Amazon Deferred Transactions
Some Amazon sellers are experiencing delays in the payout of transactions after items have been delivered, likely due to Amazon’s delivery date-based payment policy. Funds may be ‘deferred’ for a set period before they are released to the seller. At this time, Bookkeep does not include deferred transactions, as Amazon’s API does not provide this data. Transactions become available in Bookkeep only once Amazon releases the funds.
How Does This Impact My Bookkeep Data?
Since Bookkeep records transactions based on when Amazon releases them, these delays can impact how sales data appears in your accounting automation. You may notice a reduction in sales within the expected settlement period, as deferred transactions are now recognized later. While your Bookkeep entries will still match the payments you receive, the timing of recorded sales may not fully align with your actual fulfillment dates.
| Previous Flow | New Flow | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Order Created | Order Created | |||
| Order Shipped | Order Shipped | |||
| Order Released | Bookkeep recognizes order here | Order Deferred | ||
| Order Paid Out | Order Released | Bookkeep recognizes order here | ||
| Order Paid Out |
A key advantage of using Bookkeep over competitors is that we recognize orders as soon as they are released, rather than waiting for both release and payout. With Bookkeep's Amazon Seller accounting automation, you get access to your sales data faster, allowing for more timely financial insights.
Understanding the Deferred Period
Policies vary by account, but the standard reserve period is typically 7 days after the delivery date. However, this may be extended based on Amazon’s assessment of account risk and performance. Since Amazon provides financial data based on the posted date, this means orders subject to deferral will appear later in your financial reports.
How to Identify Deferred Transactions
Amazon has introduced a way to view deferred transactions in Seller Central under: Payments > Transaction View > Reports Repository
Here, you can generate a ‘Deferred Transactions’ report listing all orders affected by this delay.
Why Can’t Bookkeep Include These Transactions Earlier?
Our team has thoroughly investigated this issue, but Amazon does not provide deferred transaction data via its API. We’ve explored potential workarounds and raised this with Amazon, but currently, deferred transactions remain unsupported via API.
Next Steps
Bookkeep is actively working with Amazon to explore solutions for automating the recognition of deferred transactions. In the meantime, we recommend using the Amazon Seller Central reports to manually track these transactions if needed.
We understand this change may cause disruptions in your financial reporting and appreciate your patience as we work toward a resolution. We will provide updates as soon as we have more information. If you have any questions, please contact support@bookkeep.com.
Links to Amazon Seller Forum discussions on this topic: