Are you losing money? Find the channel or product that is
A marketplace can look busy and still lose money once fees, ads, refunds and the real cost of each unit are counted. Here's how to find where, in about half an hour.
Before you start
What you should see
- Your marketplaces' settlements or months are in Bookalyze (they don't need to be posted)
- Your SKUs are linked to products
- Landed costs on your deliveries, or opening stock with its cost
- Cost of goods sold posted for the months you'll look at
1. Which marketplace
Where in the app: Commerce → Channel profit
Pick the last three or six months. Read each column down to Profit and the margin. A channel with healthy sales and a thin or negative profit is the place to look.
- Fees high against net sales? Check the fulfilment fees on your biggest SKUs.
- Advertising eating the margin? Compare it with the extra sales.
- Refunds high? Look at which orders on Commerce → Orders → Refunded.
- Your own costs: count prep, storage and software against the channels they serve, so the comparison is fair.
2. Which product
Where in the app: Commerce → Channel profit → By product
Every product's profit after fees, cost and ads, the ones losing money first, each with its ACOS next to its break-even ACOS. The full routine is in Find and fix the products losing money.
Where in the app: Inventory → Prices
Each Amazon listing's price beside its landed cost. Open Change price on a suspect to see Amazon's fee estimate and the profit and margin at today's price, without changing anything.
Tip: A 2-pack or a bundle is costed with every unit in it, so the margin is the real one.
3. Decide
- Raise the price, and watch the listing with Listing watch to see how competitors move.
- Cut the ad spend on that product or channel.
- Reorder less of it: Reorder shows how many it really sells.
- Or stop selling it there, and switch the channel off if nothing else sells.
What you should see
What you should see
- Every channel's profit, after cost of goods and your own costs
- A margin for each listing you checked
- Next month's Channel profit showing the change
Read next
Profit by product, after ads: what every product really makes
Each product's profit after the marketplace's fees, what it cost you and its ads, per marketplace. The products losing money come first, each with how far its ads can go before they stop paying.
Read the guideFind and fix the products losing money, once a month
A 30-minute monthly routine on Profit by product: which products lose money after ads, why, and what to change for each verdict.
Read the guideChannel profit: what each marketplace really makes
A column per marketplace, in its own currency, from sales down to profit after fees, ads, cost of goods and your own costs. All channels together in your main currency.
Read the guideAmazon prices beside cost and fees
Every linked SKU's Amazon price next to what a unit costs you. Change a price and see Amazon's fees, your profit and margin before you send it, then whether Amazon applied it.
Read the guideLanded cost and FIFO stock lots
What a unit really cost you: the supplier's price plus its share of freight, duty, brokerage and prep. Each delivery becomes stock lots, and sales use the oldest first.
Read the guide