Practical guide

Assemble the records for an Amazon settlement review

Last materially reviewed 2026-09-30

Quick answerKeep settlement, held-balance and accounting-output evidence connected without treating every balance as a payout.
What to know

Build one traceable packet

Start with a settlement identifier and its currency, marketplace and period. Add the source settlement record, the accounting output and the relevant bank transfer or supported reason for no transfer. Keep the provider’s original file; a renamed spreadsheet is easier to use when its original identifier remains in the filename or cover note.

What to know

Keep balance categories distinct

Amazon-related reports may expose amounts held or deferred beyond the settlement being reviewed. Use the definitions in the actual report and the connector’s documentation. This packet is not complete merely because the payout matches: the reviewer also needs to know which balances remain outside it.

What to know

A practical cover sheet

List the report period, download date, settlement ID, currency, posting status and exceptions. Add links to private records in your own approved storage, not here. If the settlement spans month end, identify all linked accounting portions. If another reviewer has changed mapping, attach that decision rather than silently using a different interpretation.

What to know

Define the handoff

The next person should be able to reconstruct the connection without reopening every order. Mark missing reports and unexplained balances explicitly. A CSV export is useful evidence but is not, by itself, proof of correct classification or a complete inventory valuation. Use the export guide for its documented limitations and the COGS guide for the boundary between cost posting and inventory records.

Continue when useful

Next: Held funds

A hold changes availability; a release is not automatically new revenue. Preserve the movement history.

Open Held funds →

Sources used for this page

These records support the facts and comparisons above. Merchant-controlled records are labelled so you can separate product claims from independent evidence.

  1. Amazon reserve balances — Merchant documentation · help.linkmybooks.com · Merchant-controlled · checked 2026-09-30
  2. Amazon deferred transactions — Merchant documentation · help.linkmybooks.com · Merchant-controlled · checked 2026-09-30
  3. Settlement exports — Merchant documentation · help.linkmybooks.com · Merchant-controlled · checked 2026-09-30