Industries · E-commerce brands

Your payout is not your revenue.

A deposit is sales net of fees, refunds, holds and ads, paid on the channel’s timing. We reconcile it back to the orders, then tell you which channels and SKUs made money after all of it.

Founder-led brands on Shopify and/or Amazon, $1M–$25M, 3–30 staff, a 3PL or your own warehouse, books in QuickBooks or Xero with A2X or Link My Books.

35% → 22%¹: Median DTC contribution margin fell from about 35% in 2021 to about 22% in 2025. (reported)
one net number every 14 days²: Amazon disburses one net settlement about every 14 days, netting sales, refunds, referral and FBA fees, storage, ads, reimbursements and reserves. (reported)
19.3%³: Average e-commerce return rate (NRF and Happy Returns, 2025 Retail Returns Landscape); apparel runs 24–30%.

A long aisle between grey steel shelving stocked with cartons and labelled parts, a polished concrete floor with yellow lane lines

Channels

What breaks, channel by channel.

Selling on Shopify, Amazon, Walmart, TikTok Shop or Wholesale. Each pays on its own schedule, net of its own fees.

A payout is sales less processing fees, refunds, chargebacks and holds, paid on business-day timing. Booked as revenue, it understates sales and hides every fee. We run a clearing account per gateway and reconcile payout by payout.

What the deposit is made of

: Orders
−: Processing fees
−: Refunds
−: Chargebacks
−: Holds and reserves
=: Payout, on business-day timing

Where it breaks

Seven places an e-commerce P&L goes wrong, and what we do about each.

01
COGS and landed cost
Gross margin looks fine until inbound freight, duties and 3PL receiving show up.
What we do
Perpetual inventory on a landed-cost method, a monthly COGS true-up, an inventory roll-forward and a write-down policy.
If landed cost is 35% of price but COGS records 25%, gross margin is overstated by ten points; inbound freight, duties and 3PL receiving are the usual gaps.⁴ (reported)
02
Payouts and fee reconciliation
The Shopify report, the Amazon settlement and the bank deposit never agree.
What we do
A clearing account per gateway, A2X or Link My Books set up and reviewed, settlement-by-settlement reconciliation, and fee lines separated (referral, FBA, storage, ads).
Amazon disburses one net settlement about every 14 days, netting sales, refunds, referral and FBA fees, storage, ads, reimbursements and reserves.² (reported)

A shrink-wrapped pallet of cartons on a pallet jack just inside the roll-up door of a warehouse

A hand holding a clipboard with a blank count sheet beside an open carton of wrapped products in a small stockroom

03
Sales-tax nexus
Sales into a new state crossed a threshold and nobody noticed.
What we do
Nexus tracking by state from channel data and registration readiness. Records and registration readiness only; filing runs through your accountant or TaxJar/Avalara.
A remote seller with more than $100,000 of taxable sales into Florida in the prior calendar year must register and collect (effective July 1, 2021); there is no transaction-count test.⁵
04
Contribution margin by SKU and channel
We are growing and there is less cash every quarter.
What we do
A contribution-margin waterfall by channel and SKU with ad spend, fees, shipping and returns allocated; break-even ROAS.
Median DTC contribution margin fell from about 35% in 2021 to about 22% in 2025.¹ (reported)
05
Cash conversion and inventory financing
A big purchase order is due and there is no forecast behind it.
What we do
A cash-conversion dashboard, a PO-to-payout cash forecast, a comparison of financing offers on true cost, and books a lender will accept.

Sealed cartons marked fragile beside a hand truck at a loading door, waiting for pickup

Someone leaning over a marble table to photograph handmade ceramics, bookshelves behind

06
3PL costs and returns
The 3PL invoice keeps growing and returns are one line in the P&L.
What we do
3PL invoice review, cost per order, a returns reserve and fulfilment cost allocated into landed cost.
Average e-commerce return rate (NRF and Happy Returns, 2025 Retail Returns Landscape); apparel runs 24–30%.³
07
Ad spend in the ledger
Meta says one thing, GA4 another, and the payouts a third.
What we do
Ad spend by platform in the ledger, with MER and blended CAC computed from the books rather than the ad manager.

The monthly package

Nine numbers, from the ledger.

Computed from the reconciled books, not from the ad platform or the storefront dashboard. Ranges are typical published benchmarks, not targets we promise.

Contribution margin (CM1 / CM2 / CM3)
By channel and SKU, after fees, shipping, returns and ads.
Strong 20–35%¹
typical (reported)
MER, blended CAC and LTV : CAC
Computed from the ledger, not the ad platform.
3–5 : 1⁶
typical (reported)
Break-even ROAS and maximum CAC
The spend ceiling at which an order stops making money.
Cash conversion cycle and inventory turns
Days of inventory plus days to collect, less days to pay.
Weeks of cover and aged SKUs
What is sitting, what is selling, what needs a write-down.
Return rate and net cost per return
By SKU.
19.3% average³
typical
Fulfilment cost per order
Pick, pack, postage and storage, from the 3PL invoice.
$2–$3.20 pick and pack⁷
typical (reported)
Sales-tax exposure by state
Against each state’s threshold; records and registration readiness only.
Channel P&L
Shopify, Amazon and wholesale, each after its own fees and ads.

Systems we reconcile

Channel and app exports reconciled to QuickBooks Online or Xero every month. We are not a certified partner of any of them. Sales-tax records stay registration-ready; filing runs through your outside accountant or TaxJar/Avalara.

Shopify
Amazon Seller Central
A2X
Link My Books
Cin7
ShipBob
TaxJar
Avalara

Add-ons e-commerce brands use most

E-commerce settlement reconciliation (Shopify / Amazon): $600/mo+3 h a month
Transactional bookkeeping performed: $1,200/mo (up to 300 txns) or $2,000/mo (up to 600)+8 / 14 h a month
Additional entity: $900/mo each+4 h a month

Florida

Selling from Florida, and into it.

No state income tax⁸: No state personal income tax, and no state withholding from wages.
$100,000⁵: Remote sales into Florida in a year that trigger sales-tax registration.