Shopify total sales vs gross sales and net sales

Shopify's reports use three sales figures that are easy to mix up, and a payments figure that rarely equals any of them. Below are Shopify's own definitions, quoted from its help pages for the Sales and Finances reports, and the reasons a day's total sales and its payments differ.

Gross sales

Price times quantity, before anything comes off. The Finances report's definition: "product selling price x ordered quantity. Gross sales does not include discounts, sales reversals, taxes, shipping, or fees." Gift cards sold are not in gross sales either.

Net sales

"gross sales - discounts - sales reversals", and in the Finances report's words, "Net sales does not include shipping charges or taxes." Sales reversals is Shopify's newer name for returns, and it is wider: "the value of returned products, as well as order cancellations, edits, adjustments to shipping, taxes, fees, and discounts."

Total sales

Net sales plus what the customer was charged on top. The Sales report's formula: "gross sales - discounts - sales reversals + taxes + duties + shipping charges + fees". The Finances report gives the same formula without duties.

Why total sales and payments do not match

• Gift cards sold. The money is taken, but "Selling a gift card isn't counted as a sale because it's a liability." So a day that sells gift cards takes in more than its total sales.
• Tips. A tip is paid with the order, "part of the order total" in Shopify's words, but the Finances report shows tips on their own line, apart from sales.
• Payment not yet captured. Shopify's own note: "There could be differences between the values displayed on each report, for example if customers have placed orders but payment has not yet been captured".
• Returns and refunds. "Sales reports include your returns and the Payments finance report includes refunds." A return is dated on the day it is processed, not the day of the order: "reversals display as a negative value for the day that they were processed."
• Paying with a gift card. This does not reduce sales: "The full value of the item is claimed as sales." The payment appears as a gift card entry. How payments by method are reported.
• Test orders. "Test orders aren't included in Sales reports but they're included in your orders export."

One page with all of it

Close of Day puts these lines on one page for a day or a month, per location. It also shows the timing or outstanding difference: total sales minus payments, with gift cards sold and tips added back, so that a day on which every sale was paid comes to zero. Each line follows Shopify's definition, worked out here. It costs $9 a month after a 14-day free trial, billed by Shopify. It is not yet on the Shopify App Store. More about Close of Day.