Settings Checklist: Configure Synder Before Your First Sync

Configuring your settings before your first sync is one of the most important steps in getting started with Synder. Skipping this step is the most common reason syncs fail, create errors, or produce unexpected results in your accounting software. Take 10 minutes to review these settings — it will save you hours of cleanup.

🚀 Your First 30 Minutes: Quick-Start Setup

Follow these steps in order to get fully set up in about 30 minutes.

Before You Begin (2 min)

• Admin access to your payment platform (Stripe, Shopify, Square, Amazon, PayPal, etc.)
• Admin access to your accounting software (QuickBooks Online, Xero, or QuickBooks Desktop)
• Three accounts set up in your accounting software: Income, Clearing, and Fee/Expense

⚠️ Do Not Enable Auto-Sync Yet — Do NOT turn on auto-sync until you’ve completed a test sync and verified everything looks correct.

The 3 Accounts Synder Needs

🚨 Most Common Setup Mistake: Setting the Clearing Account to your actual bank/checking account. The clearing account should be a separate account representing your Stripe (or other platform) balance.

Connect Your Platforms (10 min)

1. Log into Synder at go.synder.com
2. Connect accounting software first: Person icon → Organization Settings → Add Integration → Select QBO/Xero
3. Connect payment platform: Add Integration → Select platform. Look for green “Connected” badge.
4. If OAuth fails: Open the platform in a separate tab, log in first, then retry.

Configure the 5 Settings That Matter (10 min)

1. Income Account — Where sales revenue posts
2. Clearing Account — Must be separate from checking (one per platform)
3. Fee Account — Where processing fees post as expenses
4. Product Mapping — Map platform products to QBO/Xero items (or enable “Auto-create products”)
5. Sync Mode — Per Transaction vs Daily Summary

Your First Test Sync (5 min)

1. Import 5 transactions (small date range, last 3 days)
2. Review before syncing — confirm amounts, accounts, categories
3. Sync 1–2 transactions and verify in QBO/Xero
4. Check: Amount correct? Income to right account? Fees to fee account? Clearing received gross?
5. If wrong: Rollback in Synder → fix settings → re-sync. Never edit directly in QBO.

Enable Auto-Sync (3 min)

1. Settings → select integration → turn on Auto-Sync toggle
2. Confirm start date → Save. Done!

ℹ️ Pro Plan Users: Auto-sync is intentionally paused on Pro until your onboarding call with CSM. Book your call → or email [email protected] to unlock.

Detailed Settings Reference

Why Settings Configuration Matters

When Synder syncs a transaction to your accounting platform, it needs to know where to post each part of the transaction — income, fees, taxes, and the bank or clearing account. If these are not set up correctly, Synder may refuse to sync (giving you errors) or use defaults that don’t match your bookkeeping setup.

How to Access Your Settings

• Click Settings in the left-hand menu.
• Select your integration at the top of the page (e.g., Stripe, Shopify, PayPal).
• You will see multiple tabs for different setting categories. We cover the key ones below.

The Settings Checklist

Complete every item below before syncing your first batch of transactions.

1. Products and Income Accounts

What it controls: Where Synder records your sales revenue in your accounting platform.

Key concept: In Synder, income accounts are linked to products, not set as a single global default. Each product in your accounting software (QuickBooks, Xero, or Sage) has an income account assigned to it. When Synder syncs a transaction, it uses the income account tied to that product.

How it works:

• If the product already exists in your accounting platform, Synder will use the existing product and its assigned income account.
• If the product does not exist, Synder can create it — and the income account it uses depends on your settings.
• You can configure product-to-account mappings in Settings → [Your Integration] → Products/Services tab.

What goes wrong if you skip it: Revenue may be posted to a generic or uncategorized account, making your Profit & Loss report inaccurate.

Tips:

• Review your existing products in your accounting software first. Make sure they have the correct income accounts assigned.
• Use the Product mapping section (in the Products/Services tab) to map integration products to accounting products. You can also bulk upload mappings via CSV.
• If you have many products, start by mapping your top 10–20 sellers. You can refine the rest later.

2. Bank or Clearing Account

What it controls: Which account in your books represents your payment platform’s balance (e.g., your Stripe balance or PayPal balance).

How to configure:

• Go to Settings → [Your Integration].
• Look for the clearing or bank account setting and select (or create) an account such as “Stripe Clearing” or “PayPal Balance.”

What goes wrong if you skip it: Payouts won’t reconcile properly because Synder may post everything to your main checking account instead of a dedicated clearing account.

Tips:

• Create a separate bank or other current asset account in your accounting software for each payment platform.
• This makes reconciliation much easier — the balance in your books should match the balance on your payment platform’s dashboard.

3. Processing Fees

What it controls: Where Synder records the processing fees that Stripe, PayPal, and other platforms deduct from each transaction.

How to configure:

• In Settings → [Your Integration], find the fee account setting.
• Select an expense account (e.g., “Payment Processing Fees” or “Merchant Fees”).

What goes wrong if you skip it: Fees may be netted against income instead of being recorded as a separate expense — understating your true costs.

4. Product Mapping

What it controls: How Synder matches products from your sales platform to items in your accounting software.

How to configure:

• Go to Settings → [Your Integration] → Products/Services tab.
• In the Product mapping section, you will see products from your sales platform.
• Map each one to the corresponding product in your accounting software.
• You can also upload mappings in bulk via CSV.

What goes wrong if you skip it: Synder may create duplicate products in your accounting software because it could not find a match for an existing item. You may also see sync errors if a product cannot be found or created.

Tips:

• You can customize product search priority to control how Synder looks for existing products (by name, SKU, or both).
• If product names on your sales platform contain special characters, you may need to set up a mapping manually, as QuickBooks API does not support searching by special characters.

5. Tax Settings

What it controls: How sales tax from your transactions is recorded in your accounting software.

How to configure:

• In Settings → [Your Integration], review the tax-related options.
• Make sure your tax codes in your accounting platform match what your sales platform sends.

What goes wrong if you skip it: Sales tax may not be recorded at all, or it may be posted to the wrong tax code — creating problems at tax filing time.

6. Review and Update

After configuring all settings, click the Update button at the bottom of the settings page to save your changes. Then:

1. Import a small batch of transactions from Platform transactions in the left menu.
2. Select a few transactions and click Sync.
3. Open your accounting software and verify that income accounts, fees, tax, and clearing accounts look correct.
4. If anything is off, adjust your settings, click Update, roll back the test transactions using Rollback, and re-sync.

Need Help?

If you are unsure about any setting, the Synder support team can review your configuration and suggest adjustments. Reach out via chat or email — they are always happy to help.

Related articles:

• Per Transaction Sync: Synder User Guide
• How to Review Your Synced Transactions and Fix Errors
• Troubleshooting: Why Your Synder Sync Keeps Pausing
• Product Search Priority
• Product Mapping: Import via File