Amazon wholesale bookkeeping: the numbers to track and a monthly P&L routine

Most wholesale sellers start their books the same way: a spreadsheet of what they bought, Seller Central for what they sold, and the bank balance as the scoreboard. It works until the first month when sales are up, the bank balance is down, and nobody can say which products made money.

This guide fixes that with five numbers, one monthly routine and a profit and loss (P&L) sheet set up for buying by the case from distributors. It is the bookkeeping part of the last stage of the wholesale roadmap. Taxes have their own guide, taxes for Amazon resellers, and so do payouts: DD+7, the reserve and your settlement report.

Why Amazon's reports are not a P&L

A profit and loss statement answers one question: this month, after everything it cost, did the business make money? Amazon's payment reports answer a different one: how much money is moving between Amazon and your bank, and when. Four things keep those answers apart.

Amazon pays by settlement period, not by month. Amazon's guide to seller payments says "In general, Amazon settles seller accounts every two weeks." It works out each payout from your beginning balance, adds sales, takes off expenses and refunds, and holds part of the balance back in reserve before it sends the rest (Amazon). A two-week period rarely starts on the 1st and ends on the 31st, so a month of deposits is never a month of sales.

The reserve is timing, not cost. Money Amazon holds back is still yours. Amazon's guide says the reserved amount becomes the beginning balance of your next settlement period. In your books it is neither income nor an expense. How the reserve and DD+7 work is covered in our payouts guide.

Amazon doesn't see most of your costs. Amazon knows its own fees, your refunds and your ad spend. It doesn't know what you paid the distributor, the freight to your prep center, the prep invoice, your software or the person who helps you. Amazon says it introduced Profit Analytics in 2025, a tool that brings together cost data such as advertising spend, refunds and returns (Amazon). It is worth a look. But any report is only as complete as the costs it knows about, and the biggest cost a wholesaler has, the stock itself, lives in your supplier invoices.

Cash and profit move at different times. You pay a supplier in March, the stock reaches Amazon in April and sells through June. Judged by the bank account, March was a disaster and May a windfall. A P&L puts the cost of each unit in the month it sells, which is the only way to see whether the business is working.

The Amazon reports that feed your books

Sources: How Amazon seller payments work for Statement View; Amazon staff posts on downloading payment reports and on Date Range reports.

Each payout comes with its own settlement report, and those are what you check payouts against. To close a month, use the Date Range reports instead. Amazon's staff post explains that they group transactions by the date each one posted to your account, which may not be the order date or the ship date.

Amazon also announced that by April 30, 2026 it would update the US Date Range Transaction and Summary reports to include deferred transactions alongside released ones, with a new column saying which is which and a release date for the ones already released. Amazon's stated aim was a clearer view of accrued earnings for month-end reconciliation (Amazon announcement). We have not seen the new columns in a signed-in account. If your report has them, the month's sales include orders whose money Amazon has not released yet, which is what a P&L wants.

The five numbers to track

Here is a wholesale P&L in outline. Sales come straight from Amazon's report. The five numbers below are where books usually go wrong.

1. Cost of goods sold

Cost of goods sold is what the units you sold this month cost you. It is not what you spent on stock this month. A seller who buys a big order in March and sells it over three months should see that cost spread across April, May and June, as the units sell.

There are two ways to work it out, and they do different jobs:

• Per product: units sold times each product's landed cost per unit. This tells you which products earn their place and which to reorder.
• For the whole store: inventory at the start of the month, plus stock received, less inventory at the end. This catches everything the per-product view misses: units lost, damaged, thrown away or miscounted.

When the whole-store number is noticeably bigger than the sum of your per-product numbers, units are leaving the business without being sold. That is your cue to look at lost inventory, unsellable returns and shipments that arrived short.

Watch the per-product number over time, not just once. From Stef's lesson (Apex Applications Walkthrough, at 20:40), where he points to the gross profit per ASIN figure in an earlier version of Apex:

"When you're building purchase orders, we want you to know exactly what is your gross profit per ASIN."

His point in the same passage is that prices move after you buy, whether you reprice or clear out slow stock, so the question each month is whether that figure is holding steady or climbing.

2. Landed cost

Landed cost is what one unit costs you by the time it is ready to sell at Amazon: the supplier's price, freight to you or your prep center, prep and labels, shipping to Amazon and the inbound placement fee. In the walkthrough lesson, Stef goes through the same pieces (the unit cost, prep, shipping and placement fees) and calls the result "the exact dollar amount that it takes to bring an item inside Amazon's doorsteps" (at 12:14).

The per-unit math, with case packs and a calculator, is in our landed cost guide. For your books, two rules matter more than the math:

• Each cost goes in one place. Amazon charges the placement fee to your seller account, so it can turn up among Amazon's charges in your payments reports. If you have already put it into landed cost, leave it out of the Amazon fees line, or you count it twice and understate your profit.
• Keep the supplier's price per unit as well. Amazon now reimburses units lost before an order at your sourcing cost, which is the supplier's price without freight or prep (more on that below). Keep it in its own column in your sheet.

When a supplier's price changes between orders, units from each delivery carry their own landed cost. For the month-end count, use the cost of the delivery the units came from or an average of what is still on hand, and use the same method every month. Your CPA may have a view on which method fits your tax return.

3. Amazon fees and charges

Record Amazon's fees by type, every month, instead of as one lump: referral fees, FBA fulfillment fees and any low-inventory-level fee, storage (monthly storage and the aged inventory surcharge), inbound fees you have not put into landed cost, returns processing, removal and disposal, your selling plan subscription and advertising. The Date Range Summary gives you the month's totals, and the Transaction report has every line if you need to split a total further.

Splitting them out is how you see which one is growing. Divide the month's total by net sales and watch that share. If it climbs while your prices hold, the usual suspects are storage building up on slow stock, a product charged at a bigger size tier than you planned for (our size tiers guide covers how to check), or more returns.

What each fee is and how Amazon works it out is in the FBA fees guide, with the detail in referral fees by category, storage fees and the inbound placement fee.

4. Reserves and reimbursements

Reserves. The reserve doesn't touch profit, but it does explain why a payout looks short. A Payout check tab in your sheet rebuilds each transfer the way Amazon describes it: beginning balance, plus sales, less expenses and refunds, less the amount held in reserve. Type the lines from the settlement report. If your total and Amazon's transfer differ, a line is missing from your books.

Reimbursements. When Amazon loses or damages your units, it pays you back. Two changes Amazon announced at the end of 2024 matter for your books:

• Amazon said it now reimburses items lost in its fulfillment centers automatically, without a claim.
• For inventory lost or damaged before a customer orders it, Amazon said it would reimburse your cost to source the product from a manufacturer, wholesaler or reseller, not counting shipping, handling, customs duties or other costs. If you don't enter your own costs, Amazon applies its estimate. Units lost or damaged after a customer order are still paid at the order's sales price less fees (Amazon announcement).

Amazon later moved the start date to March 31, 2025, and named the page where you enter costs Manage Your Sourcing Cost, in the Inventory Defect and Reimbursement portal (Amazon announcement).

Three things follow for a wholesaler:

1. Enter your real sourcing costs on that page, from your supplier invoices, and keep the invoices that back them up. The supplier cost per unit column on your Landed cost tab is that number.
2. Put reimbursements on their own line, not netted against fees or cost of goods. The lost units leave your inventory count at landed cost either way.
3. Expect a gap. Even a reimbursement at your full supplier price leaves out the freight, prep and inbound fees you paid on that unit. Seeing that gap on its own line tells you what losses cost you.

5. Operating expenses

Operating expenses are the costs of running the business that don't belong to any one product: software, the people who help you, prep center charges that are not tied to a shipment (monthly minimums or storage at the center), phone and internet, bank and card fees, and bookkeeping or accounting.

In the walkthrough lesson (at 24:24), Stef's examples include virtual assistants, a Keepa subscription and your Amazon selling plan. His advice is to log every one, and he adds: "I'm not a CPA. Talk to your accountant." That is the right order: record it all, then let a professional decide how each item is treated on your return.

These costs are why a store with healthy gross profit can still lose money. A good margin on every product means little if software, help and storage at the prep center eat it each month. The P&L is the only place you see them side by side.

Inventory and cost of goods

In a P&L, stock you have bought but not sold is not an expense yet. It is an asset: money parked in boxes. It turns into cost of goods only as it sells. That is a bookkeeping idea, and it is why every month needs an inventory count.

What to count on the last day of the month: every unit you own, wherever it is. Units at Amazon (available and reserved), units on the way to Amazon, units at your prep center and units with you. Value each at its landed cost.

What to leave out: units that are lost, destroyed or unsellable and that you will not sell or send back to the supplier for credit. Leaving them out puts their cost into this month's cost of goods, which is where it belongs.

Take Amazon's numbers from your FBA inventory pages in Seller Central, and ask your prep center for a count of what it holds for you on the same day.

One month, worked through

Made-up round numbers for one month, to show how the lines connect. They are not a typical result or a target.

Now look at the bank. Say Amazon's payouts happened to line up with the month, the new stock was paid for in the same month, and the only money Amazon held back was a reserve that grew by $650. Amazon paid out $12,500 ($19,400 of net sales, less $6,400 of fees, plus $150, less the extra $650 in reserve). You paid out $13,500 ($12,000 for stock and $1,500 of expenses). The bank balance fell by $1,000 in a month that made $2,650.

Nothing is wrong. The difference is $3,000 of extra inventory and $650 of extra reserve, both still yours. A seller who only watches the bank would think they lost money. A seller who only watches Amazon's deposits would think they made $12,500. The P&L shows what happened.

What this means for your taxes

Your tax return may treat inventory differently from your P&L. The IRS explains accounting methods and inventories in Publication 538, and small businesses can have simpler options there. Which method you use is a decision to make with a CPA. Our guide to taxes for Amazon resellers covers the 1099-K, sales tax and the records to keep.

A monthly routine

Pick a day early each month and close the month before. The first close takes longest. After that it is the same eight steps.

1. Download last month from Amazon

   In Seller Central, open Payments, then Reports Repository, and request the Date Range Summary and Transaction reports for the calendar month. Amazon's staff post says they can take up to three hours to generate, so ask for them first.

2. Enter sales, refunds and fees

   Type product sales, other credits and refunds into the P&L, then each group of Amazon fees. Type them as positive numbers and let your sheet subtract them.

3. Log the stock that arrived

   Every delivery that arrived last month gets its rows on the Landed cost tab, one per product, with freight, prep and inbound costs split across the lines. File each supplier invoice with its purchase order. Our purchase order workflow shows how to keep the two together.

4. Count inventory

   Count what you own on the last day of the month, at Amazon, inbound, at your prep center and with you, at landed cost. Type the total into the month's end-of-month inventory.

5. Record reimbursements and check for losses

   Add the month's reimbursements. If a shipment closed with fewer units than you sent, or a reimbursement looks low against your invoice, follow it up while the paperwork is fresh.

6. Add operating expenses

   Go through the business bank account and card statements line by line. A separate account for the business makes this step quick.

7. Check each payout

   Rebuild each of last month's payouts on the Payout check tab from its settlement report. Fix any difference before you move on.

8. Read the month

   Look at gross margin, Amazon fees as a share of net sales, net profit and cash, and compare them with the month before. Then make the decisions the numbers point to: what to reorder (when to reorder), what to stop buying, and which losses to chase.

How long to keep it all. The IRS's record retention page gives three years as the general period, with longer periods in some situations. Keep the month's reports, invoices and inventory count together so you never have to rebuild them.

Set up your own P&L sheet

A spreadsheet with five tabs does the job, with the routine above built in:

1. How to use: what each color means, the monthly routine, and where each cost goes.
2. Landed cost: one row for each product on each purchase order, dated the day it arrives. Supplier cost, freight, prep and labels, shipping to Amazon and the placement fee add up to a landed cost per unit, with your sourcing cost kept in its own column.
3. Inventory count: units at Amazon, on the way, at your prep center and with you, times landed cost, totaled for the month.
4. Monthly P&L: twelve months side by side. Stock received fills in from the Landed cost tab, and cost of goods, gross profit, profit after Amazon and net profit work themselves out once you type the month's Amazon numbers, inventory count and expenses. A cash check at the bottom sits apart from profit.
5. Payout check: each settlement rebuilt from its lines, with the difference from Amazon's transfer.

Color the cells you type into, so you can tell inputs from formulas at a glance. If you add an example row to remember how a tab works, keep it outside every total. And type Amazon's numbers from your own reports, never from a fee table you found somewhere else.

When to bring in a bookkeeper or CPA

A bookkeeper keeps the books: categorizes every transaction, reconciles the accounts and closes each month. A CPA advises on tax and the structure of the business, and prepares the returns. Plenty of sellers do their own books for a while and hire a CPA once a year. Time to bring in help is when:

• Closing the month keeps slipping. If you are two months behind, you are making buying decisions without numbers.
• The volume grows. Several suppliers, deliveries every week and more products than you can count in an afternoon.
• You sell somewhere besides Amazon, or hold stock in more than one place.
• Someone asks for your financials, such as a lender or a supplier deciding on credit terms.
• You are about to change the business: form an LLC, take on a partner, hire staff.
• Before your first big year, so the method for inventory and cost of goods is set from the start rather than fixed in April.

Hand them your monthly P&Ls, Amazon's Date Range reports and settlement reports, your inventory counts and your supplier invoices. Ask them two questions early: should your books for tax be on the cash or the accrual method, and how should inventory be counted for your return. The tax side, with what to ask a CPA you are thinking of hiring, is in our seller taxes guide.

Doing it in Apex

Apex Blue keeps these numbers in one place. Your orders, sales, refunds, Amazon fees and FBA inventory sync from Amazon every few minutes. You enter product costs, inbound shipping and prep, operating expenses and supplier lead times, and a purchase order you submit fills in the unit costs for its products. A cost you type yourself always wins. The profit and loss statement then runs by day, week or month, with gross profit and, after the operating expenses you add, net profit.

What it won't do: profit is only as complete as the costs you enter, so a product with no cost shows sales but no true profit. Operating expenses count for the whole store, not split across products. And it is a bookkeeping view, not a tax return.

Profit and loss is part of every paid plan, starting with Beginner, built for new sellers under $5,000 a month in Amazon sales. See how Apex Blue works. If profit reporting is the only thing you need, a dedicated analytics tool can be the better fit, and our Apex vs sellerboard comparison lays out when.