Amazon Settlement Reconciliation: A Practical Seller Guide

What an Amazon settlement report contains

Amazon's current Flat File V2 Settlement Report includes the settlement ID, start and end dates, deposit date, total amount, currency, transaction type, order and adjustment identifiers, SKU, quantity, and three flexible amount fields: amount-type, amount-description, and amount. Amazon automatically schedules settlement reports; they are discovered with the Reports API rather than requested on demand.

The V2 format matters because every monetary value is placed in one amount column. Your reconciliation logic should group rows by their descriptions instead of assuming every fee will always occupy a dedicated column.

A reliable reconciliation workflow

1. Lock the settlement ID, marketplace, currency, statement period, and stated total.
2. Group rows into sales proceeds, shipping and gift-wrap proceeds, promotional amounts, refunds, Amazon fees, FBA or service charges, adjustments, and reserve movements.
3. Sum every signed amount in the settlement. Do not convert negative fees into positive values.
4. Compare the calculated net with the report's total amount.
5. Match the settlement's deposit to the bank using amount, currency, and deposit timing.
6. Investigate differences at row level using order ID, adjustment ID, SKU, and posted time.

Why deposits rarely equal sales

Orders and cash live on different timelines. An order can be placed in one period, shipped later, held as a deferred transaction, released after delivery, and paid in a later settlement. Refunds and fees may also post after the original sale. A sales report answers “what sold?” while a settlement answers “what financial activity was included in this payout?”

For that reason, forcing a settlement deposit to match sales from the same calendar dates creates false exceptions. Reconcile the settlement first, then bridge its order-level transactions back to operational sales.

2026 report-format warning

Amazon says the older XML and original flat-file settlement reports are scheduled for removal on November 11, 2026. The Flat File V2 report is the replacement. Any spreadsheet, parser, or integration should be tested against V2 now, especially logic that relies on legacy fee-specific columns.

What Profit Owl adds

Profit Owl is designed to turn the row-level statement into a readable payout bridge: what Amazon collected, what it deducted, what it held, and what should have reached the bank. It is an operational reconciliation aid, not accounting or tax software.