Merchant accounts and the company ledger: what you see, change and what is recorded
How a delivery company reads its merchants' book: what shipping balance and COD dues mean, what can be changed, what is recorded in transactions (corrected by a new opposite movement, not edited or deleted from the company panel), and old pages that no longer work.
Last updated 22 October 2026 · Last verified 22 October 2026
Purpose#
A delivery company keeps its own book of accounts for its merchants, completely separate from the platform's wallets. This page explains how to read that book: what each number means, which actions change balances, and what is recorded; no screen in the company panel edits or deletes a movement, and a correction is posted as a new opposite movement. The detailed settlement steps (with couriers and with merchants) are in the guide "Courier cash settlement and the company merchants ledger".
Who can access it#
| Screen | Who opens it |
|---|---|
| Company merchants and their wallets | Company staff accounts (admin, in-charge, hub) on the company domain |
| Top up requests | Company staff |
| The Merchants list and its balance column | Anyone with merchant_read |
| Delivery pricing | Company admin |
| The platform-wide financial overview of merchants and companies | Super admin only |
A company sees only its own merchants. Platform merchants' balances and other companies' accounts are never shown, except a read-only card, Your account with the platform (platform merchant parcels), which appears when it has figures.
What each number means#
Every merchant has two wallets in the company's book:
- Shipping balance: credit the merchant buys from your company; parcel fees are deducted from it when the Payment mode is From their balance in advance. Manual withdrawals and parcel fee deductions cannot exceed it.
- COD dues: a positive figure (badge Owed to them) is money the company owes the merchant; a negative one (badge Owes) is money the merchant owes the company. Deliveries post to this balance, and so do returns when the merchant pays From COD. With From their balance in advance, part of the fee goes back to the Shipping balance on a return, according to the return percentage.
At the top is the table What they're owed and owe — at a glance with the columns Owed to him, He owes, Net and Details, which adds up the merchant's non-zero lines (platform lines if any, and your company's book). Below it are tiles: the number of merchants, Shipping balances of your merchants and Net COD dues for merchants. Amounts are stored in US dollars and shown in the display currency you chose; amounts you type in the forms are read in that same currency and converted.
What you can change#
Open Company merchants and their wallets
Use the side menu. If a banner asks you to run a database update, tell the platform operator: the wallets do not work before that.
Read the merchant's position
Look at Shipping balance and COD dues: the badge reads Owed to them or Owes followed by the amount, or Settled. Then check Recent transactions to see why the balance is what it is, before changing anything.
Record the right adjustment
Choose the action you need from the table below.
| Action | Effect | Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Payment list: From COD or From their balance in advance | Decides how the fee of new parcels is charged only; each parcel keeps the mode it was created with | Not a financial movement by itself |
| Top up or Withdrawal on Shipping balance | Adds to or deducts from the shipping balance | A withdrawal cannot exceed the balance, otherwise "The merchant balance is less than the amount you want to withdraw." appears |
| Collection settlement | Reduces the COD dues. When the dues are in the merchant's favour, the row shows an amount box pre-filled with the full balance, an optional note box and an I paid them button; when the merchant owes, the button reads I received from them; when settled, no form is shown | The amount cannot exceed the current balance; the optional note is up to 500 characters |
| Return percentage (0 to 100) | Decides how much of the fee a merchant gets back when a parcel returns undelivered | Applies to later returns only |
What is recorded#
- Every change to a balance goes through one routine that updates the balance and adds a line to the transaction log inside a single database transaction, so either both happen or neither does.
- Each line holds the wallet, the operation (credit or debit), the amount, Balance after, the movement type, the parcel if any, the description, who performed it and the time. For manual actions the description contains the name of the staff member who did it.
- Recent transactions shows your company's latest 40 movements with their types: Top up balance, Withdraw balance, Online top up, Parcel fee, Fee refund, Parcel collection, Return fee, Reverse transaction, Earnings payment (the company paid the merchant's COD dues), Receive from merchant (the merchant paid the company what the merchant owed) and Previous balance.
- No screen in the company panel edits or deletes a movement. A correction is a new opposite movement, and the system creates a Reverse transaction line by itself when a delivery, a return or a parcel is cancelled.
- The manual forms send a one-time token, so a double click does not post twice, and one top-up request can be counted only once.
Common mistakes#
- Opening the old "company transactions" pages. They now redirect you to Delivery pricing; that is expected.
- Using Charge wallet in the Merchants list. It appears in the menu for a company admin (in English even in the Arabic interface), but this option does not work for delivery companies. Use Top up and Withdrawal on Company merchants and their wallets.
- Expecting a change of Payment to affect old parcels. It affects new parcels only.
- Typing an amount in another currency. The forms assume your selected display currency.
Limits and permissions#
- The Recent transactions table shows only the latest 40 movements.
- The book covers your company's own merchants; parcels of platform merchants are settled between the company and the platform, not here.
- For delivery pricing see the guide "Company delivery pricing methods".