Cross-border profit: revenue, fees, shipping and ad costs

Start with payout, not revenue

Marketplace sellers often subtract product cost from sales and call it profit. Real payout is reduced by marketplace fees, payment fees, withdrawal cost, FX, refunds, and reserves.

If ads are involved, ad spend must sit in the same model as fees and product cost. Otherwise ROAS can look acceptable while profit is negative.

Recommended calculation order

Use one reporting period and adjust revenue for refunds and discounts first. Deduct percentage marketplace/payment fees and the planning reserve.

Subtract goods, logistics and ads to obtain contribution, not complete net profit. Fixed payment fees, FX spread, labor and rent need separate accounting.

• Adjusted revenue - percentage fees/reserve = modeled payout
• Payout - goods - logistics - ads = contribution under listed costs
• Contribution / same-period revenue = contribution margin; omitted costs still need deduction

When to verify manually

If orders involve VAT, import tax, multiple entities, different payout currencies, or marketplace withholding, a calculator is only a screening tool.

Before scaling, verify against marketplace statements, payment provider pricing, and professional tax/accounting advice.

Worked case and assumptions

A small seller is considering one SKU for Shopee Thailand and needs an order-level cost check before buying inventory. This illustrative case uses USD equivalents throughout, not a live THB settlement rate, a real store statement or an official Shopee fee schedule. Convert your own statement to one currency before comparing it.

This is an authored hypothetical example, not a customer result, official fee schedule or forecast.

• Revenue is USD 30 after discounts, with no additional refund reduction in this case. Goods cost 10, shipping 3 and acquisition 4 dollars per order.
• Marketplace 8%, payment 1.5%, planning reserve 3% and CNY/USD 7.15 are hypothetical inputs, not official fees or legal tax rates.
• Fixed payment fees, rent, labor, return handling and FX spread are not separately included. Contribution is not complete net profit.

Case inputs

Sales revenue

30 USD

Product cost

10 USD

Logistics cost

3 USD

Ad spend

4 USD

Marketplace fee

8 %

Payment fee

1.5 %

Planning tax reserve

3 %

FX assumption

7.15 CNY/USD

Result cross-check

Modeled fee total

3.75 USD

Payout before operating costs

26.25 USD

Contribution profit

9.25 USD

CNY equivalent

66.14 CNY

Contribution margin

30.8 %

Break-even revenue

19.43 USD

Interpretation and boundaries

Percentage deductions are USD 3.75. The modeled payout is 26.25, then listed operating costs of 17 leave contribution of 9.25. Contribution margin is about 30.8%; break-even revenue is about 19.43.

Revenue can still fail to produce net profit: a separate fixed-cost allocation of USD 12 per order would exceed the 9.25 contribution by 2.75. That allocation is not automatically included in the current calculator.

Check commission, campaign fees, payment fixed charges, who funds discounts and refunds in your statement. Align the order or reporting period before interpreting the result.

• Do not mix THB revenue with USD costs. Convert all inputs to one currency first.
• Entity, tax and settlement obligations need qualified advice; no country-specific tax outcome is calculated here.