Account for Temu payouts
Temu pays you once per statement period, about every two weeks, and holds part of your balance back as a rolling reserve that it pays out on a later statement. By default each Temu order posts to your books as its own invoice, so those invoices never match what reaches your bank. Per Payout accounting posts each statement instead: one invoice per payout that adds up to the deposit to the cent, with the reserve kept in a balance-sheet account. It works like Shopify and eBay payouts and Walmart settlements.
Temu doesn't share payouts with other apps, so you record each statement in SKU.io by copying its figures from Temu Seller Center.
Before you begin
- Connect Temu.
- Set up the accounts you'll post to under Accounting → Settings → Nominal Codes: sales, sales returns, a fees account, and a current asset for the reserve, such as "Temu Reserve".
- Choose the date to start from. Payouts dated before it aren't posted, so pick the first deposit your books haven't already recorded.
How the reserve is booked
A Temu statement reads, left to right:
Beginning balance + Sales + Refunds + Others + Reserves = Payout amount
The beginning balance is the reserve Temu held back on the previous statement and now pays out. The reserves figure is what it holds back this time. SKU.io books each column like this:
| Statement column | Posts to | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Sales | Your sales account, in full | You earned it when Temu settled the sale, whether or not Temu has paid all of it yet |
| Refunds | Your sales returns account | |
| Others (shipping labels, charges, credits) | Your fees account, on a separate fee bill | |
| Reserves (withheld) | Your reserve account, as money Temu owes you | It isn't a fee and it isn't less revenue |
| Beginning balance (released) | Back out of your reserve account | Temu has now paid it |
For example, two statements in a row:
| Statement | Beginning balance | Sales | Reserves | Payout | Invoice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09/18–10/05 | 0.00 | 189.95 | −119.00 | 70.95 | Sales 189.95, less 119.00 to the reserve account = 70.95 |
| 10/06–10/19 | 119.00 | 0.00 | −100.00 | 19.00 | 119.00 back from the reserve account, less 100.00 into it = 19.00 |
Each invoice equals its bank deposit, revenue is counted once, and the reserve account ends at 100.00, exactly what Temu still holds.
Statements that cross a month end
Temu's statement periods run about two weeks, so many cross a month end. Split payouts at month end, in Finance Settings, is on by default. With it on, a statement that crosses a month end posts one part per month, each dated in its own month, so revenue lands in the month Temu settled it:
- The earlier month's part carries that month's sales, refunds and others, dated on the last day of the month.
- The last month's part carries the rest of those columns plus the beginning balance and the reserve. It's dated on the payout date, or on the last day of the period's month when Temu paid the statement in a later month.
The parts together still add up to the one bank deposit. For example, the 09/18–10/05 statement above, with 120.00 of its sales in September, posts a September invoice of 120.00 dated 9/30 and an October part of −49.05 (69.95 of sales less the 119.00 withheld), which posts as a credit. Together they make the 70.95 deposit.
Each statement keeps the split it was recorded with. Turning the setting off or on later only changes statements you record from then on.
Map the statement lines
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Go to Apps & Integrations, open Temu, and choose your store.
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Open the Finance tab. Payouts lists one row per statement: its payout date, period, Temu payout ID, readiness, accounting status, deposit status and the statement's figures.
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Open Payout Mappings. A new store starts with two Mapping Groups: Temu Sales, an Invoice, and Temu Fees, a Bill. Each group becomes one document per payout.
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Under Type Mappings, give each of the five statement lines a Nominal Code:
Line type Account Group Sales Sales Temu Sales Refunds Sales returns Temu Sales Others Fees Temu Fees Reserve withheld Temu Reserve Temu Sales Reserve released Temu Reserve Temu Sales 
Both reserve lines must go to the same balance-sheet account, and it must not be Accounts Receivable or Accounts Payable. A payout whose reserve lines point at a revenue or expense account doesn't post, and the reserve lines never use the fallback accounts.
The Revenue Fallback and Expense Fallback accounts under Finance Settings catch any other line you haven't mapped.
Switch the store to per-payout accounting
- In Finance Settings, set Payout Accounting Start Date.
- Change Accounting Sync Mode from Per Order to Per Payout.
- Leave Split payouts at month end on, unless you want each statement booked whole on its payout date.
- Click Save Settings, read the warning, and confirm.
From then on, the store's order invoices and credits stop syncing to your accounting provider, because each payout already carries that revenue. Orders still post inside SKU.io.
SKU.io doesn't void order invoices that were already sent to your accounting provider. Payouts dated before the start date never post, so an order you've already booked another way isn't booked again. If your books already hold a reserve from before the start date (for example, as an amount still due on an order invoice), move it into your reserve account before the first payout posts. The first payout's beginning balance takes it back out.
Record a statement
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In Temu Seller Center, go to Finances → Payments → Statements and open the statement.
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In SKU.io, on Payouts, click Record Statement.
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Enter the Period start, Period end and Payout date, which is the day Temu paid it out, your bank deposit date.
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Enter each column exactly as Temu shows it: Beginning balance, Sales, Refunds, Others and Reserves. Refunds and reserves are negative amounts.
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Enter the Payout amount. The check below the columns confirms they add up to it, and shows how the payout posts. Record statement stays unavailable until they do.
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If the period crosses a month end, a Month-end split section appears. Open the statement's detail in Seller Center and enter the earlier month's own Sales, Refunds and Others. The check shows what each month posts.
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Optionally add the Temu payout ID, the bank account and a note.
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Click Record statement.
SKU.io refuses a statement whose period overlaps one you've already recorded, and amounts in fractions of a cent.
Check each payout posts
Each payout's Accounting status shows where it stands:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Pending | The store isn't in Per Payout mode yet, or the payout is dated before your start date. |
| Posted | Its invoice, and its fee bill if Others isn't zero, are in your ledger (one set per month on a split statement). |
| Held | Something blocks it. Hover the Readiness chip, or open the payout, to see what. |
Open a payout to see the statement with what each column posts as, every readiness check, and the ledger entries it posted. A split statement also lists each month's part under Posts in.
The checks a payout must pass:
| Check | Passes when |
|---|---|
| Statement adds up to the payout | The five columns add up to the payout amount, exactly |
| Beginning balance matches the reserve held | The beginning balance equals the reserve the previous statement withheld. If it doesn't, a statement is missing or mistyped |
| Mappings configured | Every line has an account and a mapping group, or a fallback covers it (never for the reserve lines) |
| Reserve maps to a balance-sheet account | Both reserve lines map to a balance-sheet account other than Accounts Receivable or Payable |
| On or after payout accounting start date | The payout date is on or after your start date |
| Each month part in an open period | A split statement's parts are all dated after your accounting lock date |
Correct or delete a statement
Click Correct or Delete on the payout. You can change a statement until its documents reach your accounting provider; after that, void them in Accounting first. SKU.io also refuses a change to a statement whose reserve a later, already-exported statement releases.
Match the payout to your bank
Once your accounting provider has the invoice (and fee bill), the payout's Deposit column shows whether they're paid and reconciled to the bank. A payout that nets to 0.00 (the reserve Temu released is withheld again in full) still posts a zero-total invoice that moves the reserve, and its deposit status reads Nothing to deposit.
Next steps
- Account for Walmart settlements: the same idea for Walmart.
- Account for Shopify and eBay payouts: the same idea for Shopify Payments and eBay.
- How Temu order prices import: where the order amounts come from.
Video transcript
Temu doesn't send its payouts to other apps, so you record each statement from Seller Center. On your store's page, open the Finance tab. Each payout here is one statement and one bank deposit. Next, open the Payout Mappings tab, beside Payouts. Each of the five statement columns gets its own mapping. Map sales and refunds to your revenue accounts, and Others to an expense account for fees. Map both reserve lines to one balance-sheet account, such as Temu Reserve. The reserve is money Temu still owes you, so it's never revenue or a fee. Under Finance Settings, set the Payout Accounting Start Date to the first deposit your books haven't recorded. Set Accounting Sync Mode to Per Payout. Leave Split payouts at month end on, so a statement that crosses a month end posts in each month. Then click Save Settings. Now go back to the Payouts tab, which lists every payout you've entered, newest first. When the next one is ready in Seller Center, click Record Statement, and a form opens over the list. Enter the first and last day of the statement period, and the day Temu paid it out. Then copy each column exactly as Temu shows it, with refunds and reserves as negative amounts. The check below confirms the columns add up to the payout. Click Record statement, and the payout posts to your ledger. Your reserve account gives back the previous hold and takes in the new reserve. Every readiness check passes, including the carried-over balance. Under Ledger entries, its invoice adds up to the deposit.