For some time now, I have been selling other people's items online and earning a commission. I'm trying to develop better accounting records of this process, but I'm having some difficulties with journal entries. Here's an example. I sell an item for $55 for John Smith. I have agreed to pay John 90% of the net sale (the sale after all other fees are taken out) and keep the remaining 10%. Here's what I want to put as a journal entry:




Debit

Credit



Paypal Account

50




Ebay Fee

4




Paypal Fee

1




Account Payable to John Smith


45



Commission Revenue


5




The net sale is $50, so 45 of that goes to John, and 5 of that goes to me. However, this journal entry isn't right- the debit and credit sides don't balance. What's wrong? How should I get another $5 on the Credit side?

after the fees have been deducted it is unlikely your Paypal account would have that balance, so suggest you log in and have a look