What is the goal of your workflow? What problem does it solve, or how does it help you?
My goal is to easily get Amazon transactions ready to be categorized on the transactions tab. Amazon transactions come in looking like this “Amazon.com*2g0l482j3” and I want to get them looking like this “Amazon - Planters Mixed Nuts With Sea Salt…” as quickly and effortlessly as possible.
This fixes some of the problems created by the Amazon importer - doesn’t work with digital purchases, doesn’t always put the actual amount charged to your card, dates aren’t well synced up, and you add a ton of line items to your spreadsheet transactions tab.
How did you come up with the idea for your workflow?
I’d have to say hatred for how Amazon handles their transactions was the key fuel for this project :-). I really enjoy spreadsheets and had started to learn more about them and found a great youtube channel with tutorials. So I dreamed up what I wanted to do and slowly, painfully, built out this process.
Please describe your workflow. What are the sheets? Does it use any custom scripts or formulas?
The main downside of this workflow is that it only works with a Chrome extension. The extension is free, and the creator is constantly tweaking, but it seems to consistently need to be updated with Chrome so there have been times it doesn’t function well. It’s frustrating because if that works well…this workflow is great!
Step 1: Download a CSV of Amazon Orders through the Chrome Extention (not Amazon’s History Reporter).
Step 2: Open my Amazon Orders Spreadsheet (the CSV is then automatically imported to the correct tab. Tiller transactions are imported automatically in another tab so Amazon expenses can be matched up)
Step 3: Check the transactions for any common errors. Couple of potential things to fix - sometimes, Amazon will report two separate transactions as one…I use conditional formatting to spot these and it’s simple to fix. If you have purchases that are the exact same amount, there will need to be some small tweaks. This is extremely rare unless you have a monthly recurring order and don’t update this that often.
Step 4: Click a macro button that magically updates the cells in your Tiller transactions tab to change from “Amazon.com*2g0l482j3” to “Amazon - Planters Mixed Nuts With Sea Salt…” (note, the full item description can be really long, but it doesn’t matter in the transaction tab, you see what you need to see to appropriately categorize. The full text of my example is “Amazon - Planters Mixed Nuts With Sea Salt, 56 oz. Resealable Canister - Roasted Nuts: Less Than 50% Peanuts, Almonds, Cashews, Pecans & Hazelnuts - Good Sourc;”
Anything else you’d like people to know?
If anyone is interested in this workflow, I can work on getting you a template and instructions.
I’m trying to raise money for my son with autism. The supplements he needs to function well are over $500/month. His therapy runs around $400/month. His doctor bill and testing run around $300/month. Insurance covers $0. My sweet boy is 10 years old and potentially on the brink of some major breakthroughs.
Would you consider a donation to help cover some of these costs as you get access to the workflow? If so, I’ll get you those details. Thanks!
Is it ok for others to copy, use, and modify your workflow?
If you said yes above, please make a copy of your workflow and share the copy’s URL:
Here’s a short video to see the workflow in action! A Better Way to Deal with Amazon Transactions
