Your cash flow report: money in, money out and payout history

Profit and cash are not the same thing. Your P&L can show a profitable month while your bank balance tells a different story, because eBay pays you on its own schedule and your expenses often leave your account before the matching sale ever pays out. The cash flow report at Reports → Cash flow is built to show that gap: actual money in from eBay payouts, actual money out from expenses and purchases, and the running balance between them over time.

Cash in: eBay payouts

The cash-in side of the report is built from your actual eBay payouts, not from sales as they happen. eBay collects buyer payments and releases them to your bank account in batches on its own timetable, so a sale made today might not show up as cash until a payout lands several days later. The payout schedule table lists these payouts so you can see exactly when money actually arrived, rather than when the sale that generated it took place.

Cash out: expenses and purchases

The cash-out side is built from the expenses and purchases you have recorded, the actual money leaving your account: things like postage, packaging, supplies, subscriptions and stock purchases. The expense breakdown shows what that outgoing money was spent on, so you can see which categories are drawing down your cash fastest.

The cash flow timeline and running balance

The timeline plots cash in and cash out against each other over time and keeps a running balance, so you can see whether your cash position is building up or draining down, and when. This is the view to use for practical questions like whether you can afford a stock order this week, rather than whether the business is profitable overall.

Revenue vs cash: why the two charts disagree

The revenue-vs-cash chart puts your recorded sales revenue side by side with the cash your payouts actually delivered in the same period. The two lines will rarely match exactly. Revenue is recognised when a sale happens; cash arrives later, on eBay’s payout schedule, and can lag by days. Use this chart to see the size of that timing gap, especially if you are trying to plan around when money will genuinely be available rather than when it was earned.