Linqer vs. manual work in Excel
Many sellers start with a spreadsheet: export orders, line them up against settlements and highlight the differences. It works — until the number of orders, channels and line types grows. This comparison puts both approaches side by side on the eight criteria that matter in practice.
The verdict
Excel is fine for understanding how settlements work, but once volume or multiple marketplaces are involved, automated reconciliation wins on every criterion except licence cost.
The comparison
Eight criteria side by side
Time per month
About an hour: upload, review the detected discrepancies and prepare claims.
Easily one to two days a month spent on exports, pivot tables and manual checks.
Error detection
More than 40 error types detected automatically, from overcharged commissions to returns deducted twice.
Only the errors you actively look for; small discrepancies spread across thousands of rows stay invisible.
Claim deadlines
Deadlines monitored per marketplace, with an alert before a window closes.
Deadlines live nowhere central; claims quietly expire while the file sits on a drive.
Multi-marketplace
Bol, Amazon, Zalando and more in a single overview, with the same error categories per channel.
Every channel has its own file format and its own tab; comparing channels is manual work.
VAT corrections
VAT on fees, returns and corrections split out automatically per line type.
VAT rules per marketplace have to be researched by hand and retyped into error-prone formulas.
Scalability
From hundreds to millions of order lines without extra work or slower processing.
Growth means bigger files, slower spreadsheets and a rising chance of mistakes.
Cost
A fixed monthly fee that pays for itself through detected discrepancies and reclaimed amounts.
No licence cost — the hidden cost sits in hours and missed claims, but the invoice says zero.
Audit trail
Every discrepancy backed by amount, cause and source document — ready for your accountant.
Versions and formulas change unnoticed; traceability depends entirely on your own discipline.
Fair is fair
When is Manual work in Excel actually enough?
You sell on one marketplace and process at most a few dozen orders a month.
You first want to understand how a marketplace settlement works before automating anything.
Your settlements contain hardly any returns, corrections or variable fees.
Marketplace selling is a temporary experiment and every euro of fixed cost counts.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How much time does Linqer really save compared to Excel?
Sellers who used to spend a day or more each month on manual checks typically do the same work in Linqer in under an hour: upload, review discrepancies and prepare claims.
Do I have to migrate my existing Excel files?
No. You simply upload the export or settlement from the marketplace itself — as CSV, Excel or PDF. The AI column recognition reads the format automatically, so no migration or integration is needed.
Can I keep working in Excel alongside Linqer?
Yes. Every overview and discrepancy list is exportable, so you can keep using the results in your own spreadsheets or reports.
See the difference with your own numbers
Upload one marketplace settlement and see within minutes what manual checking misses.