How to transition from manually entering your Amazon data to automatically importing it
This article explains how to transition from manually entering your Amazon data in FreeAgent to automatically importing it using the Amazon integration.
If you’ve been manually recording your Amazon sales in FreeAgent, before setting up the integration we’d recommend that you choose a handover point based on your Amazon settlement reports to transition into using the automatic sync of the data into FreeAgent. This is to ensure your Amazon data isn’t duplicated in FreeAgent.
Please note that:
- The integration won’t be available if you have an unincorporated landlord account.
- If you subscribed to FreeAgent via the Apple App Store, you’ll need to switch to a FreeAgent subscription to access the integration.
- If you bank with Mettle, you’ll need to have a new Mettle bank account in order to set up an Amazon seller account, as the sort codes for Mettle’s older e-money accounts are not recognised by Amazon. If you still use a Mettle e-money account, you can easily make the switch from within the Mettle app. Head to Mettle to find out more.
- The integration is only suitable for Amazon sellers who are based in the UK and pay UK tax. If you have an Amazon affiliates account, the integration won't be suitable at this time.
- If you also sell on additional marketplaces, you’ll need to upload or manually enter any transactions relating to non-UK sales or fees, into your main bank account in FreeAgent. Don’t record these transactions in the Amazon bank account in FreeAgent as this could cause reconciliation issues.
- You’ll need to have an active Amazon seller account and be the FreeAgent account owner to connect Amazon to FreeAgent.
- There aren’t any restrictions on how much you can use the integration, but the practical upper limit is around 200 orders per day, based on the volume of data imported from Amazon’s API.
- The Amazon add-on will cost £6 per month plus VAT in addition to your FreeAgent subscription and payments will be taken monthly.
1. Choose a final Amazon settlement report to enter manually in FreeAgent
First, choose an Amazon settlement report to be the last one entered manually into FreeAgent.
You can either choose the Amazon settlement report prior to the last completed settlement report that’s available from your Amazon account, or your last completed settlement report.
Option 1: choose the Amazon settlement report prior to the last completed settlement report
For example, if your last completed settlement report was generated on 30th October and contains data from 15th-30th October, the Amazon settlement report generated prior to this, on 14th October, containing data from 1st-14th October, could be the last one you enter manually into FreeAgent.
Option 2: choose the last completed settlement report
Alternatively, you can manually enter the Amazon sales data up to your last completed Amazon settlement report and then request another settlement report within your Amazon account.
For example, if your last completed settlement report was generated on 30th October and contains data from 15th-30th October, you could manually enter the Amazon sales data up to this point in FreeAgent. Then, request another settlement report within your Amazon account and set up the integration once this becomes available in your Amazon account.
2. Make sure the relevant Amazon data has been entered in FreeAgent
Next, make sure that all your Amazon sales data, including any fees, for the period up to and including the chosen final settlement report, has been manually entered into FreeAgent.
For example, if you’ve chosen the Amazon settlement report generated on 14th October to be the handover point, make sure that all your Amazon sales and fees data up to and including this date has been manually entered in FreeAgent.
Don’t manually enter any data after this date as the data from the last completed settlement report available from your Amazon account will be imported automatically into FreeAgent when you set up the integration.
3. Set up the integration
Once all your Amazon data up to and including the handover point has been manually entered into FreeAgent, you can connect your Amazon seller account to FreeAgent to set up the integration.
You can connect FreeAgent to Amazon from the Connections area of the Amazon Appstore by selecting ‘Authorise Now’ if you have an existing FreeAgent account, or ‘Visit FreeAgent.com’ if you don’t have a FreeAgent account yet.
Alternatively, you can connect FreeAgent to Amazon from the Connections & Add-ons area of your FreeAgent account if you have one.
Once you’ve set up the integration, the automatic sync will import the data from the last completed settlement report that’s available from your Amazon account.
A new dummy Amazon bank account will automatically be created in the Banking area in FreeAgent. The reserve balance from your last completed Amazon settlement report will be automatically entered into the new dummy Amazon bank account as a receipt from the contra account.
That means you’ll see a credit balance on the contra account for this amount. If you’ve previously been using your own dummy Amazon bank account to record sales in FreeAgent, you would be able to enter a manual bank transaction in this account for the same value and the same date. The manual bank transaction would be entered as Other Money Out > Payment from Contra Account. This should clear the balance in both the contra account and your own Amazon bank account down to £nil. You can then hide the old dummy Amazon bank account in FreeAgent if you wish.
If you haven’t been using a separate dummy Amazon bank account to record your sales up to the point you enabled the integration, please speak to your accountant about what entries you should post to remove the balance in the contra account.
Your new Amazon bank account as created by the integration will continue to reflect the reserve balance after each settlement is disbursed (transferred) from Amazon.
Find out more about how the integration works.
4. Check that all of your Amazon data is included in FreeAgent
Once you’ve set up the integration and the data from your last completed Amazon settlement report has been imported into FreeAgent, double-check that all the relevant data is included in FreeAgent.
If there are any Amazon sales or fees transactions missing, either upload or add them manually like you did before setting up the integration.
If there are any Amazon sales or fees transactions that have been duplicated, delete the transactions that were entered manually.