Amazon Promotion and Sponsored Products Accounts
The other day I was going through my amazon seller fees for the month. I recently launched my first effective Amazon promotion and wanted to see what it looked like in my accounting software. Mostly, I wanted an overview of how much I have given away in order to create the recent promotion related sales. I use A2X and when I did my initial mapping “Amazon Promotion” was not mapped. This is because my Amazon account had not yet done any successful promotions. Mapping the promotion was no big deal because I made a code for “Amazon Promotion” when I set up my Amazon specific codes in Xero. The A2X “accounts” button was red instead of blue which let me know that something was not mapped. It only took me a minute click on the detail and notice that it was the Amazon Promotion. I then mapped it.
I previously set Amazon Promotion Cost up as its own coded expense in Xero so it was super fast
Having a successful Amazon Promotion had an unintended result for me
After I had fixed my mapping issue it occurred to me that I have not been tracking my Amazon Sponsored Products/Advertising Campaign expenses. I could not have been. When I looked in my Xero Profit & Loss report there was no line for the coded account I made: Amazon - Ads; Cost Per Click. No line in the PNL means tat there has not been any Amazon Sponsored Product related costs recorded.
Amazon Sponsored Products (Amazon - Ads; Cost Per Click as I set it up) does not exist in my PNL
Where Does Amazon Sponsored Products Money Come From
How was I paying for my Sponsored Products?
When I initially set up my Amazon account it was not set up to deduct Amazon Sponsored Product fees from my Amazon seller account balance. Instead, I set up my credit card as the method of payment. Either way is totally fine, but I had to know how to switch it if need be.
How do I change payment for my Amazon Sponsored Products?
Changing my method of payment was a lot easier than I though. It only took a second so it was a little embarrassing that it took me looking deeper into my Profit & Loss to figure it out. Just go to Settings > Account Information > Charge Methods for Advertising.
The question now is: do I want my credit card to be charged and reconcile it to Xero myself, or do I choose to deduct the cost of advertising from my Amazon seller account balance and let A2X do the work? Either way is fine. I personally like using my credit card for everything because I get frequent flyer miles. Choose what works for you.
