Overview

Amazon's Payments Guidelines and Transaction Processing Services outline how the company collects, holds, and disburses funds on behalf of third-party sellers. Understanding these rules is essential for managing cash flow, anticipating payment timelines, and knowing your responsibilities around chargebacks and fraud. This reference covers everything from how Amazon processes customer payments to what happens with unclaimed funds.

Key Points / What Sellers Need to Know

• Monthly disbursement cycle — Amazon remits collected funds to sellers within 30 days after the end of each month, minus applicable fees, refunds, and other deductions.
• No payment guarantees — Amazon does not guarantee payment on behalf of customers. Its obligation to remit funds is limited to amounts actually received and cleared.
• Chargeback liability falls on sellers — Sellers bear the full risk of fraud and chargebacks, including all associated bank, credit card, and penalty fees.
• Amazon can withhold or cancel orders — Amazon reserves the right to withhold funds for investigation, refuse to process transactions, or stop and cancel orders at its discretion.
• Funds are not insured — Seller account balances represent unsecured claims and are not covered by federal deposit insurance.
• Unclaimed property rules apply — Inactive accounts may have their balances sent to the seller's state of residency under applicable unclaimed property laws.

How Payment Processing Works

When a customer places an order for your product, Amazon charges the customer's payment instrument and collects the funds on your behalf. If the initial charge attempt fails, Amazon may retry and offer the customer a grace period to update their payment method. During this grace period, Amazon continues to provide access to the digital product or service. If the charge ultimately cannot be processed, Amazon notifies you so you can take appropriate action, such as terminating access to the product. This retry process helps maximize successful transactions but also means there can be a delay between order placement and confirmed payment.