Customer deposits

When a customer pays a deposit or a part payment on an order, that money isn’t your income yet — you still owe the customer the goods. Swann Retail can post those deposits to QuickBooks as money held for customers, in a Customer Deposits liability account, and take them back out when the order is completed or canceled. So your books show what you’re holding for customers at any point.

Deposit posting is off until you turn it on, and you turn it on by entering your opening deposits: the deposits customers had already paid when your QuickBooks posting starts. Your accountant reviews that list, and the account the entry posts to, before anything posts.

Before you start

You can set up deposit posting when all of these are true:

• QuickBooks is connected and you’re the business owner — the same as every QuickBooks setting.
• Sales post as Each sale. Deposit posting only works when each sale posts as its own receipt (see How sales post). On a daily summary or daily invoice, deposits ride the day’s figures instead.
• You’ve set a QuickBooks start date — see Scheduling the sync start. Your opening deposits are counted on that date.
• VAT is due when the order is completed. Swann Retail can’t post deposits to QuickBooks for a business that charges VAT when the deposit is taken.
• Your QuickBooks company has a customer deposit item. It’s the item every deposit posts through, and it must book to a liability account (an Other Current Liability, usually called Customer Deposits). If you keep part of a deposit when an order is canceled, a forfeited deposit item that books to an income account takes that part.

If something on this list isn’t in place, the Opening deposits card on the QuickBooks page tells you what’s missing and goes no further.

What posts once it’s on

What happens in the store	What lands in QuickBooks
A customer pays a deposit or a part payment	A sales receipt for the deposit, which puts the money into Customer Deposits.
The order is completed	The order’s receipt counts the earlier deposits against the total, taking them back out of Customer Deposits, so only the balance paid today is new money.
The order is canceled and the deposit refunded	A refund receipt that takes the deposit back out of Customer Deposits. Any part you kept posts to Forfeited Deposits as income.

Orders brought across from Loyverse don’t post deposits — only orders rung in Swann Retail do.

Swann Retail never lets Customer Deposits go below what it should hold. If a completed or canceled order would draw out a deposit that never went in — for example, one taken before your start date that isn’t in your opening deposits — that sale is held rather than posted, and it shows up under Fixing what won’t post.

Turn on deposit posting with your opening deposits

Open Integrations → QuickBooks and find the Opening deposits card.

1. Check the list

The card lists every order that was still holding a deposit at the close of the day before your start date — the order number, when its first deposit was taken, how much is held, and whether the order was already sent to Loyverse. Below the list you’ll see three totals: orders sent to Loyverse, orders not sent to Loyverse, and the overall total.

That total is the opening balance of your Customer Deposits account.

2. Pick the offset account, then have your accountant review it

Swann Retail posts your opening deposits as one journal entry: a credit to Customer Deposits for each open order, balanced by a debit to the offset account your accountant names — often Opening Balance Equity. Your accountant reviews the account the entry posts to as well as the list, so you pick the account before you record the review.

1. Under Offset account, search your QuickBooks chart of accounts and pick the account your accountant named (see Choosing the offset account).
2. If some orders were already sent to Loyverse, you’ll also see Offset account for orders sent to Loyverse (optional). Those orders may already be in your books through your old Loyverse feed, so your accountant may want them balanced against a different account. Leave it empty to use the first account for every order — if you’ve picked one and change your mind, choose Use the account above for every order.
3. Show the list and the offset account to your accountant. Once they’ve reviewed both, type their name under Accountant’s name and choose Record review.

If your accountant is entering the opening entry in QuickBooks by hand, leave Offset account empty and record the review without one. You can then record their entry (below), but Swann Retail can’t post one for you.

The review is for this exact list. If the open deposits change after it’s recorded — a new deposit is taken, an order is completed — the card says “The open deposits changed after … reviewed them. Your accountant needs to review this list again.” and you pick the offset account and record a new review.

3. Post the entry, or record the one your accountant made

Once the review is recorded, the card shows who reviewed it and when, and you have two ways to finish.

Let Swann Retail post it. Under Post the entry to QuickBooks, the card shows the offset account recorded with the review. You can’t change it here — the entry posts to exactly the account your accountant reviewed. If you picked a second account, it shows one for Orders not sent to Loyverse and one for Orders sent to Loyverse.

1. Choose the Entry date — your start date, or the day before. Ask your accountant which they prefer.
2. Choose Post opening deposits entry. The confirmation names each account the entry posts to — check these are the accounts your accountant named, then choose Post entry.

Need a different offset account? Choose Post to a different offset account. The review form opens again: pick the new account and record your accountant’s review again with it, because posting to a different account needs a new review. Choose Cancel to keep the review you have.

If the review was recorded without an offset account, the card says Swann Retail can’t post the entry — choose Record the review with an offset account to record it again with the account your accountant named. And if the account recorded with the review is no longer one Swann Retail can post to, the card says so; choose Post to a different offset account and record the review again with another account.

Already entered it in QuickBooks? If your accountant entered the opening entry by hand, type its journal number or reference under QuickBooks journal number or reference and choose Record entry. Swann Retail doesn’t post anything — it records your reference and turns on deposit posting.

Either way, the card then shows Deposit posting is on from your start date. From then on, deposits post as described above.

Choosing the offset account

The offset account list comes live from the QuickBooks company Swann Retail is connected to, so you’re always picking from that company’s own accounts. It leaves out the accounts that can’t take this entry: inactive accounts, Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable accounts, and the Customer Deposits account itself.

Swann Retail checks the account again when you post. If it can’t use the one you picked, nothing is posted and the card tells you why:

What the card says	What to do
That account is not in the QuickBooks company Swann is connected to. Choose the offset account again from the list.	The account isn’t in this QuickBooks company — for example, it came from a different company. Pick it again from the list.
That QuickBooks account is inactive. Choose an active account for the offset.	The account was made inactive in QuickBooks. Pick an active one, or ask your accountant to reactivate it.
An Accounts Receivable or Accounts Payable account cannot take the opening deposits entry. Choose a different offset account.	Receivable and payable accounts need a customer or supplier on every line, which this entry doesn’t have. Pick a different account.
The offset account cannot be the Customer Deposits liability itself. Choose a different offset account.	Posting to Customer Deposits on both sides would cancel the entry out. Pick a different account.

When one of these appears, the card reopens the review form with your picks cleared and reloads the account list. Pick a different account and record your accountant’s review again with it — the review is for the account the entry posts to, so a new account needs a new review.

If posting is refused

• The list changed. If the open deposits moved since you loaded the card, you’ll see “The open deposits changed since this preview was loaded. Reload the preview and review it again.” Choose Reload list and have your accountant review the new list.
• The date is in a closed period. If the entry date falls in a period your accountant has closed, QuickBooks refuses the entry and nothing is turned on. Reopen the period, or choose a later start date — see Closed accounting periods.
• QuickBooks didn’t accept the entry. Nothing was posted and deposit posting stays off. Check the offset account and the customer deposit item, then try again. If it keeps failing, contact support.