What $3,000 of Amazon Sales Leaves After Direct Costs

The $900 answer and its limits

This is a synthetic one-marketplace management-period example, not a seller result. Assume 100 units with $30 of recognized product revenue each: $3,000. The seller supplies landed cost of $9 per unit under a stated cost policy, so COGS is $900. Reconciled Amazon selling fees total $450, fulfillment charges $350, and separately assigned Ads spend $400. With no refunds, taxes, shipping credits, promotions or other adjustments in this deliberately narrow example, contribution is $3,000 − $900 − $450 − $350 − $400 = $900.

The check runs in the other direction: $900 COGS + $800 Amazon charges + $400 ads + $900 contribution = $3,000 revenue. Contribution margin is $900/$3,000 = 30%. It is not net profit; overhead, tax and other excluded expenses still exist. A later $100 return does not justify simply subtracting $100 from the $900 answer. Rebuild the revenue, related fee reversals and inventory disposition under the same period policy.

Choose a ledger, not a pile of report totals

Define whether the decision is per unit, SKU, ASIN or marketplace-period contribution. The example uses recognized product revenue for one unit population. Seller Sales and Traffic documents ordered sales measures, but an order date is not a settled payment date. Financial events can post later; settlement reports group amounts by payout cycle. The Finances API and Flat File V2 Settlement Report can support a reconciliation, but adding their totals to an ordered-sales total counts overlapping economic events rather than creating new revenue.

1stPage’s MCP connection can supply seller_analytics revenue and units, and advertising_analytics spend when the account has Ads access. It cannot supply the seller’s landed cost from those Amazon reports. Bring an approved cost ledger and a matching finance reconciliation to Claude separately; label the result as a bounded contribution calculation rather than claiming 1stPage returned net profit.

Map order or item identifiers to fee events where the authorized records allow it. Keep unmatched refunds and later adjustments in a dated reconciliation line. If starting from gross proceeds, subtract the relevant fee components. If starting from a net remittance, first unpack what has already been deducted. A payout can include reserves, timing differences and unrelated adjustments. Never subtract the same fulfillment charge again just because another report labels it “fee.” Keep tax collected for a tax authority outside operating revenue unless the chosen accounting policy says otherwise.

The seller owns the cost policy

Amazon cannot supply the seller’s complete acquisition cost. Ask the seller for SKU-level unit costs, effective dates, currency, valuation method and whether freight into inventory is included. If freight is omitted, call the amount product cost, not landed COGS. Match costs to the same sold units and use a documented conversion if currencies differ. A cost for the latest replenishment batch is not automatically the historical cost of units sold in the period.

Amazon charges also need classification. Referral and fulfillment fees may be direct costs for this view; storage, return handling and promotions need an explicit inclusion rule. Split shared costs under a stated management allocation or leave them unallocated. Have a finance owner decide how reimbursements, shipping credits and refunds affect the final ledger. Missing COGS means revenue less documented charges, not profit. Missing financial events means a post-fee result is unsupported.

Ad-attributed sales are not a second revenue line

The $400 Ads spend is a cost in this example. Sales attributed to ads measure credit under an Ads report’s attribution rules; they are not additional seller revenue to add to the $3,000. There is no ad-attributed-sales value in this synthetic ledger. Even if one arrives later, use it for an advertising measurement question, not as another recognized-sales line. Likewise check whether an advertising debit is already reflected in a payout before subtracting billed Ads expense.

For a SKU contribution view, do not throw account-wide ad spend onto one product. Campaigns can advertise several items, and the product bought may differ from the advertised item under attribution rules. Allocate only under a disclosed method with compatible scope and dates, or retain an unallocated Ads line. With no Ads report, calculate and label a pre-ad contribution subtotal, not an all-in figure. The separate spend diagnostic reconciles that expense before it enters this ledger.

Make the missing line visible

The final worksheet should show revenue basis, sold units, SKU cost version, matched financial events, allocation policy, ad expense and unexplained differences. Keep the source and posting date next to each figure. Ask for missing costs instead of guessing a marketplace fee or manufacturing margin. Minimize personal information in any material sent for analysis. A qualified $900 example beats an unsupported “profit” number every time.