How to Manage Store Credit in Shopify: Issue, Refund, and Track
To export Shopify payouts, go to Finance > Payouts in your Shopify admin, open a payout and choose Export payout transactions, or export all balance transactions for a date range as a CSV file. Shopify emails the CSV to you and the store owner, with each transaction’s date, type, order, amount, fee and net amount.
Payout exports are the starting point for bookkeeping, because they show exactly which sales, refunds, fees and adjustments make up each deposit. Knowing which export to use, and what each column means, makes reconciling with your bank much easier.
How to Export Shopify Payouts
Shopify offers two main payout exports, depending on whether you need one payout or a longer period. Both are available for stores using Shopify Payments and use the same CSV columns.
Export a single payout
Use this export when you want to match one bank deposit to the transactions inside it. It includes only that payout’s transactions:
- In your Shopify admin, go to Finance > Payouts.
- Click the payout date, and choose the specific payout if there were several that day.
- Filter the transactions if you only need some of them.
- Click Export or the export icon, then choose Export payout transactions.
Export all transactions for a date range
Use this export for monthly bookkeeping or when you need every balance transaction across several payouts. You choose the period before exporting:
- Go to Settings > Payments and click View payouts.
- Click View transactions.
- Click Export, then choose a date range and CSV type.
- Click Export balance transactions.
The CSV arrives by email for you and the store owner. For a broader summary over a period, Shopify also provides a Shopify Payments activity report under Finance > Documents.
What’s in a Shopify Payouts Export
Both payout exports use the same columns, so you can combine files from different periods. Each row is one balance transaction:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Transaction Date | When the transaction happened, including the time zone |
| Type | The kind of transaction, such as a charge, refund or adjustment |
| Order | The order the transaction belongs to |
| Card Brand | The card network used for the payment |
| Card Source | The source of the card payment |
| Payout Status | Whether the transaction’s payout is scheduled, deposited or pending |
| Payout Date | The date of the payout that includes the transaction |
| Available On | When the funds become available for payout |
| Amount | The gross transaction amount |
| Fee | The processing fee charged on the transaction |
| Net | The amount minus the fee |
Shopify has also added reference IDs to make matching easier. The payout export now includes a Bank Reference that identifies the matching bank deposit, and the order transactions export includes a Payout ID that shows which payout each transaction belongs to.
How to Reconcile Payouts With Bank Deposits
Reconciling confirms that every deposit in your bank account matches what Shopify paid out. Work through it payout by payout:
- Match the deposit. Use the payout’s transfer or bank reference to find the matching deposit in your bank account.
- Export the payout’s transactions. Download the single-payout CSV for that deposit.
- Check the totals. Confirm that the sum of the Net column matches the deposit amount.
- Review deductions. Look at refunds, fees, adjustments and reserves to explain any gap between gross sales and the deposit.
- Link transactions to orders. Use the Order column, or the Payout ID in the order transactions export, to trace each amount back to its order.
- Record it in your books. Post gross sales, fees and refunds to the right accounts rather than recording only the net deposit.
If a payout hasn’t reached your bank, share its transfer reference number with your bank so it can trace the transfer. Deposited payouts can take about 1 to 3 business days to appear, depending on the bank.
Shopify Payout Statuses
The payout status in your export tells you where each payout is in the process. These are the statuses you’ll see:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Scheduled | The payout is being sent to your bank |
| Deposited | The payout was sent, though funds may take a few business days to appear |
| Failed | Your bank didn’t process the payout, so you need to follow the prompts in your admin |
| Withdrawn | Shopify requested a withdrawal from your bank, which only applies in regions where negative balances are debited |
| Pending | Applies to transactions not yet included in a payout, with estimated payout dates |
Pending amounts and dates are estimates. Refunds, chargebacks, reserves or adjustments can change them before the payout is sent.
Automate Shopify Payout Exports
Manual exports work well for monthly bookkeeping, but you may need payout data more often. Import and export apps and integration tools can pull payout data on a schedule:
- Bulk export apps. Matrixify can export payouts with their transactions to Excel or CSV, filtered by date, and schedule daily exports to a fixed URL or an FTP or SFTP server.
- Google Sheets reports. A scheduled CSV at a fixed URL can feed a Google Sheet through the
IMPORTDATAfunction, keeping a payout report up to date. - Workflow and integration tools. Tools such as Mipler and Zynk offer payout export templates or tasks for moving payout data into other systems.
- Shopify API. Developers can request payout and transaction data directly, which needs access to Shopify Payments payout data.
When working with exported payout data in a spreadsheet, watch for repeated payout totals across transaction rows. Some exports place the payout amount only on the first row, so summing every row can double-count.
Common Payout Export Questions
A few details often cause confusion when reviewing payout exports. Keep these in mind:
- Only Shopify Payments. Payout exports cover Shopify Payments, so payments through other providers, such as PayPal, need exports from those providers.
- Net versus gross. Deposits equal net amounts after fees, refunds and adjustments, not your total sales.
- Reserves. Reserved funds are held back from your payout balance, which can make deposits lower than expected.
- Refunds. Refunds reduce the payout they fall into, so a large refund can lower a later deposit.
- Time zones. Transaction dates include a time zone, so check it when matching transactions to a specific day.
- Missing email. If an export doesn’t arrive, check spam folders and confirm which address receives store owner emails.
Conclusion
A Shopify payouts export gives you a clear record of every sale, refund, fee and adjustment behind each bank deposit. Using single-payout exports for reconciliation and date-range exports for bookkeeping keeps your finances accurate and easy to review. We hope this guide helps you handle your Shopify payouts export with confidence.
