Xero for WooCommerce — invoices, contacts, VAT and payments from orders

Accounting Sync with Xero for WooCommerce sends shop orders to Xero as sales invoices: with the buyer contact, VAT or GST by rate, and revenue accounts for products, shipping and fees. No duplicates, and retries when Xero is down. Pro adds payments on the invoice, credit notes for refunds, a revenue account per product category and tracking categories. For Xero organisations in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

Before you install: every shop connects through its own Xero app. You create it for free at developer.xero.com, and the step-by-step guide with the ready redirect address is right in the plugin settings. The connection belongs to you alone, and no data passes through anyone else’s server.

What the buyer sees

The buyer sees nothing new: the checkout does not change. The Xero invoice appears when the order reaches a status you choose, with the Xero number or the order number in Reference.

What the admin gets

WooCommerce → Accounting Sync: Connection, Mapping, Queue, Log and Licence tabs. Connection holds the Client ID and secret of your app, “Connect to Xero”, a test, the statuses that send an invoice, approved or draft, numbering and payment terms.

On Mapping the WooCommerce rates are matched to Xero rates by percentage; when Xero has more than one 0% rate, the module stops the order and asks you to choose, so it never lands in the wrong box of the return. Queue shows every document, its Xero number, the attempts and the reason it stopped.

How it works, step by step

1. At developer.xero.com you create a Web app, paste the redirect address from the settings and copy the Client ID and secret into the plugin.
2. “Connect to Xero” opens the Xero sign-in, and you choose the organisation.
3. On Mapping you check the VAT rates and revenue accounts.
4. An order in the chosen status joins the queue and the invoice goes to Xero; before creating it the module looks for an existing one.
5. In Pro a payment to the bank account follows the invoice, and a refund becomes a credit note.

Under the hood

• The secret and tokens are stored encrypted; the token refresh runs under a lock so two processes never break each other.
• Every document has an idempotency key and a Reference, so a retry after a dropped connection never creates a second invoice.
• The Xero limit (429) pauses the queue, and it continues by itself.
• Once a week the module refreshes the connection, because Xero closes it after 60 days without use.
• Compatible with HPOS, the block and the classic checkout; plugin language: English.

How to install

1. Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin: choose the zip and activate.
2. WooCommerce → Accounting Sync → Connection: follow the steps of the guide to create your own Xero app.
3. Paste the Client ID and secret, press “Connect to Xero” and choose the organisation.
4. Check Mapping and run one test order, best against the Xero demo company.
5. For Pro: paste the key or start the 7-day trial on the Licence tab.

The “Download free” button gives the free version, the same one that goes to wordpress.org. Pro is the full archive; it appears in your account after a purchase or a trial.