Tie-Out › Why the numbers differ
Your numbers moved after a refund or cancellation? Check the day it is booked to.
Shopify counts a refunded order twice: the sale on the day it was placed and the reversal on the day of the refund. An app that books the refund back to the order day, or nets a cancellation to zero on the order day, puts dollars in a different week.
| Shopify, 3 Sep | +$15.00 |
| Shopify, 30 Sep | -$15.00 |
| Refund paid, 30 Sep | $20.95 |
| Not Net Sales (shipping and tax) | $5.95 |
Order placed 3 Sep, refunded 30 Sep, confirmed by the store’s owner on 24 Oct 2026. The refund is larger than the Net Sales it removes because it also returns shipping and tax.
| Shopify Net Sales | $108.00 |
| Cancellation netted on the order day | $123.00 |
| Difference | $15.00 |
The week tied to Shopify’s own day table to the cent. A month is unaffected: only the week moves.
What the app says about it
“Shopify can’t retroactively reassign refunds to the original order date, while Lifetimely can - so results will never fully align.”
Lifetimely’s help article “Lifetimely vs. Shopify Reports: The Key Difference” (help.useamp.com), read 26 Oct 2026.
How to check your own store
- Find a refunded or cancelled order from the month and note the day it was placed and the day it was refunded.
- Read your app’s Net Sales for the week that holds each of those days, and Shopify’s for the same weeks.
- If the weeks differ by the order’s amount and the month matches, this is the cause.
No install, nothing kept. Then see ProfitRoot print Shopify’s figure beside its own, with the difference and its cause.
Other causes we have measured: Net Sales higher than Shopify? Check shipping · Differ by a day? Check the timezone cut-off
Install ProfitRoot on the Shopify App Store. One store is a small sample: this page shows a cause, not how often it happens.