GenInvoice: Automating E-Invoice Issuance for Amazon and Etsy Sellers

Many e-commerce sellers already use e-invoicing solutions that automate invoice issuance, email delivery, and online storage. However, accounting teams may still spend a significant amount of time each month downloading marketplace reports, working with spreadsheets, and re-entering data before invoices can be issued. The reason is that automation often stops at the final stage of the process. When order data from Amazon, Etsy, and other sales channels still has to be collected and consolidated manually, businesses continue to spend time checking, reconciling, and correcting discrepancies.

That is why automated e-invoice issuance is most effective when the entire process runs on a connected data flow, from marketplace orders and sales and cost data to invoices and accounting records.

1. The Automated E-Invoice Issuance Process

For sellers on Amazon or Etsy, automated e-invoice issuance involves more than simply creating and issuing invoices. Before an invoice can be issued, the underlying transaction data needs to go through several steps to ensure that it is accurate and reflects the actual transaction. The process generally includes four key stages:

• Collecting and synchronizing order data: The system should retrieve essential transaction details from marketplaces, including order IDs, product information, selling prices, buyer details, and other relevant data required for accurate automated e-invoice issuance. 

• Verify invoicing requirements and issuance deadlines: Under Clause 1, Article 4 of Decree 254/2026/ND-CP, sellers are required to issue electronic invoices when selling goods or providing services, except for cases exempt from invoicing under Article 7 of Decree 254/2026/ND-CP. To determine when an invoice must be issued, the system must first correctly classify the nature of each transaction. For standard domestic sales of goods, Clause 1, Article 9 of Decree 254/2026/ND-CP specifies that an invoice must be issued when ownership or the right to use the goods is transferred to the buyer, regardless of whether payment has been received. Accordingly, orders canceled before this transfer takes place do not trigger an invoicing obligation under this provision. For exported goods, including goods processed for export, sellers may determine the invoice issuance date, provided that it is no later than the next working day following customs clearance, in accordance with customs regulations. Therefore, sellers conducting cross-border exports through Amazon and Etsy should not rely solely on marketplace order statuses to determine invoicing deadlines. Instead, the system should integrate or cross-check customs data to ensure invoices are issued within the legally prescribed timeframe.

• Creating and issuing e-invoices: Once the data has been verified, the system creates the invoice, applies the digital signature, and transmits the required data through the e-invoicing process.

• Reconciling data and recording accounting entries: After the invoice is issued, businesses need to check that order volumes, invoice numbers, revenue, costs, and accounting data are consistent so that the figures are recorded accurately.

Today, many automated e-invoicing solutions support the entire process, from invoice issuance to management, and can even integrate with sales or accounting software to retrieve data automatically. However, for sellers operating on Amazon and Etsy, the greater challenge lies in managing data from multiple sources and varying transaction statuses, all of which must be accurately processed before automated e-invoice issuance. 

2. Benefits of Automated Invoice Issuance

As sales volumes grow, manual invoicing can involve additional data entry, verification, and reconciliation tasks. Automated e-invoice issuance helps businesses streamline and standardize the invoicing process, reduce repetitive tasks, and maintain better control over their data.

• Reduce manual data entry: Order data from multiple marketplaces can be synchronized into a centralized system, reducing the need to download reports, filter data, and manually re-enter information.

• Minimize discrepancies between orders and invoices: Processing invoices based on actual order data and statuses helps reduce the risk of missing transactions, entering incorrect information, or issuing invoices for canceled or returned orders.

• Process large volumes of invoices in batches: Once the data has been reviewed and verified, businesses can generate or issue multiple invoices at once instead of processing each invoice individually. This is particularly useful for businesses handling hundreds or thousands of orders each month.

• Integrate invoicing data with accounting: By connecting order, invoice, and accounting data within a single system, businesses can minimize duplicate data entry and simplify the reconciliation of revenue, expenses, cash flow, and accounting records.

3. Key Considerations When Automated E-Invoice Issuance

When implementing automated e-invoice issuance for orders placed through Amazon or Etsy, businesses still need to verify transaction data before processing invoices. Since order details, revenue, marketplace fees, and transaction statuses are recorded separately on each platform, this data must be properly synchronized and processed from the outset to ensure accurate invoicing. 

3.1. Standardize Order Data Before Automated Invoice Issuance 

Amazon and Etsy record orders using their own data structures and formats, so businesses need to bring this information into a common system before creating invoices. If accounting teams still have to download reports, process them in spreadsheets, and re-enter information line by line, automation at the invoicing stage will remain limited.

3.2. Separate Sales Revenue from Marketplace Fees

The amount sellers receive from Amazon or Etsy is often lower than the original order value because the marketplace may deduct service fees, shipping fees, fulfillment fees, and other adjustments before making the payment. These deductions reduce the amount actually received, but they do not change the selling value of the transaction. According to guidance from the tax authorities, businesses should determine revenue based on the selling price of the goods and record the related fees separately.

For this reason, when using automated e-invoice issuance, the system needs to distinguish sales revenue from marketplace fees and other adjustments before creating an invoice, rather than using the final amount transferred by the marketplace as the basis for invoicing.

3.3. Monitor the Actual Status of Each Order

The net amount Amazon or Etsy pays out to sellers after deducting fees should not automatically be treated as sales revenue. These payouts may reflect various deductions, including service fees, fulfillment fees, shipping costs, refunds, discounts, and other adjustments. Therefore, before implementing automated e-invoicing, businesses need to identify and separate sales revenue, fees, refunds, discounts, and adjustments based on the nature of each transaction, rather than using the net marketplace payout as the basis for revenue recognition. 

4. Key Criteria for Evaluating Automated E-Invoicing Solutions 

Not all e-invoicing software can support the entire invoicing workflow of sellers operating on international marketplaces such as Amazon and Etsy. When selecting a solution, businesses should evaluate its ability to manage data throughout the invoicing process, from preparation and verification to invoice issuance and post-issuance reconciliation. 

• Direct integration with sales data sources: The solution should be able to retrieve data from the sales channels a business uses while preserving essential details such as order IDs, transaction values, order statuses, and buyer information. For businesses managing multiple stores or legal entities, the ability to separate data by store or entity is also an important consideration.

• Pre-issuance verification: The system should allow businesses to review transaction details, order statuses, and invoice information before invoices are automatically issued, particularly for canceled or returned orders and transactions requiring adjustments.

• Invoice status tracking: Businesses need visibility into which invoices have been successfully issued, which are still being processed, and which have encountered errors. Tracking invoice statuses and processing history makes it easier to investigate and resolve issues when they arise.

• Reconciliation with sales and accounting data: The solution should support cross-checking transactions, invoices, and accounting records to identify missing invoices, data discrepancies, or transactions that require further action.

Accounting Solutions for E-commerce Sellers

As businesses expand across multiple marketplaces and handle hundreds of orders each day, issuing invoices faster only addresses one part of the challenge. More importantly, order, revenue, cash flow, and invoice data need to be connected so that businesses do not have to repeatedly process and reconcile the same information manually.

Genbook helps consolidate and standardize sales data from e-commerce marketplaces in line with accounting practices, covering revenue, marketplace fees, refunds, and other adjustments. Using this processed data, GenInvoice, Genbook's partner for e-invoicing solutions, supports automated invoice creation and issuance based on actual transaction data. This creates a connected flow from orders to invoices and accounting records, helping businesses reduce manual data entry and making it easier to review and reconcile their figures.

Contact the Genbook team today to explore a data management and automated e-invoice issuance solution tailored to your business operations and transaction volume.