, run through the readers the monthly books and sales tax by state pages use, and downloaded. There is no sign-up and no limit.
- Fill in the Ledger and Orders sheets. On the Ledger sheet, one row per money row of the shop's payment account: the date, a type (Sale, Shipping, Tax, Fee, Refund, Payout, or Adjustment), a description, the amount, any fee taken out of the row, and the net. On the Orders sheet, one row per item sold: the order id and date, the item and its SKU, the quantity, the item total, the ship-to state, the taxable amount, and the tax collected. Rows can be typed, or copied in from an export column by column.
- Add it up with the tools. The template does not add anything up. The monthly books page opens the filled-in workbook, reads the Ledger sheet, and totals each month by type, with fees by fee type and a journal entry for each month. The sales tax by state page reads the Orders sheet and totals orders, taxable amount, and tax collected for each ship-to state, and the sales by product page reads the same sheet. Each shows its checks.
Worked example
For a made-up shop, Larkspur Paper Goods, keeping books for 2026, the workbook has these sheets.
| Sheet | Columns | Rows to fill in |
|---|---|---|
| Ledger | Date, Type, Description, Amount, Fees, Net | One per money row of the payment account, under the header row |
| Orders | Order ID, Order date, Item, SKU, Quantity, Item total, Ship-to state, Taxable amount, Tax collected, Notes | One per item sold, under the header row |
| Log | Item, Value | Shop name and year filled in |
| Instructions | Sheet, Column, What it holds | What each sheet and column holds |
The Log sheet arrives with Larkspur Paper Goods and 2026 already filled in. The Ledger sheet and the Orders sheet each have a header row and nothing under it. The file downloads as seller-books-larkspur-paper-goods-2026.xlsx. With the fourteen rows of the monthly books page's own example typed into the Ledger sheet, that page gives the figures it prints there: March net activity $87.07 and payouts $84.07, April net activity $22.37 and payouts $25.37. With the eight rows of the sales tax by state page's example typed into the Orders sheet, that page gives 7 orders, $195.00 taxable, and $11.72 tax collected.
The example uses made-up names and numbers.
Questions
Does the template total anything or build a journal entry?
No. It is a clean layout with values only and no formulas. The tools on this site do the adding: the monthly books page reads the Ledger sheet and totals each month by type, with fees by fee type and a journal entry for each month in which debits equal credits, and it lists the checks behind every figure.
Is it really free?
Yes. There is no sign-up and no limit on how many templates are built.
Does one workbook really open in more than one tool?
Yes. The monthly books page opens the first sheet of a workbook that holds anything, which is the Ledger sheet. The sales tax by state page looks for a sheet named Orders and reads that one, and the sales by product page reads the same sheet. A workbook with no sheet of that name opens the way it always has, on its first sheet that holds anything.
Which words go in the Type column of the Ledger sheet?
The Instructions sheet gives seven, one each for a sale, shipping charged to a buyer, tax collected, a fee, a reversal, a payout, and an adjustment. The monthly books page counts a row by the words in its Type cell, lists what it took each type for, and lets each one be changed there. A type with none of the words it knows is counted as an adjustment, so no row is left out.
Are payouts typed as positive or negative numbers?
Either way, as long as every payout row is written the same way. The monthly books page takes payouts as positive numbers when no payout row holds a negative amount, shows which way it read them, and lets that be changed. The Fees column works the same way: when it holds positive numbers and no negative one, the page takes them as amounts to subtract.
What is the difference between Item total, Taxable amount, and Tax collected?
Item total is the amount charged for the items on the row. Taxable amount is the part of it that tax was worked out on, as your own records have it, and Tax collected is the tax on that row. The sales tax by state page reads the last two and never takes Item total for either. Rows with the same Order ID are added together into one order, so an order's whole tax written again on each of its rows would be counted more than once.
Can rows from a marketplace export be copied into it?
Yes. Rows from any export can be copied in column by column under the header rows, as values. No export layout is assumed: the column names are generic words, and the Instructions sheet says what each one holds. The monthly books and sales tax by state pages also open an export file directly, with no template in between.
Does the workbook say what a seller has to record or keep?
No. It holds column names and blank rows and nothing else: no tax rates, no thresholds, no filing dates, and no rule about what a record has to hold or how long it is kept. The tools calculate and check the numbers typed in.
Is this template connected to Etsy or another marketplace?
No. It is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Etsy, Shopify, Amazon, eBay, or any other marketplace. It never signs in to a store, and it copies no marketplace's export layout: the column names are generic words of our own choosing.
This tool calculates and checks numbers. It is not legal, tax, or medical advice.