Welcome to OtterSpend
OtterSpend reads your Amazon orders, sorts every item into a spending category, and shows you the totals by month and year. No subscription, and nothing is sent to an outside server.
- Imports retail orders, Kindle and digital orders, and returns
- Sorts items into 24 built-in categories using about 1,360 keyword rules
- Subtracts per-item discounts and checks totals against Amazon's own numbers
- Matches refunds and returns to the original items
- Asks you to confirm uncertain items, then remembers your choice
- Exports your itemized data as a CSV whenever you want
A Google account, a computer for setup and import, and about 15 minutes. Amazon can take a few days to prepare your data, so request it first (Step 4) and do the other steps while you wait.
Get your copy
OtterSpend lives in your own Google Drive. You'll make a private copy and work only in that copy.
- Open your Access Card and click Make my copy. Sign in to your Google account if asked.
- On Copy document, click Make a copy. The yellow note just means the OtterSpend script comes with the copy, which is what you want.
- Your copy opens in a new tab, saved in your Drive. Click its name at the top left to rename it, for example My OtterSpend, and bookmark it.
Nothing you do in your copy changes the original or anyone else's data.
Authorize OtterSpend
OtterSpend runs a small script inside your copy. Google asks for your permission the first time you use it. You don't need to open or edit any code.
- Wait a few seconds after your copy opens. An OtterSpend menu appears at the end of the menu bar. If it doesn't, refresh the page.
- Click OtterSpend → Start here. Google asks you to authorize before it opens.
- Click Continue and choose your Google account.
- On Google hasn't verified this app, click Advanced.
- Click Go to OtterSpend_Amazon_R1.2.0 (unsafe).
- Tick Select all, then click Continue.
If any box is left unticked, importing won't work. If that happens, run the menu item again and tick everything when Google asks.
- The Start here window opens and explains what each permission is for. Read it and click OK.
OtterSpend is a private script in your copy, not an app in Google's public store, so Google shows this warning for it. It reads and writes only this spreadsheet. In Google Drive it looks only in the folder you choose for your Amazon files, moves them to Trash after a successful import (you can restore them for about 30 days), and saves backup copies of this spreadsheet. Nothing is sent to any outside server.
Explore, then clear the sample data
Your copy comes with sample Amazon orders so you can see how everything works. Look around first, then clear them out before importing your own orders.
- Explore (optional). Open Home, change the Year and Month, and look at the Review and Settings tabs.
- Click OtterSpend → Advanced → Clear sample data (keeps your own data) and confirm.
- Check that Home shows $0 for the selected period.
Clear sample data removes only the sample rows. Your own imported orders are never touched.
It's in the same Advanced menu. It rebuilds the workbook with fresh samples and asks you to type ERASE first. Typing it on a sheet with your real orders erases them.
Get your Amazon order data
Amazon sends your full order history as a ZIP file through its Request your data page.
Open Amazon “Request your data” → amazon.com/hz/privacy-central/data-requests- Sign in to amazon.com and open the page above.
- Next to Your Orders, click Submit Request.
- Confirm the request from the email Amazon sends you.
- When Amazon emails that your data is ready, download the ZIP.
You can import the ZIP as it is. OtterSpend finds the files it needs inside. If you unzip it, these are the three files that matter:
| File | Folder | What it holds |
|---|---|---|
| Order History.csv | Your Amazon Orders | Physical items you bought. Required. |
| Digital Content Orders.csv | Your Amazon Orders | Kindle books, apps, videos, memberships and subscriptions |
| Returns Status.csv | Your Returns & Refunds | Returns and refunds, matched to your items |
You can ignore the other files.
Import your orders
- Click OtterSpend → 1. Import Amazon orders.
- Choose where your file is:
- Upload from this device: click Choose Files and pick the ZIP, or the CSV files. You can pick several at once.
- From Google Drive: pick the Drive folder where you saved the files.
- Under Which orders to import?, choose a Year (or All years) and tick the months you want. Use all or none to tick them quickly.
- Click Import and wait for the summary.
Reading the summary
When the import finishes, a green box tells you what happened:
- How many items and orders were added, including Kindle and digital orders
- How many items need a look on the Review tab
- Free ($0) digital items that were skipped
- How many refunds matched an item, and how many belong to orders you haven't imported
- Orders skipped because they fall outside the year and months you chose
Duplicates are skipped, so you can import overlapping months or the same file twice. With the Drive option, your files go to Trash only after a successful import, and they stay put if any orders were skipped.
Review your categories
Open the Review tab (Needs your OK). Items land here when OtterSpend isn't sure of the category, when a refund only partly matched, or when a gift card looks like it was bought for someone else.
- Check the category for each row. Rows with a blank category need one picked.
- If the category is wrong, pick the right one from the dropdown. That saves it.
- If it's already right, tick Looks right?. That saves it too.
OtterSpend remembers each choice by product, so the same item is sorted correctly on future imports and you review less each month.
Refresh the list
After you've worked through some rows, or after a new import, click OtterSpend → 2. Refresh "Needs your OK" list. Rows you've saved drop off, and anything new that needs a look is added.
Gift cards and reloads go to Gift Cards & Reloads, which is left out of your totals so money isn't counted twice. If a gift card was a present, move it to Gifts.
Use OtterSpend → Advanced → Protect my reviewed data. Google then shows a warning before anyone edits the tabs that hold your items.
Read your dashboard
OtterSpend has two dashboards: Home for a computer screen and Home (Mobile) for your phone.
- Pick the Year and Month in the green header at the top right of Home. Home (Mobile) follows the same choice.
- Each panel has a Show checkbox. Untick it to hide that panel.
- If the numbers look out of date, click OtterSpend → 3. Refresh Home calculations.
| Card or panel | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Spent in month · Vs last month | The month's total and its change from the month before |
| Total spend · Items | The whole selected year, and items bought in the month |
| Largest order · Top category | Your biggest order and where most money went |
| Daily average · Projected month-end | Spending pace, and where the month will land at that pace |
| Refunds · Needs your OK | Refunds received, and rows waiting on the Review tab |
| Where your money went | Each category's amount and share |
| Top 10 orders | Your largest orders in the month, highest first |
Categories switched off in Settings, such as Gift Cards & Reloads, still show their amount but are left out of totals and shares.
You can view both dashboards in the Google Sheets app. The OtterSpend menu appears only on a computer, so import and export there.
Export your data
- Click OtterSpend → 4. Export to CSV.
- Choose All items (everything imported or added) or Reviewed items only (the ones you approved on the Review tab).
- Click Download CSV. It opens in Excel, Numbers or any spreadsheet app.
- If the download doesn't start, copy the text in the box into a new file and save it with a .csv ending.
Each row has the item ID, order ID, order date, merchant, item, quantity, unit price, item subtotal, tax, final total, category, ASIN, review date and status.
Your monthly routine
Request fresh Amazon data, import it, save anything on the Review tab, and export if you need a copy. Re-importing overlapping months is safe.
Settings & more
Categories
Settings has 30 category slots: 24 built-in and 6 empty for your own. Type a name into a yellow slot and it appears on the dashboards. The Count in totals? checkbox decides whether a category adds to your totals.
| Color | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Green | Counted in totals |
| Gray italic | Not counted (unticked) |
| Yellow | Empty slot: add your own |
Household, merchants and preferences
- Household members and Merchants are lists you can add to.
- Ask me to check a guess when confidence is below sets how sure OtterSpend must be before it skips the Review tab. Raise it to review more items, lower it to review fewer.
- Only import orders from this year on: leave blank to include all years.
Advanced menu
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Protect my reviewed data | Adds a warning before edits to your item tabs |
| Check Home layout | Checks the dashboard is set up correctly |
| Show / hide behind-the-scenes tabs | Shows the tabs that store your data and rules. Look, but avoid editing them. |
| Apply OtterSpend theme | Restores the standard look on Review, Add and Settings |
Adding a purchase by hand
Use the Add tab for a purchase that isn't in your Amazon file.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | What to try |
|---|---|
| No OtterSpend menu | Refresh and wait a few seconds. Make sure you're in your own copy, on a computer. |
| “Google hasn't verified this app” | Expected. Advanced → Go to OtterSpend (unsafe) → Select all → Continue. See Step 2. |
| Import or Drive import fails | A permission was probably left unticked. Run the menu item again and tick Select all. |
| Import added nothing | Check the Year and months match your file. The summary tells you how many orders were outside your selection. |
| Total doesn't match Amazon | Check the Review tab, import Returns Status.csv, and check which categories are set to not count. |
| Kindle or app purchases missing | Import Digital Content Orders.csv as well, or the whole ZIP. |
| Dashboard looks out of date | OtterSpend → 3. Refresh Home calculations. |
| Sample rows still showing | Run Clear sample data (Step 3). |
| Download CSV does nothing | Copy the text from the box in the export window into a file ending in .csv. |
Limits & support
- US dollars and amazon.com orders only
- Importing needs a computer
- About 3,000 items per spreadsheet
- Digital returns aren't matched yet
To check your version, click OtterSpend → About OtterSpend.
Get help
Visit PeakOtter.com or email PeakOtterSupport@gmail.com. Include what you expected, what happened, your version from About OtterSpend, and a screenshot if you can.