Online Sales and Japanese Bookkeeping
Let’s say you sell products on Mercari, Yahoo! Auctions, Amazon, etc.
Your situation is as follows
You sell an item on Mercari.
August 1 You list your product on Mercari for 5,000 yen.
August 2 The product sold for 5,000 yen.(^^♪
August 3 The buyer paid 5,000 yen.
(The sales amount is temporarily kept by Mercari).
August 4 You shipped the merchandise to the customer.
August 5 The merchandise arrives at the purchaser’s location and the transaction is completed.
After deducting 500 yen for the handling fee to Mercari and 200 yen for the shipping fee to the customer, 4300 yen is credited to your Mercari account.
Let me explain the journal entries in this case
August 4, when the goods are shipped
(Debit＝借方) Accounts receivable＝売掛金 5,000 ／ (Credit＝貸方) Sales＝売上高 5,000
The shipment basis is the general timing for recording sales revenue.
August 5
| (Debit) Deposit＝預け金 4300 ／ | (Credit) Accounts Receivable＝売掛金 5,000 |
| (Debit) Commissions paid＝支払手数料 500 ／ | |
| (Debit) Packing charge＝荷造運賃 200 ／ |
The money has not yet arrived in your bank account. You have deposited the money with Mercury, so you use the account Deposits＝預け金.
And when 4700 yen is deposited into your business bank account, the journal entry is as follows
Savings account＝普通預金 4,700 yen / Deposit 4,700 yen
Accounting Books（会計帳簿） and Learning Japanese
Here is some basic information about bookkeeping（記帳） in Japan.
This time, I will talk about accounts receivable（売掛金＝うりかけきん）.
You received an order from a customer to purchase goods (for 10 yen) on August 18.
And you shipped the goods on August 19.
You have not yet received payment for the goods. In other words, your sales are called accounts receivable（売掛金）.
August 19
Debits(借方）: Accounts receivable, 10 yen / Credits（貸方）: Sales,（売上） 10 yen
And on August 20, a customer paid into your account (9 yen; 1 yen was deducted as a commission to the bank when the customer sent the money to you).
August 20
Ordinary Deposit（普通預金） 9 yen / Accounts receivable 9 yen
Commission fee（支払手数料） 1 yen/ Accounts receivable 1 yen
Credit card and journal entry in Japan
Assume that you are running a business in Japan. You buy an eraser (a consumable item) with a credit card (for business use).
On August 17, you bought an eraser for 100 yen with a credit card.
Debit: Consumable expense（消耗品費） 100 yen / Credit: Accounts payable（未払金） 100 yen
On August 18, you bought a banana for yourself for 200 yen.
Debit: Owner’s draw（事業主貸） 200 yen / Credit: Accounts payable 200 yen
On September 18, 300 yen was withdrawn from your business bank account.
Debit: Accounts payable 300 yen / Credit: saving account（普通預金） 300 yen
