Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer, and they are always looking for new sellers to join their team. One of the first questions a new seller would ask before joining an e-commerce platform is how soon they would first get paid. Well, how often does Amazon pay? We’re here to walk you through the whole process.
Ideally, How Often Does Amazon Pay Their Sellers?
It all comes down if you are selling from a Professional or Individual Seller account. What we can say for sure is that Amazon aims to pay Professional sellers every two weeks. This will include the sales from 14 days of your orders (minus Amazon’s fees) that were delivered at least one week ago.
Individual sellers get paid at different frequencies because they have low sales compared to Professional sellers. However, many Individual sellers report that they get paid weekly.
In both cases, to know the next payout, you can view it on your Statement View in your Payments Report on Seller Central.
Read Amazon’s Help page to understand the difference between Professional and Individual sellers.
What Do I Need To Provide To Amazon To Get Paid?
Amazon strictly pays through electronic bank transfers and does not transfer funds to credit cards or online payment systems like Paypal, Skrill, Payoneer, and others.
The following is also necessary for successful payouts:
- Your seller account must have a business address associated with it.
- Your bank account must be located in a country supported by the Amazon Currency Converter.
- Your bank account information must be up to date.
To add bank account information to your Amazon account, follow these steps:
- Go to Settings, and click “Account Info”.
- On the Seller Account Information page, under Payment Information, click “Deposit Methods”.
- Click “Add new deposit method”.
- Select the appropriate marketplace.
- Use the drop-down list to select your Bank Location Country.
- Enter the information requested in “Where You Will Be Paid”.
- If you selected a country with a currency other than the marketplace you are selling in, go to Currency Conversion Payment Agreement, click “Agreement”, and read the agreement.
- Check the Currency Conversion Payment Agreement box to accept the terms of the agreement.
- Click “Submit”.
To understand it better, read about bank account information on Amazon’s Seller Central help page.
What Is Amazon’s Process For Payouts?
On your Seller Central home page, you can hover over the Reports tab and click on the Payments option. The Payment Dashboard will open, which is an overview of how much you will get paid on the next payout and also when this will occur.
The payments will be transferred to the specified bank account associated with your account, so make sure that this information is correct. The transfers will go through Amazon’s Automated Clearing House (ACH). The ACH is an electronic system for processing financial transactions in batch form. The ACH network accepts batches of payment instructions for credit to accounts, debit to accounts, and remittance information from the Federal Reserve Banks to other banks. These batches are processed and routed electronically to their destination.
The payout process is more likely to be successful if the following information can be seen in your account:
- Positive account balance
- Valid bank account number
- Valid credit card on file
- Funds eligible to transfer
To know the data for your sales, you can access them on the Data Range Reports section of the Payments section of Seller Central. Take note that the data is calculated at midnight on the date specified. If you need an instant report, use yesterday’s date.
Amazon has a tracker where you can see reports on payouts on the Disbursement tab. You will be able to view the Scheduled Payout date, Processing date, Sent to bank date, and Bank Acknowledgement date.
What Is An Account Level Reserve And How Does It Affect Payouts?
It is possible that you will see an “Unavailable Balance” or “Account Level Reserve” notice on the statements page. An Account Level Reserve is the amount of money that Amazon reserves to ensure that sellers have enough funds in their accounts to be able to fulfill customer claims or chargebacks.
Here are a few reasons your account can have an Account Level Reserve notice:
- A-to-Z Guarantee claims
- Chargebacks
- Seller performance
- Account Review
Payment transfers are based on Amazon’s delivery date system, also called the “DD+7” policy. This means that order funds are held or reserved until 7 days after the latest estimated delivery date. This is again to ensure that sellers have enough funds to fulfill refund requests from customers.
The calculation process for payouts can be faster if you are an Amazon Prime seller and using Amazon’s integrated shipping providers because packages will likely arrive to customers even before the estimated delivery date. This is because the data for package tracking and delivery will be available much faster.
Can I Get Paid Sooner?
Things happen, and sometimes we can’t wait a full two weeks and really need our funds earlier than Amazon would pay them out automatically. Or maybe you just like to get your cash on a weekly basis, like other Amazon sellers do! Therefore, yes, you can get paid sooner, but it will be a smaller percentage than what you would be earning if you otherwise waited the 2 weeks automated process.
You can click on Request Payment to have the Amazon systems calculate eligible funds for transfer. It will only be funds from the current available payout, which is based on orders delivered 7-10 days ago that are available as soon as you request the payment.
If you request for payment before the standard 2 weeks, the 2-week settlement period will then be reset.
What Can Negatively Affect Amazon Payouts?
Amazon does want to make sure that sellers get their hard-earned money as soon as possible. However, the platform needs to be fair to both sellers and customers.
The platform has a responsibility to make sure that customers are satisfied with the products that were sent to them. This means that if a customer complains about an order, for example, Amazon may delay payment to make sure it is all sorted out. You may have to process a refund or return, and that’s where the Account Level Reserve will come in so that your account has the necessary funds to process these requests.
To avoid any risk of customers claiming something is damaged or incorrect with their order, you should always provide them with a returns policy and try your best to pack products securely. You would also want to keep in mind how long it may take for the customer to return the product and how much time will be required for a refund if they purchase with a credit card.
Why Didn’t I Get Paid?
You feel like you did everything right, but you still aren’t seeing your funds in your bank account. Amazon has stated common reasons for this to happen:
- Remember that it can take up to 5 business days for your money to reflect in your bank account after Amazon releases payments. Take a look at the calendar and see if you accidentally counted weekends and non-working holidays.
- Make sure that your bank account and credit card information is correct on the platform. Note that Amazon has a mandatory three-day security hold after bank information is added or updated, and within that time funds transfers cannot be carried out.
- Your account may have a negative or zero balance at the time of payment, possibly due to selling fees or product refunds. In these cases, Amazon may charge your credit card instead to cover the selling fees.
- Shipment for an order was not confirmed
- Seller performance issues or suspicious activity on your account, which will be messaged to you directly by Amazon in your Performance Notifications.
Final Thoughts
Amazon takes care of its sellers and does payouts on a regular basis while still making sure they’re looking out for customers as well by giving them enough time to assess the products you’ve sent them. When really necessary, the platform still gives sellers and options to get paid sooner! These are reasons why Amazon is taking over the world and is so ideal for both sellers and customers.
If you’re reading this article, you’re probably a new Amazon seller and are also interested in learning about Amazon FBA, so here’s my complete Amazon FBA guide to help you out. Continue to learn more about Amazon selling by reading the Sourcing Monster blog.
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