The total retention of the sites consists of commission, logistics to the buyer, storage, internal advertising, refund processing and paid withdrawal of money. Each of these articles individually seems manageable, but in total they are able to eat up almost half of the selling price — this is exactly what industry estimates for April–June 2026 recorded.
For correct accounting, all expenses are divided into five groups. The first is the cost of the product: purchase from a supplier, import costs, mandatory preparation for sale, packaging and delivery to your own warehouse before the start of sales. The second is the direct costs of the channel: marketplace commission, acquiring, logistics to the buyer, the last mile, order assembly, refund processing and paid money withdrawal. The third is the cost of presence: storage, paid placement, promotion, participation in promotions, internal advertising and subscriptions. The fourth is losses: defective, non—returnable goods, markdown after return, shortage and damage. The fifth is fines and penalties, which, according to accounting rules, are recorded as other expenses on account 91-2 and should not be mixed with commission or logistics.
The calculation example for one position shows how quickly the margin is shrinking. The sale price is 2,490 rubles. Purchase — 820 rubles, delivery to your own warehouse — 70 rubles, preparation and packaging — 35 rubles, delivery of the batch to the site — 45 rubles, marketplace commission — 374 rubles, logistics to the buyer and the last mile — 210 rubles, storage — 48 rubles, internal advertising — 220 rubles, reserve for refunds and defects - 90 rubles — Total unit costs — 1,912 rubles, margin — 578 rubles, return on sales (ROS) — 23.2%. After adding discounts in promotions and paid accelerated withdrawal of money, the article falls below the target yield, although the payout from the site remains outwardly "alive".
According to FSB 5/2019, the cost of inventory storage is not included in the cost, except in cases where storage is related to the technology of preparation for sale or the terms of purchase. The cost of procurement and delivery of goods to the central warehouses before the time of transfer for sale can be accounted for as the cost of sale — this distinguishes the "entry into the goods" and the "price of presence on the site."
Typical wiring diagram: transfer of goods to the site's warehouse — Dt 45 Ct 41, sale to the buyer — Dt 76 Ct 90-1, cost write—off — Dt 90-2 Ct 45, remuneration and additional services — Dt 44 or 26 Ct 76 or 60, receipt of money - Dt 51 Ct 76. The scheme only works if there are separate subaccounts within accounts 76 and 44: for agency fees, logistics, marketing, storage, refunds, and fines.
Practice shows that in one of the projects, 18% of the product range generated revenue, but worsened the overall financial result due to slow turnover, accumulated storage and advertising costs. After the costs were distributed by SKU, some of the items were sold off, some were removed from the matrix, and some were transferred to another delivery model.
According to the USN, the income includes the entire amount paid by the buyer, and not just the amount actually transferred by the site after deductions. For the "income" object, the commission and other services do not reduce the tax base; for the "income minus expenses" object, the deductions of the site, confirmed by documents, are accepted as expenses. The management margin and the tax base for the USN almost never coincide — this is normal, provided that the logic is explained to the business owner in advance.
For control, it is enough to track three indicators for each article or product group: gross margin, margin after site expenses and net margin after losses and penalties. Reconciliation is recommended to be conducted not on a single bank statement, but on a bundle from the commission agent's report, UPD, acts and bank statements at the same time.
