Manually enter Amazon sales data into FreeAgent
This article explains how to manually enter Amazon sales data into FreeAgent.
If you use the Amazon integration and your add-on subscription either lapses or cancels, when you re-enable the integration, there may be a period of missing sales data in FreeAgent. If there is missing sales data in FreeAgent, you'll need to manually enter it by following the steps below.
Please note:
- The steps below only apply if there is a period of missing sales data that needs to be manually entered into FreeAgent.
- When the Amazon integration is re-enabled, FreeAgent will start an automatic data sync and import the sales data from your last completed settlement report. Any sales data which is prior to the last completed settlement report will not be imported and will need to be entered manually by following the steps below.
- The integration won't automatically be able to backdate and recover data from the period your subscription lapsed or was cancelled.
- It isn’t possible to add data manually into the existing Amazon UK Seller bank account in FreeAgent.
- If in doubt, please check with your accountant which method will be suitable.
1. Check for missing data
You can check if there is missing sales data by checking the date of the first transaction added to the Amazon UK Seller Account after the integration has been re-enabled, and the date of the last transaction added before the integration was re-enabled, and seeing if there's a gap.
For example, you might have a last transaction date of 18th October 2024 and a new transaction date of 18th November 2024. This means the gap of data would be between 19th October and 17th November.
If there is no missing sales data, there should be no further steps that you need to take. If there is missing sales data, you’ll need to move on to step 2 and check for a contra account transaction.
2. Check for a contra account transaction
If there is missing sales data in FreeAgent and one or more settlement reports have been completed in the time period between the Amazon integration being cancelled and re-enabled, the reserve balance from your last completed Amazon settlement report may be automatically entered as a receipt from the contra account within the existing Amazon UK Seller account.
If the first transaction added to the Amazon UK Seller account after you re-enable the integration is a receipt from the contra account, you'll need to follow the steps in method 1 to manually enter your missing sales data.
If the first transaction added to the Amazon UK Seller account after you re-enable the integration isn’t a receipt from the contra account, you’ll need to follow the steps in method 2 to manually enter your missing sales data.
Method 1: creating a new bank account for the missing data
1. Create a new bank account
If there is missing Amazon sales data in FreeAgent and the integration has added a reserve balance in your Amazon UK Seller Account, you’ll first need to create a new bank account using the required marketplace currency (£GBP). Give the account a suitable name such as ‘Amazon Sales - Historical data’ or ‘Amazon Sales - Missing Period’.
If there is a reserve balance available in your Amazon account (as at the date the integration stopped importing), then this should be entered as the opening balance of this new account.
2. Download the sales data
Next, once you’ve created the new bank account, you’ll be able to download the sales information in CSV format from the relevant Amazon Marketplace dashboard. Please make sure that the download only includes the data from the missing period.
You can use the CSV download to account for both the total sales, and also the fees that Amazon has charged relating to those sales.
Once you have this information, you can simplify it into fewer transactions if you wish. For example, this can be one or more positive figures for the total sales for the time period and one or more negative figures for the total fees, and one or more figures for any disbursements you may have received from Amazon. How many transactions you choose to condense the overall figures into is entirely up to you and your accountant, but it would be determined by, for instance, whether you need to put some of the sales and fees into different VAT periods, or accounting years.
3. Input and explain the Amazon data in FreeAgent
Then, in the new Amazon bank account that you created in FreeAgent to record historical Amazon sales, you can either upload the missing data as a CSV statement or enter these transactions manually.
If you upload the transactions using a CSV file, you’ll have two or more unexplained transactions in the new Amazon bank account that you created. You can either explain the income as 'Sales' and the fees as a 'Payment' for 'Bank/Finance Charges', or you can create new income and expense categories to explain these against. If you're unsure which categories to select, please ask your accountant.
Explain any disbursements
It’s our understanding that around 5 working days after each disbursement period, Amazon sends the disbursement to the business bank account in the business’s native currency.
If you have received any disbursements into your main bank account during the missing period, you should explain these transactions as a transfer from the new Amazon bank account that you created to record historical Amazon sales.
Clear the contra account
If a reserve balance has been automatically entered into the existing Amazon UK Seller account as a receipt into the contra account, that means you’ll see a credit balance on the contra account for this amount. Within the new Amazon bank account that you set up earlier, you can enter a manual bank transaction for the same value as the credit balance in the contra account for the reserve balance, and as at the same date as the automatic receipt to the contra account.
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 new Amazon bank account down to £nil.
4. Hide the new account
Finally, you can then hide the new Amazon bank account in FreeAgent if you wish which will ensure the data entered is preserved but stop the account from being visible on the Bank Accounts Summary page.
Method 2: explaining missing sales data within the main bank account
If there is missing Amazon sales data in FreeAgent and the integration hasn't added a reserve balance in your Amazon UK Seller Account as a receipt into the contra account, you can explain the missing sales data in your main bank account rather than creating a new bank account.
During the period of missing sales data, you should have still received disbursements from Amazon directly into your main bank account. These disbursements will either cover only the missing data period or cover both the missing period and a period after the integration was re-enabled.
Disbursements covering only the missing data period
If the disbursements cover only the period of missing data, for our above example this would be the period of 19th October to 17th November, then you can explain these transactions directly as 'Sales' and if needed, split the transaction for any charges/fees deducted by Amazon directly.
Disbursements including time after the integration was re-enabled
If you have received a disbursement from Amazon into your main bank account for a period that covers both the missing period and a period after the integration was re-enabled, you may have to split this transaction as well.
Using our example, if the integration started importing again on 18th November 2024 onwards, but you received a disbursement from Amazon that covered the dates of 12th November 2024 to 30th November 2024, there would be a portion of this not covered by the integration.
Therefore, you may need to split the transaction between the disbursement relating to the period from 12th November to 17th November and the disbursement relating to the period from 18th November to 30th November.
For the disbursement relating to period after the integration was re-enabled, 18th November to 30th November in our example, you can explain this as a transfer from the Amazon UK Seller Account.
For the disbursement relating to the missing period, 12th November to 17th November in our example, this can be explained directly as 'Sales', as this relates to sales that took place prior to the integration being re-enabled. If needed, you can split for any charges/fees deducted by Amazon directly.