Five Sellers. Five Different Businesses. Each One Found Money They Didn't Know They Were Losing.

Select the profile closest to yours. Every green number is computed from a published rate card — extracted from platform documentation, verified against the source URL, and dated. Every amber number is illustrative — it's a stand-in for YOUR number. In the platform, you enter your actual costs and the waterfall computes from your data, not ours.

We don't hide this distinction. We highlight it. See how we handle numbers →

How to read the numbers

Every waterfall uses three markers:

MarkerMeaningExample
✓ GreenComputed from a published platform rate card. Every seller in this category, weight band, and configuration pays this rate.Referral fee, FBA fulfilment fee, fuel surcharge
⚠ AmberIllustrative. This cost depends on your business — your supplier, your ad strategy, your return rate. In the platform, it's your actual number.COGS, inbound shipping, ACoS, return rate
🔵 BlueStructural. This line is $0.00 not because the cost is zero, but because this platform doesn't charge it or the seller doesn't use this service.Payment processing on Amazon, fulfilment on Shopify

Findings are categorised by type: Hidden cost (you're paying it now and don't see it) · Unclaimed programme (you qualify for a saving) · Measurement error (your margin model is wrong) · Trade-off decision (a change that requires a business decision).

Select the seller closest to you

🇺🇸 Alex
Amazon US
$352K · 5 products
🇬🇧 Sarah
Amazon UK+US + eBay UK
~£400K · Home & Kitchen
🇺🇸 Marcus
Amazon + Walmart
$500K · 6 products
🇺🇸 Priya
Shopify US
$200K · 4 products
🇺🇸 James
eBay US
$180K · 15 products

Alex — Amazon US, $352K, Mixed Categories

PlatformsAmazon US only
EntityUS LLC
Products5 SKUs: Running Shirt ($34.99), Wireless Earbuds ($49.99), Vitamin D ($18.99), Phone Case ($12.99), Yoga Mat ($39.99)
Revenue~$352K/year (~1,000 units/month across all SKUs)
FulfilmentFBA on all products
Volume splitRunning Shirt 300/mo, Earbuds 150/mo, Vitamin D 250/mo, Phone Case 200/mo, Yoga Mat 100/mo

Alex checks the Amazon Revenue Calculator every quarter. He knows his referral fee and his FBA fee. He thinks his margins are solid. The platform checked all 5 products against 2,021 Amazon US fee configurations and found 7 things Alex didn't know — totalling $10,386/year.

The waterfall — Yoga Mat $39.99

The Yoga Mat reveals the most findings — a Small Bulky item with packaging surcharges, a thin margin, and a break-even ACoS most sellers exceed without knowing.

What happens to $39.99
Sale price$39.99
Platform fees−$16.90
Seller costs−$21.13
You keep$1.96 (4.9%)
See all 20+ lines →
LineDescriptionAmountSource
1Gross Revenue$39.99Product def
2(-) Referral Fee (15%)−$6.00Row 46
3(-) Listing Fee$0.00Professional plan
4(-) Subscription$39.99/moRow 1213 (account-level)
5= Net Revenue After Platform Fees$33.99
6(-) FBA Fulfilment−$9.07Rows 142+143
6a(-) Packaging (non-SIPP)−$1.51Row 1369
6b(-) Fuel surcharge (3.5%)−$0.32fee_rules Row 7 (on FBA only)
7(-) Storage (1 month)−$0.42Row 920 × 0.542 cu ft
8-9(-) Pick/Pack + Outbound$0.00Included in FBA
10(-) Inbound Shipping−$4.50Illustrative
11= Gross Margin After Fulfilment$18.17
12(-) COGS−$12.00Illustrative
13(-) FX on COGS$0.00N/A domestic
14= Gross Profit$6.17
15(-) Advertising (10% ACoS)−$4.00Illustrative
16(-) Return Cost (5%)−$0.155% × $3.00
17(-) Payment Processing$0.00Amazon handles
18(-) FX on Revenue$0.00N/A domestic
19(-) Refund Admin−$0.06Row 78 × 5% rate
20= TRUE NET MARGIN$1.96
21= TRUE NET MARGIN %4.9%

Break-even ACoS: 14.9%. At 18% ACoS (realistic for a newer Sports & Outdoors product): −$1.24/unit. This product loses money on every sale. Alex doesn't know because his calculator shows 2 fee lines, not 24.

Findings

$10,386/year
Seven things Alex didn't know
$2,520/yrHidden costReferral rate on Running Shirt is 17%, not 15%

Clothing and Accessories has a marginal rate structure above $20. His model uses 15% flat. Error: $0.70/unit. Module: M3. No trade-off — the rate is fixed.

$1,980/yrHidden costFBA fee on Running Shirt uses the apparel schedule, not non-apparel

His model uses $3.95 (non-apparel) where the apparel schedule charges $4.50. Error: $0.55/unit. Module: M3. No trade-off — the schedule is fixed.

$1,950/yrHidden cost3.5% fuel surcharge on every FBA fee across all 5 products

Not in his fee model. Published on a separate page from the rate card. Module: M3. No trade-off — the surcharge applies.

$1,488/yrHidden costYoga Mat loses money at 18% ACoS — break-even is 14.9%

Every sale above 14.9% ACoS burns $1.24/unit. Modules: M3 + M4. Trade-off: yes — he must reduce ACoS or raise price.

$1,812/yrUnclaimed programmeSIPP not enrolled — Yoga Mat paying $1.51/unit packaging surcharge

SIPP certification removes the surcharge. Free certification. Module: M6. No trade-off — free enrollment.

$636/yrUnclaimed programmeSIPP discounts unclaimed on standard products

$0.04/unit on Large standard items. Module: M6. No trade-off — free enrollment.

VisibilityMeasurementBreak-even ACoS on Vitamin D is 28.2%, not ~35% as estimated

His ad spend ceiling is lower than he thinks. Module: M3. No trade-off — visibility change.

Verification: $2,520 + $1,980 + $1,950 + $1,488 + $1,812 + $636 = $10,386 ✓

Cost of inaction

If Alex changes nothing: he continues overpaying $0.70/unit on every Running Shirt referral fee, $0.55/unit on every Running Shirt FBA fee, $0.14–$0.37 in fuel surcharges he doesn't model, and loses $1.24/unit on every Yoga Mat sold above 14.9% ACoS. That's $7,938/year in costs he's already incurring.

The SIPP enrollment ($2,448/year) is money left on the table. Free certification. No trade-off. Every month he waits is $204 not saved.

$10,386/yrtotal cost of doing nothing

Action sequencing

PriorityActionTimePaybackAnnual value
1Enroll SIPP on all eligible products1 weekImmediate$2,448
2Fix Yoga Mat ACoS target to ≤14.9% (or pause PPC)1 dayImmediate$1,488
3Update referral rate model — Clothing is 17%, not 15%1 hourVisibility$2,520 (model fix)
4Add fuel surcharge to margin model1 hourVisibility$1,950 (model fix)

Actions 1-2 save money immediately. Actions 3-4 fix his model so every future decision is made with correct numbers.

Tough questions

"I already use the Amazon Revenue Calculator."

The Revenue Calculator shows referral fee and FBA fee. For the Running Shirt, it shows 15% referral ($5.25) and non-apparel FBA ($3.95). Both wrong. The actual rate is 17% ($5.95) on a different referral schedule, and $4.50 on the apparel FBA schedule. Plus a 3.5% fuel surcharge on a separate page. Alex's model is $1.41/unit wrong on one product — $16,920/year at his volume on just the Running Shirt — and the error propagates to every pricing, advertising, and profitability decision he makes.

"My margins are fine."

His Yoga Mat is losing money on every sale at realistic ad spend. Break-even ACoS is 14.9%. If he's running even moderate PPC in Sports and Outdoors, he's likely above that. "Fine" means he hasn't run the full waterfall. The platform does — and it shows which products are genuinely profitable after all 24 cost lines, not just the ones that look good after 2.

"$350K revenue — I'm not big enough for this."

$10,386 is 3.0% of his revenue. The SIPP enrollment alone is $2,448/year with zero cost to implement. The fuel surcharge model fix costs nothing — it's an hour of work that corrects every future margin calculation. These aren't volume-dependent savings that only matter at scale. They're structural — the same percentage error whether he sells 100 units or 100,000.

Your numbers are waiting.

These profiles are illustrative. The green lines are computed from 8,874 published rate cards — the same database the platform uses for every seller. The amber lines are stand-ins for YOUR numbers. Different product. Different thresholds. Different findings.

Your products. Your platforms. Your margins — computed.

Launching September 2026.

What powers this analysis

Every finding on this page comes from the same data the platform uses for every seller:

All platform fee figures from published rate cards. Seller costs (COGS, inbound shipping, advertising, fulfilment, return handling) are illustrative — estimated using the methodology described in how we handle numbers. Platform fees are exact: extracted from each marketplace's published documentation, verified on the dates shown. Database: 8,874 fee configurations, 1,236 source URLs, 1,622 fee levers, 1,682 eligibility requirements.