Amazon ▸ Settings is where you connect SeroBooks to Amazon and decide how Amazon activity reaches your books: whether settlements post themselves, what date Amazon invoices carry, from which date history is imported and posted, and the lead times the Forecast screens use for stock you send to Amazon. It is also where you connect Amazon Ads, pull settlements on demand and set up the standard Amazon accounts.
How to open it
- Amazon ▸ Settings (the last item on the Amazon menu).
- If Amazon is in your plan but not yet connected, Settings is the only Amazon screen shown.
Connect your Amazon account
The Connect your Amazon account card appears at the top of Settings until a seller account is linked.
- Choose Connect Amazon. SeroBooks opens Amazon's consent page in your web browser.
- Sign in to Seller Central as the seller and approve SeroBooks.
- Amazon then asks you to approve Amazon Advertising. Approve that too, if you advertise. One connection covers both.
- Come back to SeroBooks. While it waits, the card says Waiting for Amazon and checks the connection by itself every few seconds for ten minutes. You can also choose Check connection.
- When the account is linked you see Amazon connected. Settlements and orders start arriving with the next sync. and every Amazon screen appears in the menu.
The link Amazon's page uses expires after fifteen minutes. If you took longer, choose Connect Amazon again.
What connecting sets up for you
When a seller account is first connected, SeroBooks:
- creates the Amazon accounts a settlement needs (Amazon Clearing, Amazon Reserve, Amazon Commission, Amazon FBA Fees and the rest listed in Amazon in SeroBooks) and maps each posting role, without changing any mapping you already chose;
- switches Auto-post settlements on, unless your company has already chosen either way; and
- sets Post to the ledger from (cutover) to the day you connected, unless a cutover is already set.
The cutover matters: Amazon hands over whatever settlement history it still holds, and much of it may already be in your books from before SeroBooks. Settlements before the cutover are imported so you can look at them, but they are never posted. Move the date earlier if you do want them posted.
The main settings card
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Auto-post settlements | On: each imported settlement posts to the ledger by itself. Off: settlements wait on the Settlements screen for you to review and press Post to ledger. Leaving it off is recommended until your accountant has approved the first few. |
| Daily issue digest | One email a day, sent only when open issues need attention. |
| Date Amazon invoices by | See Invoice date. |
| When should an Amazon order become an invoice? | See When an order becomes an invoice. |
| Supplier lead time | Days from ordering from your supplier to goods on your own shelf. Opens a dialog. |
| Shipping into Amazon | Days from your warehouse into an Amazon fulfilment centre, and days of cover per shipment. Opens a dialog. |
| Reconnect Amazon | Opens Amazon's consent page again. |
Switches and choices save as soon as you change them.
Invoice date
Date Amazon invoices by decides which day an Amazon invoice carries.
| Choice | Effect |
|---|---|
| The day the customer bought | What you mean by "how did August go", and what Amazon's own reports say. Your sales trend shows trading days rather than settlement lumps. Invoices are dated earlier than the settlement, so a new one can land in a month you have already filed. |
| The day the settlement posted | Every Amazon invoice sits in the period its deposit belongs to, which is easier to reconcile to the bank. This is the default. |
The choice applies to invoices written from then on; nothing already posted moves. Credit notes for refunds always keep the date of the refund itself.
When an order becomes an invoice
| Choice | Effect |
|---|---|
| When Amazon settles | The default. Every fortnight the invoice is written once, complete, with the fees Amazon actually charged. Nothing on it is an estimate. |
| The day the customer bought | The sale reaches Sales, the Profit & Loss and profit by SKU on the day it happens. The invoice carries the sale alone (revenue, delivery and gift wrap, as Amazon states them) and no fees, because Amazon has not charged any yet. The settlement adds the fees later and pays the invoice off. |
When you choose The day the customer bought, a second question appears: Until Amazon deposits, where does the money sit?
| Choice | Effect |
|---|---|
| Collected by Amazon | The shopper paid Amazon the day they ordered, so the invoice is marked paid and the money sits in Amazon Clearing until the deposit lands. Accounts receivable stays for customers who genuinely owe you. |
| Amazon owes you | The invoice stays unpaid against Amazon for that province until the settlement pays it, so your A/R ageing shows how much Amazon is holding. Amazon then appears in A/R alongside your real customers. |
Both are correct accounting. Orders Amazon has not yet taken payment for are never invoiced either way.
Supplier lead time
Choose the Supplier lead time row to open its dialog. Enter Days from placing the order to goods on YOUR shelf (for example 90 from overseas, 14 from a local supplier) and choose Save. Every product uses this unless it has a lead time of its own. Leave it blank and order-by dates on Forecast ▸ Reorder Levels stay empty rather than being guessed. The row shows how many products rely on it.
Shipping into Amazon
Choose the Shipping into Amazon row to open its dialog:
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Transit time into Amazon (days) | How long stock takes to be received and made sellable after it leaves your warehouse. Seven days is common for a domestic partnered carrier, three weeks at peak. Leave blank if you do not know yet. Up to 180. |
| Days of cover each shipment should carry | 7 to 365; 60 suits most sellers. Too little and you pay inbound freight twice; too much and Amazon charges long-term storage. |
Without a transit time, Forecast ▸ Ship to Amazon cannot schedule shipments. See Ship to Amazon.
Reconnect Amazon
Use Reconnect Amazon whenever SeroBooks asks for a permission Amazon did not grant when you first connected (the Issues screen will say so). Sign in as the seller and approve. Reconnecting replaces the old authorization; it never creates a second connection.
Amazon Ads
Amazon bills advertising outside the settlement, so ad spend can only come from Amazon Ads. The Amazon Ads card shows one of:
| State | What to do |
|---|---|
| Checking the connection… | Wait a moment. |
| Connect Amazon Ads | Choose it, sign in to Amazon as the advertiser and approve. |
| Amazon Ads — awaiting Amazon approval | Nothing; the Connect button appears once Amazon approves. |
| Amazon Ads connected | Shows when spend was last pulled, that the first pull has not run yet, or the problem the last pull met. Advertising then appears in the Overview breakdowns. |
Disconnect removes the Amazon Ads connection and the advertising figures pulled through it. The Overview then explains that advertising is not connected instead of showing a figure.
Date scope
Three dates, each with a calendar button to set it and × to clear it. not set means no limit.
| Date | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Import settlements from | How much Amazon history enters SeroBooks at all. |
| Post to the ledger from (cutover) | The safety date. Settlements before it import and stay viewable but never post, so filed periods cannot change. If you move it earlier, settlements that were held back return to the posting queue. |
| Send to QuickBooks from | For companies that also send their books to QuickBooks: Amazon journals before this date are not sent, so entries someone keyed into QuickBooks by hand are not doubled there. |
Pull and seed
| Row | Button | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Pull settlements now | Pull | Fetches any new settlement from Amazon straight away. SeroBooks also does this once a day. Safe to repeat. |
| Create & map standard accounts | Seed | Creates any missing standard Amazon account and fills any empty posting role. Overwrites nothing. You see Accounts ready. |
Permissions
Changing any Amazon setting, connecting or disconnecting, pulling and seeding need the Edit Marketplace Settings action in the user's role. Without it, changing a setting opens an Approval Required window so that someone whose role has the action can approve; the buttons that connect, pull or seed are refused with You do not have permission for this. Ask an administrator to grant it under Users & Roles. See Roles and permissions explained.
Common problems
"Not connected yet. Finish both Amazon screens in the browser, then check again." You closed the browser before approving, or approved on a different seller account. Choose Connect Amazon again.
"Could not create the connection link." SeroBooks could not reach its server, or Amazon is not set up for your company's server. Try again; if it persists, contact support.
A setting keeps changing back. The save was refused, usually because the role lacks Edit Marketplace Settings and the approval was cancelled.
Old settlements imported but did not post. They are before the cutover. That is deliberate; move Post to the ledger from (cutover) earlier only if they are not already in your books.