How does Nova build your Amazon P&L?
Nova's P&L starts from your sales and takes costs off in a fixed order: Amazon's deductions, your cost of goods, Amazon fees and your costs per unit, advertising, then your account costs. Each step is a line you can read on its own: Net sales, Gross profit, Profit before Ads and Net profit.
Checked against Nova's code on October 29, 2026
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What are the lines of the P&L?
| Line | Calculation | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Sales | Item price × units ordered. Shipping and gift wrap are tracked apart, as Other sales. | Orders report |
| Net sales | Sales minus promotions, VAT, refunds and chargebacks | Orders report, Finances API |
| Gross profit | Net sales minus cost of goods sold | Your COGS |
| Profit before Ads | Gross profit minus Amazon fees, FBM fulfillment cost and your costs per unit and per product | Finances API, your FBM costs and your costs |
| Advertising cost | Sponsored Products, Brands and Display, Creator Connections, DSP and your own advertising costs | Amazon Ads, your costs |
| Your costs | Your account costs and one-offs: salaries, software, agencies, product development | Your costs |
| Net profit | Profit before Ads minus Advertising cost minus Your costs |
Cost of goods is the landed cost per unit you enter: manufacturing, freight and duties. FBM fulfillment cost is the shipping, packing and picking you enter for the orders you ship yourself.
Which day does each amount land on?
| Amount | Day |
|---|---|
| Sales and units | The purchase day, in the marketplace's time zone |
| Amazon fees, refunds, reimbursements | The day Amazon posts the transaction, in the marketplace's time zone |
| Advertising | The day in your Amazon Ads profile's time zone |
Amazon posts most fees when an order ships, so the last few days carry their sales before all their fees. Profit on recent days firms up as Amazon posts. See Refresh times and Time zones.
How are costs grouped?
Every cost, Amazon's or yours, belongs to one of four categories. The Costs filter of the P&L counts or leaves out each one.
| Category | What triggers it | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Variable costs | A unit sold or returned. No sale, no cost. | Referral fee, FBA fulfillment fee, a cost per unit you enter |
| Product costs | Keeping a product in stock and replenished | Storage, inbound placement, prep, your 3PL storage |
| One-offs | A decision or a correction on a product | Removals, disposals, deals, coupons, Vine, inventory reimbursements |
| Account costs | A period, whatever the products | Subscription fee, software, salaries, agencies |
Amazon's costs are placed on the product they belong to. A cost billed to the account, such as the subscription fee, is shared across products by their sales.
Worked example
One month on one marketplace:
| Line | Amount | Running total |
|---|---|---|
| Sales | $10,000 | |
| Promotions, VAT, refunds | −$1,200 | Net sales $8,800 |
| Cost of goods | −$2,600 | Gross profit $6,200 |
| Amazon fees | −$3,100 | |
| Your inbound shipping per unit | −$200 | Profit before Ads $2,900 |
| Advertising cost | −$1,400 | |
| Your software and salaries | −$600 | Net profit $900 |
Where you see it
- App: the Profit & Loss page and the Cockpit, by day, week or month, per marketplace and per product.
- MCP: every line by name, at any grain, from your AI assistant.
- Data Share:
product_metricscarries the lines up to Net profit, without your own costs. Your own costs stay in the app and the MCP.
Ask your AI
Walk me from sales to net profit for last month, line by line, and tell me which cost grew the most against the month before.
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