Automatyzacja
One payout from Amazon does not show the profit. How to automate order accounting?
Last updated: 27/08/2026
AMAZON PAYMENTS: +£120,000
The amount matches the bank statement. The payment reconciliation can be closed.
However, it is still unknown what the company actually earned.
A bank transfer from Amazon is the result of many financial events. Sales increase its value. Returns, commissions, FBA fees, promotions, and adjustments reduce it. Some events may relate to orders from previous periods.
A single amount shows how much money entered the account. It does not show the profitability of orders, products, or marketplaces.
Table of Contents:
What is inside the bank transfer?
Manual reconciliation starts where the bank transfer ends
Order ID is the axis of reconciliation, but we need to go deeper
What does automation do?
Data should go further than a dashboard
A single transfer can hide two opposite results
Let's unpack a single transfer from Amazon
This article takes 4 minutes to read.
What is inside the bank transfer?
Let's look at a model reconciliation:
Event | Value |
Product sales | +£185,000 |
Returns and refunds | -£18,000 |
Amazon commissions | -£24,000 |
FBA fee | -£17,000 |
Promotions and adjustments | -£4,000 |
Other events | -£2,000 |
Bank transfer | £120,000 |
The deposit amount matches to the penny.
However, we still don't know how much the company earned. The reconciliation does not yet include the cost of purchase or production, transport, customs duties, or other costs adopted in the company's P&L.
It is also unknown which SKUs generated a positive result and which only increased turnover.
Amazon provides settlement reports in which fees and other events are described by fields including amount-type, amount-description, and amount. Payment reports may also include Order ID, SKU, sale value, promotional discounts, selling fees, and FBA fees.
Manual reconciliation starts where the bank transfer ends
To answer the question about profit, the finance team must:
Download settlement reports
Organise event types
Link them with orders
Assign line items to SKUs and marketplaces
Account for subsequent returns and adjustments
Include product cost
Convert foreign currency values to GBP
Prepare data for analysis or ERP import
With a small number of orders, this process can be done in a spreadsheet.
When a company sells thousands of products across multiple marketplaces, each subsequent settlement period means downloading, cleaning, and merging data all over again. The finance professional is then not analysing the result. First, they have to build it manually.
It is precisely these repetitive tasks that create a hidden operational cost. We show this in more detail in our analysis how much manual e-commerce processes cost and when it's worth automating them.
Order ID is the axis of reconciliation, but we need to go deeper
A single order can contain several products.
SKU A may generate a high margin. SKU B may be sold on promotion. SKU C may be returned two weeks later.
The result of the entire order will not show which product is responsible for the profit or loss.
Therefore, automatic reconciliation of Amazon orders should connect:
Order ID → order item → SKU → marketplace → financial event
Only this level of detail allows checking the profitability of an Amazon order and the performance of individual products.
A company that only knows the aggregate result knows how much it earned during the entire period. A company that knows the margin per SKU knows where to change the price, limit promotions, adjust advertising, or withdraw an unprofitable variant.
What does automation do?
The system can periodically:
Download sales and financial reports
Identify fee, return, and adjustment types
Link events with Order IDs and SKUs
Assign results to the correct marketplace
Retrieve product costs from ERP or cost database
Apply the agreed currency conversion rule
Calculate results according to the company's methodology
Create a reconciliation file or transfer data to ERP
This process can be part of a wider Amazon sales automation system that combines data from Amazon, ERP systems, and other sources in a single reporting and profitability control model.
The NBP provides a public API containing current and historical exchange rates in JSON or XML format. Automation can retrieve the appropriate rate for a specified date. The rule for choosing the date and table should be agreed in advance with the finance or accounting team.
Technology does not set accounting rules for a company. It ensures that once a methodology is adopted, it is applied in the same way to every subsequent event.
Data should go further than a dashboard
The result per Order ID and SKU should not remain merely a curiosity in a management report.
It can feed into:
Management accounting
Margin analysis per SKU
Pricing decisions
Amazon Ads optimisation
Promotion control
Marketplace profitability assessment
Payment reconciliation
Financial processes in ERP
The method of transferring data depends on the system used and its configuration. Solutions such as Subiekt GT Sfera, Symfonia ERP WebAPI, or Comarch ERP Enterprise offer mechanisms allowing the integration of the ERP system with external applications.
We can therefore prepare data in an import format or build a direct exchange via an available interface. The scope depends on the ERP version, modules, and the company's accounting process.
A single transfer can hide two opposite results
Suppose two products generated identical turnover:
SKU A
Sales: £80,000
Result: +£20,000
SKU B
Sales: £80,000
Result: -£2,000
In aggregate, the company still sees £160,000 in sales and £18,000 in positive result.
SKU B, however, is constantly absorbing capital, taking up inventory, and dragging down the result. Without SKU-level data, it might receive additional advertising budget simply because it generates a lot of orders.
Automation turns an aggregate amount into information on which a specific decision can be based.
Let's unpack a single transfer from Amazon
You don't have to start by rebuilding the entire financial system.
We can take one settlement period, link events with orders and SKUs, and then check:
How much manual work the current reconciliation requires
Which data is missing
Where errors or delays occur
Which stages can be automated
How to transfer the result to the ERP being used
We will automate the path from an aggregate bank transfer from Amazon to the result per order, SKU, and marketplace.
The calculations presented in this article are a model simulation. The P&L scope, method of cost allocation, and currency conversion rules require agreement with the company's finance or accounting department.
FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions
Why doesn't the transfer from Amazon show sales profit?
A transfer from Amazon is the result of many financial events, such as product sales, returns, commissions, FBA fees, promotions, and adjustments. It shows how much money reached the company's account, but does not take into account all the costs needed to determine the profitability of individual orders and SKUs.
What is included in the Amazon Payments settlement?
Payment reports may include Order ID, SKU, sales value, promotional discounts, selling fees, and FBA fees. Settlement reports describe individual financial events through fields such as amount-type, amount-description, and amount.
How to reconcile Amazon orders per Order ID and SKU?
Reconciliation should connect data at the level of Order ID → order item → SKU → marketplace → financial event. Then, product costs and other costs can be added in accordance with the financial methodology adopted by the company to determine the result of individual products.
Why is Order ID alone not enough for profitability analysis?
A single order can include several products with different costs and performance. One SKU may generate a high margin, another may be sold on promotion, and another returned at a later date. Therefore, analysis solely at the level of the entire order does not show which products are responsible for a positive or negative result.
How to automate Amazon sales reconciliation?
The system can automatically retrieve sales and financial reports, identify fee types, returns, and adjustments, link events with Order IDs and SKUs, and assign them to the appropriate marketplaces. It can then include product costs, apply established currency conversion rules, and pass the prepared data for analysis or ERP.
Can Amazon reconciliation be integrated with an ERP system?
Yes, if the system used and its configuration allow integration with external applications. Data from Amazon can be prepared in the appropriate import format or passed directly through an available interface. The scope of integration depends on the specific ERP, its version, modules, and the company's financial process.
How to account for exchange rates in automatic Amazon reconciliation?
Automation can retrieve current and historical exchange rates, e.g., from the NBP's public API. However, it is necessary to establish in advance with the finance or accounting department which date and rate table should be used. The system should then consistently apply the adopted methodology.
Why analyse Amazon sales profitability per SKU?
Analysis per SKU allows you to see which products actually generate a positive result, and which may be increasing turnover with low or negative profitability. Such data can support decisions regarding pricing, promotions, Amazon Ads, inventory, and the further development of individual products.
Sources
Amazon Selling Partner API - Settlement Reports and Payment Reports.
Narodowy Bank Polski - exchange rate API documentation.
Integration documentation for InsERT, Symfonia, and Comarch.
Go2Market