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E-commerce

Order contribution, payment fees, delivery costs and customer acquisition.

Follow an order from price to contribution

An online sale can create several different numbers: the price displayed to the buyer, revenue after discounts and refunds, a platform payout, and contribution after the costs of fulfilling the order. This section keeps those numbers separate. A payout is a settlement amount, not a profit statement, because inventory, advertising and delivery may be paid from a different account or on a different date.

Start with the order boundary. Include the merchandise and shipping revenue that belong to the business, then subtract product cost, fulfillment, payment and marketplace fees, acquisition cost and any additional expected return loss. Avoid counting the same refund twice. In a hypothetical order with $80 of revenue, $30 product cost, $10 fulfillment, $5 fees, $12 acquisition and $3 return loss, contribution is $20. It still has to cover fixed business overhead.

Use your actual fee and shipping terms

A fee described as a percentage is incomplete without its base. Calculate percentage charges on the amount specified by the contract, and add any fixed transaction charge separately. A fixed fee takes a larger share of a small order. When fees use different bases, adding their percentages together can produce the wrong dollar cost. The fee-inclusive price calculator assumes a shared selling-price base and states that limit.

Shipping collected from the customer is distinct from carrier, packaging and handling costs. A split order can require two packages even though there is only one customer transaction. Carrier quotes depend on the actual package and service, so the shipping tool takes your own quote. Dimensional-weight guidance explains the model without supplying a universal divisor or a supposedly current shipping tariff.

Check customers and channels over a defined period

Customer acquisition cost divides defined acquisition spending by newly acquired customers. It should not be confused with spend per order when existing customers buy again. Cohort examples follow actual or explicitly modeled repeat contribution within a stated observation period. Revenue attribution is another boundary: two channels claiming the same order do not create two sales or twice the contribution.

Use the tools to compare assumptions, then test them against records. No price, fee, return rate or retention rate on these pages is presented as an industry average. A positive contribution result does not establish company profitability or an adequate cash balance. Keep a separate payment calendar when inventory purchases, payout delays or refunds can create a timing gap.