How Amazon profit is calculated
Your profit is what Amazon actually pays you, minus what the goods cost you, minus everything you spend to sell them. For one month:
Profit = payout on kept orders − product cost of kept orders − return charges − cost of lost returns − advertising − other charges + claims recovered
The payout is the selling price minus Amazon's fees. When an order is returned and refunded, that payout is reversed — so returned orders earn nothing and usually cost you return charges on top.
Why returns matter so much
A 12% return rate does not cost you 12% of profit — it can cost far more, because every return carries charges, and some returns never come back at all. Use the "returns never received" field to see how much a small share of lost parcels adds up to over a month.
Check profit per SKU
A store-wide average hides loss-making products. Read our worked P&L example to see how one high-return SKU can lose money on every order while sales look fine.