Operator glossary
Settlement reports
The every-two-weeks statement of everything — each order, fee, refund, adjustment, and reserve behind the number Amazon deposited — the only document your bookkeeping should trust.
Each disbursement cycle produces a settlement report itemizing every transaction: sales, referral and FBA fees, storage, refunds, reimbursements, ad charges deducted, reserves held and released. The deposit in your bank is the net of hundreds of lines — accounting from deposits alone is how sellers run profitable-looking businesses at a loss.
The operating habit: ingest settlements (not payouts) into bookkeeping, reconcile fee lines against expectations monthly, and let anomalies surface — fee-tier errors, missing reimbursements, and double-charges are all found in settlement lines, never in dashboards. Every serious accounting integration is built on this file.
The numbers
- Cycle: itemized statement per disbursement period covering sales, all fees, refunds, adjustments, reserves.
- Bank deposits are nets of hundreds of lines — reconcile from settlements, not payouts.
Related terms