Two decisions that often get conflated
First decision: which accounting tool? sevdesk, Lexware Office or something else. That is where your documents live, where the annual accounts and VAT returns are produced, and where your tax adviser works.
Second decision: which app transfers into it? The app is the translator between Shopify and the tool. It decides what arrives and in what quality.
Order matters. The tool ties you in longer and is harder to change — and in practice the decision usually comes down to what your tax adviser already uses. The app can be swapped.
The seven criteria
„Transfers your orders“ appears on every product page. The differences are in the detail:
- What actually arrives: contact details including VAT ID, every line item with quantity, unit price and tax rate — or just one lump sum? Shipping and discounts as their own lines?
- References: does the document carry a reference to the Shopify order so every invoice can be traced later?
- Tax cases: are domestic, intra-Community, non-EU, OSS and small-business distinguished — and is it visible why a case was chosen?
- Trigger: is the document created on order or on payment? The latter prevents documents for orders that are never paid.
- Write-back: can you see in Shopify whether a document exists and under which number?
- Refunds: what happens on a partial refund? Many apps only produce full credit notes — that should be stated, not discovered.
- Limits: does the vendor say what the app cannot do? Anyone who excludes nothing usually has not checked.
The test that actually reveals something
Take a real order with a discount code, shipping costs and two different products — and transfer exactly that one during the trial.
Then check in the accounting tool: are the unit prices right? Is the discount its own line or baked into the prices? Is shipping separate? Is the tax rate correct?
An order with no discount and no shipping transfers correctly in almost any app. The differences show up precisely where it gets messy.
How zrapp scores against these criteria
Openly again: zrapp is our own app. We answer the criteria the way we would expect from any vendor — including the limits.
- What arrives: contact with VAT ID, every line item individually with quantity and unit price, shipping and discounts as their own lines.
- References: the Shopify order number is on the document, the document data sits on the order as metafields.
- Tax cases: four priority levels from small business through reverse charge to the standard rules; the assignment is visible from the tag on the document.
- Trigger: payment, not order creation.
- Price: 6.99 US dollars per month or 69.90 per year, 14 days free, billed through Shopify Billing.
- Data handling: encrypted transfer, processing on German servers.
When zrapp is not the right choice
A usable decision framework has to name its own limits. zrapp does not fit if any of these apply:
- You use Lexware Desktop. The desktop products have no suitable interface — only the cloud product Lexware Office.
- You need automatic partial credit notes. Refunds always produce a credit note for the full amount; partial refunds are corrected by hand.
- You expect a qualified VAT ID check. The tax assignment uses the ID on the order but does not verify it.
- You need a direct DATEV transfer. zrapp creates documents in the accounting tool; the DATEV export then runs from there.
- You do not use Shopify. zrapp is a Shopify-only app.
Five steps to a decision
- Settle the accounting tool — usually decided by what your tax adviser uses.
- Work through the seven criteria and mark what is non-negotiable for you.
- Install one or two apps and use the free trial.
- Transfer realistic test cases: at minimum a domestic order with a discount and shipping, and where relevant an EU order with a VAT ID.
- Check the documents in the accounting tool — not the app's interface.
