I’ve been chatting with a lot of growing Shopify merchants lately, and one theme keeps coming up: once you start selling on more than one channel (Shopify + Amazon, or Etsy, or even POS), keeping everything in sync becomes a full-time job.
Inventory doesn’t always update correctly, payouts and fees don’t match up between channels, and reconciling sales in accounting at month-end turns into a guessing game. Some people rely on spreadsheets, others try automation tools but there doesn’t seem to be one easy fix.
I’d love to hear from others:
How are you keeping inventory and accounting aligned across Shopify and other marketplaces? Or, do you still have to make manual adjustments at month-end?
That’s the classic multi-channel headache. You’re right, relying on spreadsheets becomes a nightmare, and there isn’t one single app that fixes both inventory and accounting.
From what I’ve seen, merchants who solve this use a specialized “stack” of apps. For inventory, they stop trying to link the channels directly and instead use a central inventory management system (like SKUVault or Cin7) as the single source of truth. This “brain” pushes the correct stock levels out to Shopify, Amazon, and Etsy, which is the only reliable way to prevent overselling.
For the accounting mess, especially reconciling Amazon or Etsy payouts, they use a separate connector app like A2X. This tool automatically fetches the payout data, separates all the sales, fees, and taxes, and then posts a clean, summarized entry into their accounting software like Xero or QuickBooks. This is how they stop doing manual adjustments at the end of the month.
Appreciate your comment, that’s a solid approach! Centralizing inventory through a dedicated IMS really does eliminate most sync headaches. Pairing it with an ecommerce accounting automation platform is one of the best ways to maintain clean, accurate books especially for multi-channel sellers. It’s a great reminder that the right tech stack can replace endless manual fixes and give merchants true control over both inventory and financial accuracy. But, honestly I think the best scenario is when you can manage both from one unified platform. What do you think?