Why marketplace sales are not the same as profit

Three numbers, three different jobs

Revenue describes sales under the accounting approach used. A payout is money the marketplace releases to your bank, often after adjustments. Profit depends on the revenue and the costs attributed to it.

These numbers can refer to different periods. A deposit arriving today can relate to earlier sales, while a supplier bill may cover stock sold later. Do not treat the bank movement alone as a complete measure of trading performance.

Make a cost checklist

For a practical product comparison, start with stock cost, marketplace fees, fulfilment, postage, advertising, refunds and any other costs relevant to that product. Also track business overheads separately. How each item should be recorded is something to agree with your accountant.

If a dashboard lets you enter cost of goods manually, old or missing costs can distort its estimate. Review a few products against your own records before relying on its rankings.

Use the right tool for the question

A connector such as Link My Books or A2X supports the route from marketplace activity to accounts. An Amazon profit tool such as sellerboard can help you inspect product performance. Neither makes incomplete source data complete by itself.

Our comparison keeps these jobs separate. Add a profit tool to the cost calculator only if you need it, and check whether its order allowance covers your Amazon sales.

Build a repeatable review

Once a month, inspect a normal payout, an unusual refund and a product with changing stock costs. Explain unexpected differences before changing prices or advertising spend. The aim is a process you can maintain, not the largest collection of dashboards.