Each type of TripWorks report has a specific application, and should be chosen depending on your company's accounting platform (Accrual or Cash-Basis) and your report need (Accounting, Marketing, or Cash Flow). 

This article describes common reasons why report totals do not match across different report types.

Sales Reports

Sales Reports show revenue created or occurring during a period. Sales Report are useful for customers who use Accrual Accounting. (Accrual Accounting means revenue is recognized and recorded when the services and products are delivered, while Cash Basis Accounting means that revenue is recognized when cash changes hands.)

Sales Reports can be run on a date period covering the Date Created or Experience/Activity Date: 

• When running sales reports by Date Created, you'll see trips created during the report period. This is relevant if you are trying to learn how much revenue was generated by marketing activity during a period. For example, if you have a large PPC campaign that generates results, you might want to align your marketing spend with sales generated - even if the Experience/Activity is scheduled to be delivered far in the future, or if not all of the payments have been received. 
• When running sales reports by Experience/Activity Date, you'll see trips that contain an Experience/Activity that occurred during the period. This is commonly used if you are on an Accrual Basis and want to see revenue earned for a period - even if the payments were received in prior periods.

Payment Reports

Finance reports are designed to show when payments change hands, regardless of when the Experience/Activity is scheduled to occur, or regardless of when the payment was deposited into your bank account. These reports are useful for analyzing cash flow and payment activity. 

If your business relies on partial payments or deposits, payments for a Sale may occur over a long period of time, and won't align with a Sales Report for the same period.

Additionally, if you receive cash payments, checks, wire transfers, or third party reseller payments, these payments will appear on a Payment Report, but will not appear on a Payout Report.

Payout Reports

Payout Reports show deposits that we make to your bank account. A Payout is a group of transactions that took place during a prior period - typically 2-3 days prior to the payout. 

Payout Report totals commonly won't match Payment Reports or Sales Reports for the following reasons:

Timing Differences

When running a Payout Report, the date period corresponds to the date the deposit was made. There is typically a 2-3 day delay between the date of the payment and the date of the deposit. Additionally, Payouts are not scheduled on weekends or most major holidays.

Therefore, a report of all Payouts received during a period will not match a Payment Report for the same period. For example, the first Payout on a reporting period will include transactions made by customers prior to the reporting period. 

Payment Types

Payouts do not contain all payments received by you, and Payouts may contain other types of debits and credits that affect the Payout total:

• Payouts do not contain cash payments, checks, wire transfers, or reseller payments. While TripWorks allows you to record these entries, the actual funds are handled by you and will not appear in a payout report.
• Payouts do not contain any payments received directly by you from resellers, such as Expedia, GetYourGuide, or Viator. While TripWorks allows you to record these entries (and in API-connected resellers will do so automatically), these payments appear in a payout report.
• Payouts do not contain gift card redemptions.
• Payouts include service credits issued to you by TripWorks, if any. When viewing detail for an individual Payout, service credits, if any, are itemized.
• Payouts totals are reduced by debits, such as a chargeback fee or purchase of other hardware and services by you from TripWorks. When viewing detail for an individual Payout, any debits are itemized.

Example: Partial Payments

Your team member:

1. Creates a $100 Trip on January 30 for a March 15 Experience/Activity
2. Accepts a $50 partial credit card payment on January 30
3. Receives a TripWorks Payout on the following day - February 1
4. Accepts the remaining $50 credit card payment on February 15

When running reports for selected periods, different totals will be shown:

Example: Gift Card Redemption & Chargeback

Your team member:

1. Creates a $100 Trip on January 30 for a March 15 Experience/Activity.
2. Applies a $50 gift card redemption on January 30, for a gift card previously sold in December.
3. Accepts a $50 credit card payment on March 15.
4. Incurs a $25 chargeback fee on March 18 for an unrelated trip.

When running reports for selected periods, different totals will be shown:

Example: Reseller Booking

Your team member:

1. Expedia transmits a $100 trip on January 30 for a March 15 Experience/Activity into your dashboard.
2. Your Expedia reseller account is configured with a 20% wholesale commission rate. 

When running reports for selected periods, different totals will be shown:

Example: Cash & Credit Card Payments

Your team member:

1. Creates a $100 Trip on January 30 for a March 15 Experience/Activity
2. Accepts a $50 credit card payment on January 30
3. Receives a TripWorks Payout on the following day - February 1
4. Accepts the remaining $50 cash payment on arrival on March 15

When running reports for selected periods, different totals will be shown: