How are orders and payouts actually matched?

In the best case, the settlement simply contains the marketplace order number, and your own order export contains that same number. One key, one match, done. This is also why the most important step in good reconciliation has nothing to do with software: make sure your order system stores and exports the marketplace order number.

In practice, systems write the same number differently: with hyphens, with a prefix, with a sub-order suffix ('-1', '-2') per partial shipment. Before comparing, identifiers are therefore normalized so that cosmetic differences do not produce missed matches.

When the order number is missing, the matching falls back to other references that both sides know: the invoice number or the shipping reference. Only when those are also absent do weaker signals come into play — and stricter requirements apply there.

A SKU or an amount is not an identity. Two customers can order the same item for the same amount on the same day. Therefore, matching on weak signals requires a double condition: the SKU must match and the amount (or order date) must confirm it. If there is any ambiguity at all — two candidate orders, a deviating amount — no link is made deliberately.

A missed match is visible and correctable: it appears as an open case. A wrong match is invisible and corrupts your records. When in doubt, do not link is therefore not a limitation, but the core of reliable reconciliation.

• Export the marketplace order number from your order system — this is by far the biggest lever.
• Include invoice and shipping references in your exports as an additional safety net.
• Configure normalization rules per channel when a marketplace uses non-standard number formats.