Foreign-currency ecommerce payouts

Most stores are paid out in their own currency, and those payouts post straight to your books. If a processor pays you in a supported foreign currency (for example a USD Shopify or Stripe payout in a Canadian-dollar book), TALISK_HQ records it in two steps so your books stay in one currency and the exchange-rate movement is captured honestly.

How a foreign payout is recorded

1. Recognized at the payout date. The payout keeps its native figures (sales, fees, tax, net) and TALISK_HQ also stores the home-currency value of the net, converted at the payout date's rate. That home-currency net goes into an Ecommerce Clearing account instead of your bank, and no exchange gain or loss is recorded yet, because only one rate has been used.
2. Settled when the deposit lands. When the matching bank deposit arrives, the clearing balance is relieved against it. The difference between the payout-date value and the actual deposit is the realized exchange-rate gain or loss, and it is recorded automatically.

You can see both the native amount and its home-currency value on Ecommerce › Payouts. Each foreign payout shows, for example, US$970.00 with the home value beneath it.

Settling a foreign payout

• Paid into a foreign account. If the payout was deposited into a bank account held in the same currency (for example a USD payout into a USD account), TALISK_HQ matches and settles it automatically once the deposit imports, because the amounts match exactly.
• Paid into your home-currency account. If the processor converts the money and a home-currency amount lands in your regular account, the amounts no longer match to the cent because the rate moved. TALISK_HQ does not guess. On Ecommerce › Payouts, an open foreign payout shows a Settle button: click it, pick the bank deposit that paid it, and TALISK_HQ records the settlement and the exchange gain or loss.

A deposit from before your books' start date can't settle a payout from after it: its money is already in your opening balances, so TALISK_HQ refuses it. A deposit from on or after the start date can still settle an older payout.

Unsupported currencies

If a payout is in a currency TALISK_HQ cannot yet convert, it is left off your books rather than posted at a wrong value, and it is flagged on your books-health checks. Support widens over time as new markets are added.

The last payout on your phone

The Store screen on your phone shows your most recent payout in the currency it was paid in. A payout in your book's own currency shows with the usual symbol. A payout in another currency spells its code out, for example USD 1,000.00, and once it has been recorded in your books a second line shows what it came to in your book's currency, at the payout-date rate.

That second line appears only for a payout your books carry. A held payout shows its own amount and a note that it is held and not in your books yet; it gets its converted line once it is recorded. A payout from before your books opened shows its own amount and a note that it is counted in your opening balances, because that money is already in them and the payout itself is never recorded again. If there is no exchange rate for the payout date yet, the phone says so rather than showing a guessed figure. A payout in a currency TALISK_HQ cannot convert shows only its own amount. Ecommerce › Payouts on a computer has the full detail for every payout.

Today's sales on your phone

The today figure on the Store screen adds up the orders your store took today, each in the currency your store recorded it in. TALISK_HQ never adds two currencies together. If every order today was in one currency you see one figure in that currency; if they were in more than one, you see one figure per currency, for example $106.00 and USD 54.00. The recent orders listed further down follow the same rule: an order in another currency shows its code.

The sales, net-after-fees and GST figures on that same screen are different: they come from your ledger, so they are always in your book's own currency.

Sales from before your books opened

The sales total on your phone's Store screen, and the headline cards on Ecommerce › Overview on a computer, include sales from before your books opened, for reference. A pre-opening payout in another currency is converted into your book's currency at its payout-date rate before it is added, the same way a payout in your books is. If a pre-opening payout has no exchange rate to convert it, it is left out of those totals rather than added at face value, and a line under them names it in its own currency, for example Not included: USD 1,030.00 of pre-opening sales with no exchange rate.

Undoing a settlement

If a payout was settled against the wrong deposit, open it on Ecommerce › Payouts and choose Unmatch. For a foreign payout this also reverses the exchange gain or loss and re-opens the clearing balance, so you can settle it against the right deposit.

A deposit you categorized before settling it is counted once. The settlement records the money arriving, so the entry behind the deposit's category is removed when the payout settles, and Unmatch puts it back. The line keeps the category you picked.

A payout still at face value

If TALISK_HQ cannot fetch a rate for a payout when it is recorded, it books it one for one at face value and tries again each night. A payout still at face value a few business days later raises a card on your books-health checks. A payout already matched to its deposit is never re-booked: choose Unmatch on it as above, and the nightly check re-books it so you can settle it again. If its period is locked, use Update lock date or Remove lock (unlock all dates) on Ledger › Accounting › Period Lock and lock it again afterwards, unless the lock came from filing a return: then talk to your accountant and do not re-open it.