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Bookkeeping for online retailers

Online stores are paid in batches by payment gateways and marketplaces, with fees, refunds and chargebacks taken out before the money reaches the bank. We look after day-to-day bookkeeping for online retailers across Australia.

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Businesses in Non-Store Retailing (ANZSIC class 4310)

Actively trading businesses across Australia
24,869 businessesAustralian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, June 2025, checked 15 October 2026
Of those, classified as non-employing
17,968 businessesAustralian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, June 2025, checked 15 October 2026
Of those, with 1 to 4 employees
5,330 businessesAustralian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, June 2025, checked 15 October 2026

Businesses by main state or territory

These counts are for the ANZSIC class Non-Store Retailing, which covers businesses retailing goods without a shopfront or physical store. It includes internet-only retailers, mail-order sellers and other non-store sellers. Retailers with a physical shop are counted in other retail classes, even when they also sell online, so these figures are not a count of all online retailers.

  1. New South Wales8,863 businesses
  2. Victoria6,612 businesses
  3. Queensland5,290 businesses
  4. Western Australia2,029 businesses
  5. South Australia1,266 businesses
  6. Tasmania307 businesses
  7. Australian Capital Territory285 businesses
  8. Northern Territory95 businesses
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, June 2025. Counts of Australian Businesses, data cube 2: Businesses by main state by industry class by employment size ranges (8165DC02.xlsx). Checked 15 Oct 2026.

Businesses by number of employees

  1. Non-employing17,968 businesses
  2. 1 to 4 employees5,330 businesses
  3. 5 to 19 employees1,298 businesses
  4. 20 to 199 employees258 businesses
  5. 200 or more employees15 businesses
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, June 2025. Counts of Australian Businesses, data cube 2: Businesses by main state by industry class by employment size ranges (8165DC02.xlsx). Checked 15 Oct 2026.

What we look after

What the books involve

  • Payout matching: each Shopify, Stripe or PayPal payout broken back into the orders it settles, so gross sales, gateway fees and refunds show on their own lines.
  • Marketplace settlements from sites such as Amazon and eBay reconciled against their statements, with selling fees, advertising charges and amounts held back recorded apart from sales.
  • Refunds, returns and chargebacks: money sent back to customers recorded against the original sale, and disputed card payments tracked until the gateway settles them.
  • Stock purchases: supplier invoices entered as they arrive, including bills in foreign currencies from overseas manufacturers, with freight and import charges recorded as their own costs.
  • Shipping and fulfilment: courier accounts, packaging and warehouse invoices entered and matched to payments, which shows what it costs to get orders out to customers.
  • Buy now, pay later settlements and app subscriptions checked against their statements, with the store platform and bank feeds connected to QuickBooks Online, Xero or MYOB.

Sources

  1. Counts of Australian Businesses, data cube 2: Businesses by main state by industry class by employment size ranges (8165DC02.xlsx)

    Australian Bureau of Statistics. Actively trading businesses at 30 June 2025, released 16 December 2025. Checked 15 October 2026.

    Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, June 2021 to June 2025, licensed under CC BY 4.0 Licence: CC BY 4.0.

  2. Correspondence, GCCSA 2021 to GCCSA 2026 (CG_GCCSA_2021_GCCSA_2026.csv)

    Australian Bureau of Statistics. ASGS Edition 4, July 2026 to June 2031, released 22 July 2026. Checked 15 October 2026.

    Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 4, licensed under CC BY 4.0 Licence: CC BY 4.0.

Talk to us about your books

Tell us how your business runs and what you need from your books, and we will suggest a bookkeeping plan that fits.

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