We get this question a lot — so let's walk through it calmly and logically.
If you follow the steps below, you'll be able to reconcile everything properly and understand exactly where any differences are coming from.
⚠️ Seeing a material gap (thousands, tens of thousands, or more) on a recent month? Before working through the Settlement V2 reconciliation below, check whether the cause is settlement timing crossing the month boundary. This is by far the most common reason for large monthly gaps and is almost always solved with the Deferred Transactions add-on. See section 1️⃣B below.
1️⃣ First Principles: Where Link My Books Gets Its Data
Link My Books pulls data directly from Amazon settlement reports.
We do not calculate revenue based on order reports.
We do not estimate fees.
We do not pull data from Sellerboard (or any other analytics tool).
We use the official Amazon Settlement V2 reports, which are the same reports Amazon uses to calculate your payouts.
So if there's a variance, the first question should be:
Which Amazon report are you comparing against?
If it's not the Settlement V2 report, it won't match.
1️⃣B Is It Settlement Timing? (Check This First for Large Monthly Gaps)
If your month-on-month figure is materially out (for example, your April Amazon report shows £500k but Link My Books shows £430k), the most likely cause is not missing data — it's that Amazon held some April orders into May's settlement.
Amazon defers payouts for several reasons:
Delivery Date + 7 — Amazon holds payment until 7 days after the order is delivered.
B2B 30-day credit — B2B orders are held back by up to 30 days.
Pending settlement boundary — a single Amazon settlement can cover orders placed in one month but be released in the next.
By default, Link My Books posts transactions based on the date the settlement is released, so orders deferred by Amazon will appear in the next month's Link My Books figure, not the month they were ordered. In months with high deferred order volumes, this can produce a gap of thousands or tens of thousands of pounds even though no data is actually missing.
✅ Quick check: Look at your Link My Books figures for the following month. If the next month is unusually high by roughly the same amount you're "missing", it's settlement timing — not lost data.
The permanent fix: Turn on the Amazon Deferred Transactions add-on. With this enabled, Link My Books recognises orders against the month they were placed, not the month they were settled, so your month-on-month figures stay aligned with your Amazon report.
If your figures look correct against the Settlement V2 reports but the monthly comparison against Amazon is still off, settlement timing is almost certainly the cause. Switch on the add-on and the next month's figures will start aligning.
2️⃣ Comparing LMB vs Sellerboard
If you're comparing Link My Books vs Sellerboard, it's important to understand:
We connect directly to Amazon
Sellerboard also connects to Amazon
We do not connect to Sellerboard
Because of this:
We cannot troubleshoot Sellerboard calculations
Sellerboard cannot troubleshoot Link My Books calculations
Both systems may:
Categorise fees differently
Recognise revenue differently
Use different report sources
Handle reimbursements, reserves, or deferred transactions differently
If the difference is between LMB and Sellerboard, the place to validate truth is always:
The Amazon Settlement V2 report.
3️⃣ The Correct Amazon Report to Use
To reconcile properly, you must use:
Settlement V2 CSV reports
You can download these from:
Amazon Seller Central → Payments → Payments → All Statements
Download the CSV for the specific payout you're reviewing.
Do not use:
Orders reports
Date range transaction reports
Business reports
Inventory reports
They will not reconcile to settlements.
4️⃣ How to Reconcile the Settlement Report Properly
Once you've downloaded the Settlement V2 CSV, follow this process in Excel:
Step 1: Insert a Pivot Table
Open the CSV in Excel and create a Pivot Table.
Step 2: Configure the Pivot
Rows:
transaction-typeamount-typeamount-description
Values:
Sum of amount
This will split the settlement into its individual transaction categories.
5️⃣ What You Should See
The pivot will clearly separate:
Product sales
Refunds
FBA fees
Referral fees
Storage fees
Reimbursements
Adjustments
Reserves
Other settlement movements
You can now:
Sum all revenue-related rows
Sum all expense-related rows
Compare those totals directly to the LMB settlement breakdown
They should reconcile.
6️⃣ Still Seeing a Difference?
If there's still a discrepancy, check:
Are you looking at the same settlement date range?
Are you including reserves?
Are you comparing gross vs net?
Are you including reimbursements?
Are you comparing by transaction date instead of settlement date?
Have you checked whether the missing amount appears in the next month's Link My Books figures? (see section 1️⃣B above)
7️⃣ View the Data Inside Link My Books
You can also validate how LMB has categorised everything:
Go to:
Analytics → Financial Analytics
There you can run a sales channel specific Profit & Loss report.
This shows:
Revenue breakdown
Fee breakdown
Refunds
Reimbursements
Adjustments
This gives you a clear view of how everything has been classified inside LMB.
Summary
If reconciling:
For large monthly gaps, check settlement timing first (section 1️⃣B) — deferred transactions are the most common cause
Always use Settlement V2 CSV reports
Use a Pivot Table structured correctly
Compare settlement-to-settlement
Remember LMB pulls directly from Amazon — not Sellerboard
If you'd like help reviewing a specific settlement, feel free to send us:
The settlement ID
A screenshot of your pivot table
A description of which lines don't match
We'll happily walk through it with you 👍
If you have any questions about this article or feedback on how we could make it better please reach out to the support team via the blue chat icon on the bottom right of the page or via email to [email protected].