ChannelEngine: settlement reports

About this article

This article describes how to view, export, and upload settlement reports on ChannelEngine.

Table of contents

Introduction

Supported marketplaces

View settlement reports

Retrieve reports via API

Upload settlement reports

Export settlement reports

Video

FAQ

Introduction

Financial transactions between a marketplace and a merchant are included in a settlement report. A settlement report contains justifications for financial transactions, including:

• Order proceeds - including relevant data about the order: order date, currency, transaction type, and the amount of the merchant's proceeds.
• Refunds to buyers - deductions from an order's proceeds, which appear as negative amounts.
• Fees deducted by the marketplace - subscription or setup fees, shipping labels, withheld tax amounts, and commissions.

Use settlement reports to reconcile the totals in the report with the amount received from the marketplace. Check the accuracy of the numbers in your order management system or ERP against those in the report, and make corrections if needed.

On ChannelEngine, you can access your marketplace settlement reports through either the web interface at Finance, Settlements, or the Merchant API. Additionally, you can upload soft copies of settlement reports into ChannelEngine from select marketplaces that do not make the reports available via API.

Accessing your settlement reports on ChannelEngine enables you to easily compare your bank statements with the matching settlement on ChannelEngine.

Supported marketplaces

Automatically access settlement reports on ChannelEngine

Settlement reports are automatically available on ChannelEngine from the following marketplaces:

• Amazon
• bol
• eBay
• Fnac
• Kaufland¹
• Mirakl-based marketplaces
• Newegg
• Octopia-based marketplaces
• Rakuten
• Reverb
• Target Plus
• TikTok Shop
• VeePee²
• Walmart

¹ Kaufland does not provide settlement amounts to ChannelEngine because each merchant sets their own payment schedule, and this information is not available via the API.

²VeePee does not provide settlement information via the API. Rather, ChannelEngine automatically imports these reports from VeePee's SFTP server. Set up the connection to VeePee's SFTP server in the VeePee channel on ChannelEngine.

Upload settlement reports to ChannelEngine

Upload soft copies of the settlement reports from the following marketplaces:

• BestSecret
• ManoMano
• Zalando

BestSecret, ManoMano, and Zalando do not provide settlement information via the API. However, you can retrieve these reports from their back-end platforms and upload them in their original formats to ChannelEngine. Once uploaded, you can view and create custom reports from their data.

View settlement reports

View via the web interface

Settlement overview

To view your settlement reports on ChannelEngine, go to Finance, Settlements. The Settlements page displays an overview of all available settlements and their statuses. 

Enter the channel reference number in the search bar to locate a specific settlement. You can also filter your settlements by the marketplace and the status of a settlement.

Each settlement contains the following data:

• Channel reference - the unique ID assigned to the settlement by the marketplace; matches the payout item in your bank statement.
• Channel - the channel that provided the settlement.
• Payment amount - the total payment amount from the settlement. The amount is provided by the marketplace and is not calculated by ChannelEngine.
• Period - the start and end dates of the settlement.
• Rows - the number of transaction rows included in the settlement.
• Status - the status of the settlement, New or Acknowledged. The Acknowledged status indicates the settlement has been exported to your system.
• Created - the date and time when the settlement was retrieved from the marketplace and saved in ChannelEngine's database.

Perform the following actions on each settlement:

• View - view the full details of all items that are treated in the settlement.
• Check - view only those items within the settlement whose deducted fees (Commission, Commission VAT, Fulfillment fee) were more than the expected Calculated Fee on the item. 
• Reset - sets a settlement’s status back to New (i.e.: it un-acknowledges it), so it becomes available to be acknowledged/exported again by you (e.g.: if it was already exported once but you need to re-run the settlement export).
• Export - send the settlement report to your login email address. To export settlement reports, first ensure that the ChannelEngine settlement export plugin is added to your tenant. For guidance on how to set up your settlement export, check out the article ChannelEngine: settlement export and customization [beta].

Settlement details

To view settlement details, click the eye icon. The settlement details are presented in three sections: transactions, totals, and reserve amount. 

General

The overall details of each settlement, including the related payment amount, the period, and the status.

Transactions

All transitions that occur between the merchant and the marketplace, such as order proceeds and commissions. 

The transactions table contains several columns.

• Order ID - the unique ID of the order within your tenant on ChannelEngine.
• Channel order no. - the unique reference assigned to the order by the marketplace.
• Product - the name and the Merchant product number of the product.
• Channel product number - the unique reference assigned to the product by the marketplace. It can be empty if the transaction was not related to a specific product.
• Amount - the amount added or subtracted for this commission. Positive numbers indicate sales, while negative numbers relate to marketplace fees and commissions.
• Type - the transaction type, which varies by marketplace. Options include:
  • Order proceeds - the proceeds related to the order or its return. This amount is negative if the product is returned and positive if a sale was made.
  • Commission - the commission charged by the marketplace or refunded to the merchant. This amount is usually negative as the merchant pays the commission. However, it can be positive if a merchant gets back their commission when the product is returned.
  • Withheld VAT - the sales tax amount withheld by the marketplace.
  • Fee correction - the amount to correct the previous fee.
  • Marketplace fulfillment fee - the fee charged by the marketplace for the fulfillment of orders. E.g.: LVB. This includes picking, packing, and shipping costs.
  • Marketplace inventory fee - the fees charged by the marketplace for storing products before they are sold. This includes inbound fees and product fees.
  • Subscription fee - the subscription fee charged by the marketplace for using their platform. These fees are usually not related to a specific order. E.g.: bol charges merchants for the authorization of certain brands.
  • Additional channel costs - any additional fees charged by the marketplace. E.g.: for shipping labels requested through the marketplace.
  • Commission product VAT - the sales tax paid on the commission charged by the marketplace.
  • Advertising costs - the fee charged for advertising on the marketplace.
  • Commission other - the commission charged by the marketplace. This is not related to a specific order/product.
  • Commission other VAT - the sales tax that is not related to a specific order or product.

Totals

The total numbers for transactions that occur between the merchant and the marketplace, such as total order proceeds, total commission, and total balance. Ideally, the total balance and the settlement value should be the same. However, they do differ on Amazon due to its use of reserve amount.

Reserve amount

The fields, Current reserve amount and Previous reserve amount apply only to the Amazon marketplace. This is because Amazon holds a portion of your sales in reserve to cover potential transaction losses, such as chargebacks, returns, or claims.

• Current reserve amount  - the amount held in reserve during the current settlement period.
• Previous reserve amount - the amount held in reserve during the previous settlement period.

This example shows that a merchant had 371 EUR held in reserve by Amazon previously, and currently, the merchant owes Amazon 55 EUR.

The field Reserve mutation amount is the difference between the current and previous reserve amounts. Apart from Amazon, this may also be provided by other marketplaces.

Retrieve reports via the Merchant API

To retrieve a settlement report via the Merchant API: 

1. Retrieve the IDs of available settlements via the GET /v2/settlements endpoint. Filter by the Channel ID parameter and by date, from a specific date to another specific date. Once you get the Settlement ID, you can use it to retrieve reports.

2. Request a settlement report via the POST /v2/reports/settlements endpoint. Indicate the Settlement ID and the type of report. This returns a Report ID formatted as a GUID (i.e.: globally unique identifier). E.g.: 3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6.

   • Detailed - a detailed report containing all transactions. It includes the currency, transaction type, order date, VAT, and net/gross amount.
   • Detailed extended - an extended version of the detailed report, with additional information on the base settlement data.
   • Custom JSON - a custom report containing your selected transactions. To configure a custom report, define the JSON file in the settlement export plugin.
   NB: depending on the number of transactions within the settlement, it can take a few minutes for the report to be generated.
3. Check the status of the report creation progress via the GET /v2/reports/{reportId}/status endpoint. Indicate the Report ID in the call. This returns the status of a report. If the status is Done, the response contains a URL with a download path.
4. Retrieve the report via the GET /v2/reports/{reportId} endpoint. Indicate the Report ID in the call. If the report is available, you can download it as a CSV file using a semicolon (;) as a delimiter.

Upload settlement reports

Via the web interface

For marketplaces that do not provide settlement reports to ChannelEngine via the API, such as Zalando and ManoMano, you can manually upload the settlements via the web interface.

1. From the left-side menu, go to Finance, Settlements
2. Select the channel for which you want to upload the settlement report.
3. Click Upload settlement. In the file explorer, select the settlement file in CSV format. Ensure the file is in its original format as provided by the marketplace.

Via the Merchant API

To upload the settlement report to ChannelEngine via the Merchant API, use the POST /v2/settlements/upload endpoint. Indicate the Channel ID parameter in the call and attach the file in the request body.

Export settlement reports 

You can export a specific marketplace settlement report to your email address or FTP(S) server. Note that to export settlement reports, first ensure that the ChannelEngine settlement export plugin is added to your tenant. For guidance on how to set up your settlement export, check out the article ChannelEngine: settlement export and customization [beta].

To export a settlement, follow these steps:

1. Set up your export details in the Settlement export plugin. 
2. (optional) Set up a custom settlement report format. 
3. From the sidebar menu, go to Finance, Settlements.
4. Select the channel for which you want to export the settlement report.
5. Locate the specific settlement that you want to export.
6. Click the export settlement icon (indicated as a notepad file with an arrow pointing right). ChannelEngine sends the settlement report to your login email address.

Video

For a full walk-through of ChannelEngine's settlements feature, check out our demo video on YouTube.

FAQ

How often does ChannelEngine fetch settlements from the marketplace?
ChannelEngine runs a scheduled task to fetch new settlements once a day. However, the frequency with which new settlements appear depends on the marketplace's payout schedule, which is typically once or twice a month.