![QuickBooks Amazon Integration Guide [How To Set It Up]](jpg/amazon.jpg)
QuickBooks Amazon Integration Guide [How To Set It Up]
Estimated reading time: 14 minutes.
Amazon first opened its digital doors to sellers worldwide in the early 2000s.
But back then, people only had the option to sell either books, CDs, or DVDs.
Nowadays you can find and sell just about anything on Amazon.
From groceries and toy cars to bonsai trees and mobile phones; if it can fit in a Fed-Ex van or be downloaded as a PDF, you’ll find it on Amazon.
The downside is that, for Amazon sellers, there are several difficulties when it comes to accounting. Namely, the way Amazon presents their sales and tax information to sellers.
That’s where QuickBooks comes in. QuickBooks consolidates all your transactional data into a single, easy-to-access location for simplified and fully automated accounting.
But the standard QuickBooks Amazon integration only takes away some of the challenges that come with managing your ecommerce finances as an Amazon seller.
There is one more step you’ll need to know if you want to optimize your Amazon seller’s account.
In this QuickBooks Amazon integration guide:
Table of Contents
Ready? Let’s jump in.
QuickBooks for Amazon Sellers: How Does it Work?
QuickBooks is a cloud-based software system that allows businesses and entrepreneurs to keep track of all their financial data in one user-friendly location.
With multiple options suited to different business needs, including the new QuickBooks Commerce (formerly TradeGecko), QuickBooks presents as one of the more comprehensive platforms for ecommerce sellers.
For Amazon sellers, this means having all your accounting information available on a cloud, allowing for simplified financial tracking that can grow alongside your business.
Let’s take a look at some of the ways a QuickBooks Amazon integration may be useful to you.
What a QuickBooks Amazon integration does for Amazon sellers
Automating your ecommerce accounts is a must-do for business owners in today’s modern era.
The old-school method of spreadsheet accounting for Amazon can be inefficient. Using Excel or some other, similar spreadsheet software runs a high risk for errors and takes much longer to set up.
Thanks to clever accounting software like QuickBooks, sellers on Amazon can leave most of the nitty-gritty financial stuff to automated, highly secure systems.
Integrating your Amazon account with QuickBooks means you’ll be able to:
- Manage your inventory levels across multiple ecommerce platforms.
- Get visual tracking for all your revenue and sales data.
- Access daily financial reports, making it easier to keep track of your interest all year round.
- Enjoy remote access to your Amazon accounting information from anywhere in the world.
Choosing the right QuickBooks plan for your business
Depending on the size of your business and your budget, you can select from the broad range of individually-priced subscription options that QuickBooks provides.
Source: QuickBooks.
This multi-tiered system available for ecommerce sellers makes it easy to choose the plan that’s best suited to your business’s specific QuickBooks Amazon integration needs.
As wonderful as the accounting automation QuickBooks provides is, using QuickBooks for Amazon sales does leave a gap that can be filled by further optimizing your integration, as you’ll soon discover.
Where the QuickBooks Amazon integration is limited
When it comes to automating your ecommerce accounts, QuickBooks is a brilliant accounting software to partner with your business.
The main trouble with QuickBooks Amazon integration is the way Amazon presents sales and tax data to its sellers.
Allow us to explain.
The issue with Amazon’s settlement data
As your business grows, you’ll quickly realize that importing Amazon settlement data into QuickBooks can get messy, fast.
Accounting for every individual transaction can be a nightmare. This is because of the notoriously complex way Amazon settlements conflate hundreds of unique transactions – such as your sales, seller fees, and reimbursements.
Here’s what it looks like when you haven’t optimized your QuickBooks Amazon integration with A2X:
While QuickBooks works well to keep track of inventory, total sales revenue, and create financial reports, it doesn’t paint a clear enough picture of what goes into each Amazon settlement as they arrive.
It’s not QuickBooks’ fault.
Amazon makes it something of a challenge to accurately use the settlement data they provide to understand and forecast your finances in fine detail.
As demonstrated in the picture above, Amazon’s reports only break your sales down into the “high-level” settlement data, i.e. Sales, Refunds, and Expenses.
You also may have noticed that Amazon settlements sometimes run from one month into the next. This can be a real challenge for whoever is doing your books and comparing monthly and yearly finances.
This step can cost your finance team (or you, if you’re the one managing the accounts) many wasted hours and unnecessary headaches.
We say “unnecessary” because…
There’s a solution to your QuickBooks Amazon integration struggles
None of the above should deter you from using QuickBooks for your Amazon selling.
QuickBooks is still an excellent accounting software tool that any savvy ecommerce seller should consider for their business.
These trouble areas around the standard QuickBooks Amazon integration are not unique to these channels, and highlight how important it is to optimize this pairing using third-party software.
Lucky for you, A2X provides businesses with a powerful accounting solution that critics are saying: “truly makes accounting for Amazon sellers possible.”
Here’s where you’ll learn exactly how this solution will make your QuickBooks Amazon integration much more efficient, save you countless hours, and relieve you or your bookkeepers of avoidable Amazon-related headaches.
Let’s take a look.
QuickBooks Amazon Integration with A2X: Bridging the Gap
A2X provides the perfect link between QuickBooks and Amazon, resolving the main issues that arise from the way Amazon reports your finances.
We’ve already seen how Amazon focuses on high-level groups in their transaction reports.
You do have the option to view the lower-level information in Seller Central, however the data is granular and difficult to work with.
In order to easily access the hundreds of lower-level transactions that you’ll need to know to have a complete understanding of where your money is going, A2X takes this information and puts it all in one handy location.
Here’s how your settlement data looks after integrating your QuickBooks and Amazon accounts with A2X:
See what we mean?
And breaking down transactions isn’t the only way A2X can help improve your QuickBooks Amazon integration, either.
Accrual Accounting for QuickBooks Amazon Integrations
To get a good grasp of how your business is performing, you need to be able to predict with reasonable accuracy any future income and expenses that might affect your budget.
For this reason, it pays dividends to optimize your Amazon to QuickBooks integration (literally).
As mentioned, Amazon settlements sometimes run from one month into the next. Herein lies the problem: QuickBooks has no way of converting this data into a format that reflects past, present and future transactions.
This alternative method (known as cash accounting) is great for some businesses, but is not the most effective option when it comes to ecommerce.
Here’s what a hypothetical scenario might look like when you stick with the cash accounting method:
- In July, your settlements only reflect your sales data.
- You mistakenly think it to be pure profit.
- In August, only the expenses and tax data show up in your report (because the sales were all recorded in the previous month).
- It reads as if you’ve made no money at all that month.
- Your finance team struggles to forecast your income data for September and October because the data from previous months is misleading.
That’s where accrual accounting comes to the rescue.
Why accrual accounting is best for ecommerce sellers
When you set yourself up with A2X, you automatically convert to the accrual accounting method.
Accrual accounting manages your cash flow effectively, allowing you to accurately forecast the peaks and troughs for your business across the entire financial year.
This method is superior to the old cash accounting method when it comes to ecommerce.
Why?
Because expenses and sales are recorded within the actual period the sales invoice or purchase is created, vastly increasing the accuracy of your settlement data.
With A2X, you’ll be able to:
- Confidently reconcile your Amazon Pay payouts to the original sales transactions.
- Break down high-level transactions into their lower levels to gain an exact understanding of your financial data.
- View your Amazon sales and expense data in easy-to-understand summaries directly through QuickBooks.
- Automatically import settlement data from Amazon every time a new settlement is uploaded.
- And most importantly, convert hours spent bookkeeping into minutes – all that’s needed from you is to reconcile.
A2X and QuickBooks for Amazon Reviews
Are you wondering what the people who have already used A2X for their QuickBooks Amazon integration are saying about their experience?
These reviews come straight from verified users on Capterra – a trusted software review site.
Reviews of A2X for Amazon
“This software speeds up a process and gives you [more] time to deal with other tasks. That time savings alone is enough to justify the cost for our company.”
- Jake C.
“A2X helps solve the issue of getting the Amazon settlement information correctly into [QuickBooks] with ease as an Amazon 3rd party seller. It is easy to navigate the process of the export of Amazon settlement reports and the import into QuickBooks online.”
- April M.
“A2X seamlessly transfers Amazon data to QuickBooks Online. It made tracking closing fees and FBA fees so much easier! I recommend it to anyone who wants easy and accurate Amazon data reflected on their accounting software. Also, their customer service team is top tier.
“They really take the time to understand my issue and answer in a proficient manner. Once I asked them a question about another software, and I ended up getting a better and more practical answer from the A2X team than said software’s CS team!”
- Katrina S.
Still on the fence? That’s good – it means you care about your finances. And that’s why we’re here.
Just to reassure you that you’re making the right decision by choosing A2X to optimize your QuickBooks Amazon integration, here are some further reviews.
You can also view our case studies here.
Now that you’re confident A2X is the best solution for your QuickBooks Amazon integration needs, it’s time to dive into the (easy) steps that will get you all set-up and ready to go!
Step-by-Step Guide: How to Integrate QuickBooks and Amazon with A2X
Are you ready to supercharge your QuickBooks Amazon integration with A2X? Here are the steps:
Step 1: Create your account
Jump over to the A2X for Amazon sign-up page and grab your free trial by clicking “Try A2X for Free”.
This will give you three ways to sign in:
Click the links above to learn more about each option.
If you’re already an A2X account holder, you’ll be able to continue using your existing account. Or, if you don’t already have an account with us, simply select “Continue with New Account”.
Now that you’re in, you’ll be asked to enter a few basic details. Once you’ve done that, click “Save and continue to your account” to be taken to your A2X dashboard.
Great, now you’re ready to begin your Amazon QuickBooks integration with A2X.
Step 2: Connect to your Amazon account
Congratulations – you’ve made it to the A2X dashboard!
It’s time to connect A2X to your Amazon account. In the upper-left-hand corner of your dash, click on “Connect to ecommerce”.
A2X automatically connects to your Amazon account by using an Amazon API. You’ll need to grant access to your account by API to begin the connection.
Next, you’ll be taken to this screen:
If you’re the owner of the Amazon seller account, choose the first option (as indicated by the first gold arrow above) then just select the region of your primary Amazon market. This will take you over to the Amazon Seller Central login page.
After you’ve logged in, accept the API agreement. A2X will now connect to your account and import your transaction data.
It’s as easy as that!
After continuing to A2X, look for the green tick in the corner, indicating your connection between Amazon and A2X has been made.
Now, A2X will automatically import your Amazon settlement files for the first time, and you’re ready to move on to Step 3.
Step 3: Connect to your QuickBooks account
It’s time to connect A2X to QuickBooks.
As you’ll see below, there is an accounting software integrations section on the right-hand side of your A2X dashboard. Move your cursor over here and select “Connect to QuickBooks”:
If you’d rather manually integrate your accounts, you can choose the “Custom Integration” option at the bottom of this panel.
To learn more about custom integrations, follow this link.
All that’s left to do to set up your QuickBooks account with A2X is enter your login details and allow A2X to access your account – just like you did for Amazon.
Good work! You’re almost there.
Step 4 (optional but highly recommended): Accounts and tax mapping
If you’re interested in having your Chart of Accounts and taxes automatically mapped every time A2X captures your Amazon settlements, this step is for you.
While optional, setting this up will save you loads of accounting time and take away even more of those Amazon seller bookkeeping headaches.
We recommend you wait until some of your data has begun populating in A2X to ensure you have a variety of deposits. This will help us to set up your mappings with maximum accuracy right from the get-go.
First, click the “Accounts and Taxes” tab at the top of your A2X dashboard.
Second, choose to either set up your accounts using A2X as pictured:
Or, access your Chart of Accounts by selecting the drop-down button. This will bring up a menu:
Choose your account as pictured above. You can also access your taxes from QuickBooks too, by opening the drop-down menu under “Tax Rates”:
Remember to click “Save” once you’re finished with your mappings.
If you create accounts in QuickBooks with A2X open, or make any changes, you might need to refresh your cache. To do this, go to Settings > Connections.
Step 5: Pat yourself on the back
Nice work; you’ve just saved yourself and your accountant hundreds of hours that might have been otherwise wasted trying to reconcile future Amazon sales transactions and taxes.
It’s time to test it out and enjoy your brand new, easy-breezy accounting setup.
What’s Next? (FAQs & Further Information)
If you still require help with any part of this process or any other accounting-related issues, there are a few options to help you on your way.
Brand new to the ecommerce world and don’t yet have an accountant?
It can all get a bit scary at the start of your ecommerce journey. There’s so much to learn and so many different approaches you might choose to take for your business.
That’s why we suggest acquiring help from an experienced accountant.
They can help you grow your finances and explore the world of accounting automation on your behalf, while you take care of whatever’s already on your plate.
You can find one here, in our directory of accounting specialists.
Wondering how a QuickBooks Amazon integration with A2X directly affects FBA sellers?
In fact, FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) sellers can benefit from using A2X even more than those going the FBM (fulfillment by merchant) route. This is because they have more transaction types and sales tax obligations due to economic nexus.
To learn more about the QuickBooks Amazon FBA integration with A2X, check out this guide.
Interested in learning how A2X can help you with other ecommerce platforms?
Amazon is just one of the ecommerce platforms that you can integrate with accounting software to easily manage your financials.
One of the biggest benefits of using A2X is that it allows for accounting coverage across multiple platforms and accounting software.
A2X can also help you balance your books and keep track of your accounting for:
Just click the links above to learn how A2X can assist you with these shopping platforms.
Also on the blog
Ecommerce accounting is challenging, A2X makes it easy.
Discover how A2X can automatically take all of your accounting pain away.
