Hello, I plan to open an internet business which will be strictly an order taking system with no accounting functionality. We will accept credit card which means we will pre-charge the customer before the items are shipped but the items will usually ship the next day which means I believe I don't have to do an auth and then a charge when the items do actually ship since the timing is so close. My question is what is the best way to bring the order into the accounting system and what accounts should I setup for debits and credits. Should the order be brought into the accounting system as an invoice? And if the order is pre-paid but the goods have not shipped at the time the order is brought into the system, I have a liability to the customer - either I ship him the goods or I give them their money back. But I don't have the money yet since the credit card companies take a few days to deposit the money into my account so I'm a little lost as to what accounts should be used and what I should debit & credit.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
G