Shopify is reporting incorrect Sales Over Time on Gross Sales for refunded Orders

[sebasoliveri]

If I, as a merchant, sell 2 apples $5 each on March 20, then gross sales for March it's $10.

If the buyer returns 1 apple and I refund the customer on April 20 (1 month later) then Gross Sales for April should be $0 and Refunds $5.

BUT Gross Sales for March should still be $10 (I sold those 2 apples in March)

Shopify reporting logic is not like this.

For the situation mentioned above Shopify would report as Gross Sales: $5 for March and also Gross Sales $5 for April, and this contradicts reality. When there is a refund in a date after the purchase date, they modify the past by subtracting the refund $ from the original Order gross sales, which doesn't seem to be conceptually right.

If a merchant closes the day of month March 20, 2024 by putting $10 into the cash register, gross sales for March 20 is $10 and that's immutable, is a fact that can not be changed from a future date (when a future refund is performed). Shopify is breaking this rule.

[Imogen]

Hi there, @sebasoliveri. Thank you for taking the time to reach out to the Shopify Community with your feedback around how your Analytics are reporting data.

If you suspect that your analytics are reporting data in error, then I recommend reaching out to our Authenticated Support Team so they can access your store and take a look into the specifics around these transactions and these dates, and examine the related data.

[sebasoliveri]

I am not a merchant, I am a partner and I have noticed this for all stores.

I would like to hear merchants what would be the expected behavior for them.

A refund in the future should not affect the gross sales in the past for a given Order.