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Selling 100 orders per month without knowing the profit — the most common problem of online sellers
06/04/2026
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6 min read
This month's revenue is 50 million. Next month's is 70 million. The numbers are increasing steadily, and it feels like we're on the right track. Then comes the 30th — and the account has less than 2 million left. Nothing's wrong on paper. No one owes us money. There are no unusual expenses. But the money's just not there.
This is a common situation that most online sellers have experienced at least once — and many people experience it regularly without finding the cause. This article delves into the mechanism of the problem from the perspective of managing online sales profit which is actually not just about tracking revenue.
"I sell 100 orders/month, but when I calculate, I don't know how much I'm making. I feel like I'm making money, but at the end of the month, the account is empty."
— A familiar phrase in the Shopee and TikTok Shop seller community
In this article
- How do revenue and profit differ?
- What hidden costs are eroding online sales profits?
- The "scale" trap — selling more but earning less
- Cash flow ≠ profit — when the money comes in is when it's really yours?
- How to manage online sales profit with Excel?
- Frequently Asked Questions
Revenue and profit — two concepts that are confused with each other every day
Revenue is the amount of money customers pay you. Profit is the amount of money left after deducting all costs to create that order. It sounds simple — but in the reality of online sales, this boundary is overlooked to a surprising extent.
Sellers often look at the revenue figure on the dashboard of the platform — Shopee, TikTok Shop, or website — and use it to evaluate whether the month is "good or bad". But that figure doesn't account for platform fees, shipping fees, advertising costs, returned goods, or even the capital cost of goods. As a result, sellers are running their business based on systematically distorted data.
It's not because of a lack of intelligence — but because the numbers are truly not easy to compile. Platform fees are in the platform's financial reports. Shipping fees are in a separate reconciliation table. Advertising costs are in the Ads account. To know the actual profit, you need to pull data from at least 4-5 different sources and calculate it manually.
5 hidden costs eroding your profit
For an order priced at 200,000đ, here's what really happens before the money reaches the seller:
| Type of cost | Specific example | Typical rate | Per 200k order |
|---|---|---|---|
| Floor discount | Shopee 5–10%, TikTok 4–8% | 7% | −14,000đ |
| COD processing fee | Reconciliation fee, holding money for 7–14 days | 1–2% | −3,000đ |
| Return shipping cost | 15–25% return rate in the fashion industry | 20% of orders | −8,000đ on average |
| Advertising (Ads) | Flash sale, Shopee Ads, TikTok Ads | 8–15% | −20,000đ |
| Packaging & materials | Zipper bags, boxes, tape, labels | 3–5% | -8,000đ |
| Total hidden costs | Not to mention the cost of goods sold | ~27% | -53,000đ |
With a product cost of 120,000đ, an order of 200,000đ actually only leaves a profit of around 27,000đ — that's 13.5%. If the return rate is higher than usual for the month, that number could be 0 or negative, even if the revenue dashboard looks good.
The "scale" trap — selling more but earning less
When revenue increases, the natural instinct is to increase the advertising budget to continue the growth momentum. This logic is correct — but only if the profit margin per unit is positive and stable. If you don't know that number, "scaling" ads is actually replicating losses.
Real-life scenario — Selling 50 orders vs 200 orders/month
Month 1: 50 orders × 40,000đ profit per order = 2,000,000đ actual profit. Month 2 increases ads, reaches 200 orders — but ROAS decreases, return rate increases with quantity, floor fees increase due to participation in Flash Sale programs. Profit per order is now 8,000đ. Total profit: 1,600,000đ — selling 4 times more but making 20% less profit.
The reason for this trap is that marginal costs increase with quantity — especially ads and conversion rates. When scaling, the areas of "easy-to-close" customers are depleted, the system has to target a wider range, CPO (cost per order) increases, while the profit margin is not enough to compensate. Sellers look at monthly revenue and see it as beautiful, but actual profits are quietly shrinking.
Cash flow ≠ profit — when the money comes in is when it's really yours?
In COD sales, the money doesn't come in immediately after the order is confirmed. The platform holds the money for 7–14 days for reconciliation — during which time the money doesn't belong to the seller, even if the order has been successfully delivered. Not to mention, some orders will be returned during that cycle, and the platform will deduct the amount accordingly.
Profit is an accounting concept. Cash flow is the reality. A shop can have positive profit but still go bankrupt due to negative cash flow — if the money hasn't come in yet but new stock needs to be ordered for the next campaign.
— Basic financial principle, applicable to both small and large businesses
The cash cycle in e-commerce usually lasts 3-4 weeks: importing goods → packaging → selling → delivering → settling → receiving money. During those 3-4 weeks, capital is 'stuck' in inventory and accounts receivable from the platform. If growth is rapid without calculating cash flow, sellers will constantly fall into the state of 'high revenue, empty account' — not because of losses, but because the money hasn't come in yet.
Excel with structure — a financial solution for online sellers
No need for complex accounting software. Online sellers need a compact but accurate tool to answer 3 core questions: how much profit this month? which costs are abnormally high? what will the cash flow be like next week?
No tracking system
- Seeing platform dashboards, thinking there's profit
- Not knowing which products are losing money
- Scaling ads without knowing the true ROI
- Surprised at month-end by an empty bank account
- No data to make purchasing decisions.
With E-Com Profit & Cashflow Navigator
- True profit per product, per channel
- Automatically track 5 types of hidden costs
- Cash flow forecast for the next 4 weeks
- Alerts when profit margin falls below threshold
- Monthly reports ready, no manual calculations needed
E-Com Profit & Cashflow Navigator is built with this exact structure — simple data entry from platform reports, automatic calculation of true profit after all costs, and weekly cash flow projections. Suitable for shops selling 50–500 orders/month on Shopee, TikTok Shop, or their own website.
Frequently Asked Questions
I sell on multiple platforms, can I use it?
Yes. The template has separate sheets for each sales channel — Shopee, TikTok Shop, website — with different fee structures tailored to each platform. The dashboard aggregates data by product and by channel for performance comparison.
I'm not good at Excel, can I use it?
The template is designed for minimalist data entry — primarily filling in numbers in pre-marked cells. No need to know how to write formulas. The accompanying guide includes a video tutorial for first-time setup under 30 minutes.
How does a high return rate affect your profit figures?
Very large — and this is the most common blind spot. Template for calculating return shipping cost, cost of defective/ damaged products after return, and adjusting actual profit according to the actual return rate each month. You will see which products are being eroded by the high return rate.
How does the cash flow forecast work?
You input the settlement cycle for each platform (7 days, 14 days…) and your projected inventory purchase schedule. The template automatically projects incoming funds weekly and compares them with your payable expenses — helping you foresee which weeks will have cash shortages so you can prepare.
Does the template support product-level analysis?
Yes. One of the most frequently used features is the profit-by-SKU table — which shows which products are genuinely contributing to profit and which ones are dragging down the overall profit despite high sales. This provides the basis for deciding whether to promote, cut back, or adjust the price of each product.
Know exactly how much profit you're making — after all actual costs
E-Com Profit & Cashflow Navigator — track real profit, forecast cash flow, analyze by product and sales channel.
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