Bench Accounting Shut Down: The Migration Guide for Ecommerce Sellers

What Bench actually did for ecommerce sellers

Bench operated as a managed bookkeeping service: you uploaded receipts and bank statements, a Bench team categorized transactions, and you got monthly financials. For ecommerce sellers, Bench's weak spots were exactly the parts that matter most:

• Inventory and COGS were thin. Bench treated inventory as an annual adjustment, not a per-unit ledger.
• Marketplace integrations were generic. Settlements were booked as summary lines, not order-level.
• Multi-channel reporting required custom work, often at extra cost.
• Sales tax was outside Bench's scope. Customers handled state filings separately.

If you were an ecommerce seller, the Bench monthly was a P&L summary, not a usable management tool. The shutdown is an opportunity to fix that.

Step 1: secure your historical data

If you're still in the Bench export window, download everything:

• Trial balance for every closed year
• General ledger detail
• Bank account, credit card, and merchant statements (already in your bank, but Bench had clean categorized copies)
• Year-end financial statement PDFs
• Receipts library
• Vendor 1099 history

Save all of this to your own Google Drive or Dropbox in a folder structured by year. You'll need it for the next CPA, the next bookkeeper, and any future IRS or state inquiries.

Step 2: pick your new accounting stack

For an ecommerce seller post-Bench, the right stack has three layers:

• Accounting platform: QuickBooks Online for US-based sellers, Xero for international or multi-currency. Either is fine. Pick what your future bookkeeper prefers.
• Ecommerce reconciliation layer: A system that pulls marketplace settlements, applies COGS at unit level, and posts clean journals. ConnectBooks does this across Amazon, Shopify, Walmart, eBay, and TikTok Shop.
• Bookkeeper or in-house close: A human (or you, if you're willing) to handle non-marketplace transactions: vendor payments, payroll, contractor invoices, expenses, month-end review.

The three layers are how Bench's old "all-in-one" service has become a more capable, lower-cost stack: software handles what software is good at (volume reconciliation), and a human handles judgment-required work.

Step 3: migrate the trial balance

Your QuickBooks Online or Xero file starts with the closing balances from Bench's last closed year. Open the trial balance from Bench, and:

1. Set up your chart of accounts in the new platform (see the ecommerce structure recommended in our setup guide).
2. Enter opening balances as a journal entry dated the first day after Bench's last close.
3. Reconcile each bank account and credit card to the opening balance.
4. If Bench's last close was more than 60 days ago, you have an in-between period to catch up before you can run a current month. Catch-up bookkeeping is the next step.

Step 4: catch up the in-between months

For most former Bench customers, there's a 3 to 9 month gap between their last clean Bench close and today. You have two options:

• DIY catch-up: Pull bank statements, marketplace reports, and credit card statements for the gap period. Categorize transactions. Reconcile monthly. Expect 8 to 16 hours per gap month for an ecommerce seller doing this themselves.
• Hire a catch-up bookkeeper: Most ecommerce bookkeepers charge $500 to $1,500 per gap month for cleanup. Pricier than DIY but faster.

This is the single most painful step in the migration. The gap doesn't fix itself, and the longer you wait, the worse it gets.

Step 5: connect ConnectBooks

Once you have a current monthly close (or are close to it), connect ConnectBooks to your marketplaces and your accounting platform. The first month after connection, ConnectBooks reconciles the prior 90 days of settlements automatically. You review the journals, approve them, and your books are current.

Going forward: the marketplace side of your books runs on automation. Your bookkeeper (or you) handle the non-marketplace items.

Step 6: sales tax cleanup

If you were filing sales tax separately during Bench, your current state of compliance is probably what it always was. If Bench was your full-service provider and didn't touch sales tax, this is the time to audit:

• Where do you have nexus today? (Physical presence + economic nexus thresholds in every state.)
• Where are you registered? Where do you need to be registered?
• What's the marketplace-facilitator status for each state? (Marketplaces remit on your behalf in most states.)
• What's your sales tax filing cadence in each state?

A sales tax compliance specialist (TaxJar, Avalara, or a sales-tax-focused CPA) can run this audit and get you registered and filing correctly. Budget $1,500 to $5,000 depending on scope.

Step 7: set up the monthly close cadence

By the tenth of every month, close the prior month. Reconcile every bank and credit card account. Review the marketplace journals from ConnectBooks. Confirm inventory positions. Run the P&L and balance sheet. Compare to the prior month, look for anomalies, fix them.

Most former Bench customers go from quarterly catch-up panic to monthly clean close within 90 days of starting the migration. The lift is real but contained.

Total migration cost: ballpark

• QuickBooks Online Plus: $90/month
• ConnectBooks: $149 to $349/month depending on tier and order volume
• Catch-up bookkeeping: $1,500 to $9,000 one-time
• Sales tax audit and registration: $1,500 to $5,000 one-time (if needed)
• Ongoing bookkeeper: $400 to $1,500/month

Compared to Bench's old $300 to $500/month plus the limitations, the post-migration stack is more capable, more accurate, and costs less per month after the one-time catch-up.

When did Bench shut down?

Bench announced its shutdown in December 2024 after being acquired by Employer.com. Customers received historical data exports and a transition window.

Do I need to keep paying for QuickBooks Online if I have ConnectBooks?

Yes. ConnectBooks posts to your accounting platform (QuickBooks Online or Xero). The accounting platform is the source of truth for the general ledger. ConnectBooks is the ecommerce reconciliation layer on top.

Is the migration worth doing now or can I wait?

The longer you wait, the larger the catch-up cleanup and the higher the risk of an inquiry catching you with incomplete books. The migration is not optional. The timing is.

Take Control of Your E-Commerce Business with ConnectBooks

Running an e-commerce business comes with plenty of challenges, but ConnectBooks is here to make your life easier. With real-time insights, seamless integrations, and detailed tracking of your profitability and inventory, you can stay ahead of the game. Whether you’re selling on Amazon, Shopify, Walmart, TikTok or eBay, ConnectBooks helps you manage your finances with 100% accuracy and confidence, so you can focus on growing your business.

Ready to level up? Start making smarter, data-driven decisions every step of the way. Try ConnectBooks Free Today or Schedule a Demo