eBay transaction report to a Xero manual journal

1. Export the file from eBay Seller Hub

1. In Seller Hub open the Payments tab and select Reports in the menu on the left.
2. Select Transaction report in the download section, choose the transaction type (all types) and the start and end date, then select Create report.
3. eBay emails you when the report is ready. Download the CSV and upload it here as it is, without opening and re-saving it in a spreadsheet.

Why a raw eBay transaction report export fails in Xero (manual journal import)

Your bank receives eBay payouts that are sales minus final value fees, ad fees, labels, refunds and holds. Entering the payout as income understates sales and hides every fee. A journal entry per payout puts each kind of amount on its own line and exactly the payout on the payout clearing line.

Xero's bank statement import puts every line into one bank account, so a payout split into sales, fees and refunds needs either a clearing account in Xero or a journal. A manual journal per payout (or per month when the export does not link sales to payouts) books gross sales, fees, refunds and payments you sent to their own accounts, and the payout amount to a payout clearing account: a current asset account that is not a bank account, because Xero does not let manual journals post to bank or credit card accounts. When the deposit arrives in your bank feed, reconcile it in Xero against that payout clearing account (Receive Money coded to it), and the clearing account goes back to zero. Xero imports the journals as drafts, and you post them after checking.

What is unusual about the eBay transaction report file

• About ten lines of notes come before the column header, and empty cells are written "--". Dates look like May 20, 2026 (eBay.com) or 24 Sept 2026 (eBay.co.uk).
• An order with several items has one order line with the Net and Gross amounts and one line per item with that item's fees; they are read together so nothing is counted twice.
• Each payout becomes its named lines (item sales, shipping, refunds, final value fees and each other fee type, promoted listing fees, shipping labels, claims, holds) plus the payout, all dated on the payout date.
• The lines of each payout are added up and compared with its Payout row. If they differ, you get a warning with the difference; it is never hidden.
• Rows that are not part of a payout yet (no Payout ID) are left out and counted in a note. eBay collected tax is not in your payouts, so it is not booked.
• Net amounts are in the payout currency, gross and fees in the sale currency: an order in another currency is booked at its converted Net only, on its own line. One currency per output.
• The German eBay.de report and the payout report are refused by name: download the English transaction report instead.
• Bank-style files (.qbo, .qfx, .ofx, QuickBooks Online CSV, Xero CSV) go into a separate eBay clearing account, not your checking account: each payout's last line moves the money to your bank.

What Xero (manual journal import) requires

• Columns as in Xero's manual journal template: Narration, Date, Description, AccountCode, TaxRate, Amount and two pairs of tracking columns.
• Narration and Date on the first row of each journal; the rows below with both left blank belong to the same journal.
• Dates as dd mmm yyyy (05 Mar 2026) or dd/mm/yyyy.
• Account codes, not names (for example 200). Debits positive, credits negative; each journal adds up to zero.
• No bank or credit card accounts: the payout is booked to a payout clearing account (a current asset), and the bank feed deposit is reconciled against it.
• Up to 300 lines per file (we split bigger files without breaking a journal). Journals are in your base currency.

2. Before and after

--,--,--,--,--,--,--,--,--,--,--,--,--
"Notes"
"Gross transaction amount: The total payment for a transaction before any fees or credits are applied."
"Gross transaction amounts and fees are listed in the transaction currency. Net amounts are listed in the payout currency."
"All fee amounts shown include taxes."
""
"Transaction report"
"This report includes transaction type","order, refund, claim, payment dispute, shipping label, charge, transfer, hold, other fee, adjustment, purc...
"Seller","synthetic_seller"

3. Import the converted file into Xero (manual journal import)

1. Make sure every account code in the file exists in your Xero chart of accounts (enter your codes in the options before downloading). The payout clearing code must be a current asset account, not a bank or credit card account: Xero does not accept those in a manual journal.
2. In Xero, in the Accounting menu, select Manual journals.
3. Click Import, then Browse, and select this CSV.
4. Click Import, review the message, then click Complete Import. The journals arrive as drafts.
5. Open the Draft tab and check each journal: add a tax rate to each line if the file has none, and tick "Show journal on cash basis reports" if you report on a cash basis (the template has no column for it). Then select the journals and click Post.
6. When the deposit (or the net pay withdrawal) appears in your bank feed, reconcile it against the payout clearing account (Receive Money or Spend Money coded to that account), not against sales.

Questions

Does each journal entry match my eBay payout?

Yes, when the report covers all of the payout. The converter adds the lines that carry each Payout ID and compares them with that payout's own Payout row. The payout clearing line uses eBay's payout amount; if the lines add up to something else, a warning names the difference and the gap goes to the clearing account.

How does the payout reach my bank account in Xero?

Xero does not accept bank or credit card accounts in a manual journal, and a journal line cannot be reconciled against a bank feed line anyway. So each journal books the payout to a payout clearing account, a current asset account you create (for example Payouts in transit), not a bank account. When the deposit appears in your bank feed, reconcile it against that clearing account (Receive Money coded to it). Do not code the deposit to sales: the journal has already booked the sales, so that would count them twice.

What happens to sales that have not been paid out yet?

Lines without a Payout ID (on hold or still processing) are left out and counted in a note. Download a later report and they come in with their payout.

What is not confirmed yet?

Xero's template download needs a Xero login, so we have not compared the exact header text (including the asterisks Xero puts on required columns) with a freshly downloaded template; the column names follow Xero's help page. We have also not confirmed Xero's default account codes, which tax rate names exist in each country, or whether imported journals arrive with "Show journal on cash basis reports" ticked. We have not imported the result into a real Xero organisation. Check the first journal before importing many.

Other ways to convert eBay transaction report

• eBay transaction report to a QuickBooks journal entry
• eBay transaction report to Xero
• eBay transaction report to a QuickBooks Online bank CSV
• eBay transaction report to Excel

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