The net payout trap
A marketplace collects €100, takes €15 in commission and pays you €85. In the accounts, you made €100 in revenue and bore €15 of expense. Recording €85 of sales distorts your revenue, your output VAT and your margin.
It is the most common mistake in the sector, and it spreads: understated revenue can also make you miss a change of VAT scheme.
VAT by customer country
Selling to a consumer in Spain is not the same as selling to a consumer in France. Above an annual threshold of distance sales to the whole EU, you must apply the rate of the destination country.
The One-Stop Shop
Without it, going over the threshold would mean registering for VAT in every country you sell to. The One-Stop Shop (OSS) lets you declare everything from France, in one quarterly return, broken down by country and by rate.
Returns, refunds, disputes
A refund is not an expense: it reduces your revenue, and it means adjusting the output VAT. Booking it as an expense artificially inflates sales and skews every ratio.
- Track the return rate per channel: it shapes your real margin.
- Match refunds to the original sales.
- Keep payment disputes separate from product returns.
Stock, even without a warehouse
With dropshipping or outsourced logistics, you do not see the stock, but it belongs to you until it is sold. It sits on your balance sheet, and its count determines your profit.