After fees, shipping, returns and ads — what does one order actually leave behind?
Marketplace dashboards show revenue. Your bank account shows what survived fees, shipping, returns and ads. Enter the real stack; get contribution per placed order and the ad spend you can actually afford.
GST is removed first (it was never your money), then product cost, platform and payment fees, packaging, forward shipping, an expected return cost (return rate × reverse cost with 50% goods recovery), and per-order ad spend.
Successful-order contribution and per-placed-order contribution are shown separately — the difference is what returns cost you.
Break-even ad cost = the most you can pay to acquire an order before it loses money. Fixed overheads are excluded deliberately and labelled.
Illustrative figures, not a client outcome.
GST collected is passed to the government — it was never revenue. Calculating fees and margins on tax-inclusive prices overstates both and hides the real contribution.
RTO is worse than a normal return: you pay forward and reverse shipping and recover stock late. Increase the return rate and reverse cost to model it — watch what it does to per-order contribution.
Version 1.0 · Reviewed 2026-10 · Methodology is fixed and version-controlled; results depend on your inputs.
Marketplace revenue growing, contribution shrinking? Fix the economics.
BLEZZINGS runs this analysis inside a focused engagement — with your data, your market and a plan to act on it.