# How does Nova build your Amazon P&L?

Source: https://novadata.io/docs/profit-and-costs/pnl
Checked against Nova's code on 2026-10-29

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.

## 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](/docs/your-data/refresh-times) and [Time zones](/docs/your-data/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_metrics` carries 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.