Bookkeeping for Amazon sellers
that reads your Settlement Report before Amazon does
FBA inventory at COGS. Settlement-report reconciliation (not bank deposits). FBA fee breakdown by category. Marketplace facilitator tax vs direct-channel tax. Inventory reimbursements captured. Sponsored ads tied to SKU performance. Amazon-only — no generic ecommerce template.
What we look at every month
Amazon-specific mechanics — not generic ecommerce.
FBA inventory at COGS
Units at FBA valued at landed cost (product + inbound freight + prep). Reconciled to Seller Central Inventory Ledger monthly.
Settlement report reconciliation
Biweekly payouts traced back to gross sales, fees, refunds, and reserves. Not treating net deposits as revenue.
FBA fee breakdown
Storage, fulfillment, referral, long-term storage, removal, prep, and FBA placement service fees — broken out as separate expense lines.
Marketplace facilitator tax
Amazon-collected tax tracked separately from tax you collect on non-Amazon channels. 45 MFL states reconciled against Amazon Tax Document Library.
Inventory reimbursements
Lost, damaged, and destroyed unit reimbursements identified from settlement reports and tied back to affected SKUs.
Returns & refunds
Return reason tracked, refunds matched against original sale, and FBA return-processing fees booked separately.
Sponsored ads spend
Amazon Ads pulled from Ads Console, tied back to campaign and product. ACoS and TACoS visible monthly.
Restock velocity
Units sold per day per SKU vs inventory on hand at FBA. Flags SKUs 30–60 days from stockout so POs get cut in time.
What usually goes wrong
Five Amazon-specific issues we fix on almost every seller cleanup.
Booking Amazon gross sales as revenue when net deposits already have fees taken out
Gross sale = $100. Fees + reserves = $35. Bank deposit = $65. Booking the $65 as revenue understates gross sales by 35% and loses every fee deduction. Correct treatment pulls gross from the Settlement Report, books each fee category as expense, and reconciles to the net deposit.
Not reconciling FBA inventory
Thousands of units can sit at FBA warehouses unreconciled. Without a monthly match to the Inventory Ledger, your balance sheet drifts, COGS is wrong, and year-end taxable income is off by whatever inventory growth or shrinkage accumulated.
Missing long-term storage fees after 365 days
FBA long-term storage compounds monthly once a unit has been in a warehouse 365+ days. Slow-moving SKUs can accrue more in storage fees than they earn in margin. If you don't see it broken out, you can't fix it.
Confusing marketplace facilitator tax with direct sales tax
Amazon collects and remits tax on your Amazon sales in all 45 MFL states. But if you also sell on Shopify, Etsy, or direct-to-consumer, those channels have their own sales tax nexus rules. Treating everything as 'Amazon handles it' is a back-tax trap.
Missing inventory reimbursements
Amazon loses, damages, and destroys FBA inventory all the time. They reimburse — but the entry is buried in settlement reports and often misses without a reconciliation process. Some sellers leave thousands of dollars per year on the table.
What your books should tell you every month
KPIs that actually tell you whether Amazon is making you money.
True net margin per SKU
Revenue — product cost — inbound freight — FBA fees — referral — sponsored ads — return cost, per ASIN. The number you should reorder against.
FBA fee as % of revenue
Total FBA (storage + fulfillment + referral + long-term + removal) divided by Amazon revenue. Healthy is 30–40%; above 45% and something is wrong.
Inventory turnover rate
COGS divided by average inventory value. Low turnover + high long-term storage = dead SKU. Drives removal/liquidation decisions.
Cash cycle time
Days from supplier PO to cash back in bank. Typically 60–120 days for FBA. Tells you how much working capital the next reorder will need.
Documents we need from you
Grant Seller Central access and we pull these monthly.
When basic bookkeeping isn't enough
You've outgrown the Essentials plan when any of these show up:
- Multi-channel: Amazon + Shopify + Walmart + TikTok Shop or similar combo
- International marketplaces (Amazon Canada, UK, EU, JP) with VAT obligations
- 200+ active SKUs requiring per-SKU profitability analysis
- Direct-to-consumer bundling via 3PL in addition to FBA
- Preparing books for exit/acquisition (quality of earnings)
FAQs — Amazon Seller Bookkeeping
How do I account for FBA inventory?
FBA inventory sits on your balance sheet at cost — not retail price, not sell-through value. When Amazon sells it, you move the unit cost to COGS and recognize the revenue net of fees. Most sellers never tie out their Seller Central Inventory Report to their QuickBooks inventory balance, so the balance sheet drifts. We reconcile monthly against the Inventory Ledger report so your asset value is accurate.
Does Amazon collect my sales tax everywhere?
Amazon collects and remits sales tax in all 45 states with marketplace facilitator laws — but only on Amazon sales. If you also sell on Shopify, Etsy, or direct, you're responsible for sales tax on those channels in any state where you have nexus. We track Amazon-collected tax separately from tax you're responsible for, so filings are clean.
How do I book Amazon settlement deposits?
Amazon pays you roughly every 14 days. The deposit is NET of fees, reserves, chargebacks, and refunds. Booking the net deposit as revenue understates gross sales, understates FBA fee expense, and loses the reserves and reimbursements altogether. Correct treatment: record gross sales, record each fee category as expense, record reserves as a balance sheet movement, reconcile to the net deposit. We pull the Settlement Report monthly and do this for you.
How do I track Amazon reimbursements?
Amazon owes you reimbursements when they lose, damage, or destroy your inventory at an FBA warehouse. These show up as separate line items in settlement reports but are often missed because they're not tied to a specific sale. We track reimbursements as 'other income' tied to inventory so you can see whether Amazon is making you whole for the units they lose — and you can escalate when they're not.
What about long-term storage fees?
FBA long-term storage fees kick in when a unit has been in a warehouse for 365+ days. The fee compounds monthly until the unit ships. This is a silent killer for slow-moving SKUs. We break out long-term storage fees from standard storage so you know which SKUs are costing you more than they're earning — and whether removal orders or liquidation are a better call than more storage.
How do you handle sponsored ads spend?
Amazon Ads (Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display) is a COGS-adjacent expense — not marketing in the generic sense. Many sellers lump it in 'Advertising' but then can't see ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sale) as a % of revenue. We track ads spend by campaign type and tie it back to sales so ACoS and TACoS are visible monthly.
Can you work with Seller Central reports directly?
Yes. We pull the Transaction Report (all financial events), Settlement Report (biweekly payouts), Inventory Report (stock on hand), Fees Report (itemized fees), and Tax Document Library monthly. These five reports cover 95% of what's needed for accurate Amazon bookkeeping.
What's the right way to track cash cycle time?
Cash cycle is: time from supplier purchase → inventory received at FBA → first sale → settlement deposit. For most sellers this is 60–120 days, meaning you need working capital for 2–4 months of sales before cash comes back. We track this monthly so you know how much cash is tied up and when it releases.
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