What the sample workspace is for
The sample workspace gives new merchants, accountants, and reviewers a complete payout month when a newly installed store has no Shopify Payments payouts.
Its synthetic payouts demonstrate fees, refunds, disputes, account mappings, journal review, reports, and close controls using the same accounting workflow as the live product.
Sample data is visibly separate
Sample payouts are labelled as sample data and remain isolated from the live Shopify workspace. They are not imported from the merchant’s store and do not change Shopify records.
Sample data cannot reach QuickBooks
Provider-posting safeguards permanently prevent sample payouts and journals from being sent to QuickBooks. Connecting a QuickBooks company does not weaken that separation.
A useful product tour
- Open the sample payout list
- Review a complete payout and a visible variance
- Inspect account mappings and the proposed balanced journal
- Review payout and monthly reports
- Walk through the month-end close controls
Return to the live workspace
Use the workspace control to return to the merchant’s real store data. Live imports, posting, and bank matching remain subject to the merchant’s plan, provider connections, approved mappings, and accounting controls.