Eight questions that tell you whether your e-commerce books can answer your next decision
Sellers who can answer them reorder stock, move a price or drop a channel the same afternoon. Sellers who can’t wait for a year-end file that arrives long after the decision made itself. Ardein runs the finance function so the answer is already there when you need it.
Three things you’d know before your next stock order
Know which channel pays you after fees
Each payout is split into sales, fees, refunds and shipping, by platform, every month.
Sign off the reorder with the cash in front of you
Stock, supplier payments and the VAT due sit in one reconciled position rather than four tabs.
Move a price knowing the margin it protects
Product margin comes off a reconciled sales ledger instead of a spreadsheet built last spring.
The decisions that go wrong when a payout arrives as one line
Three things owners have said to me in a first conversation, and what the missing number cost them.
- Price
“I put prices up across the whole range because something was losing money. It turned out three lines were, and my two best sellers weren’t.”
The strongest lines lost volume to protect a product that should have been dropped. Marketplace fees had never been split by product, so nobody could see which was which.
- Supplier
“We switched to a cheaper supplier and my margin got worse. Nobody could tell me why until the following spring.”
Longer lead times meant more paid storage and more time out of stock. The stock figure only moved once a year, so the true cost stayed hidden.
- Purchase
“I held off buying racking for eight months because I couldn’t tell whether the cash was mine or the VAT man’s.”
The cash was there. Platform VAT had never been separated from the payouts, so the bank balance meant nothing on its own.
- Day 90
What it looks like when the answer is in the room
Every payout is split into sales, fees, refunds and shipping before you open the report. Stock is valued monthly, so gross margin is a number rather than an estimate. The VAT the platform handles sits apart from the VAT you owe, so the cash figure is real. You reorder, reprice or drop a line the same afternoon you ask.
Where a year-end accountant stops, and where your reorder decision starts
Both jobs matter. They answer different questions, and only one of them helps you on a Tuesday in March.
A year-end accountant
Files the accounts and the corporation tax return accurately and on time.
Works from records sent once the trading year has already closed.
Takes the payout as the bank shows it, because that is the information supplied.
Answers questions about last year, which is the year in front of them.
A finance function that runs monthly
Splits every payout into sales, fees, refunds and shipping in the month it happened.
Values stock monthly, so margin by channel and by product means something.
Questions the VAT treatment on each platform rather than assuming last year’s answer still holds.
Answers the reorder, price and supplier question this week, from live numbers.
Eight questions your e-commerce books should answer without opening a spreadsheet
Work through them honestly. A no is not a failing; it is a decision you are currently making blind.
- 01
Does every marketplace payout reconcile to sales, fees, refunds and shipping?
If the payout lands as one lump of income, margin by channel is guesswork and always will be.
- 02
Do you have a stock value at the end of each month, not each year?
Without monthly stock, gross margin moves for reasons nobody can explain until the accounts arrive.
- 03
Do you know which sales the platform accounts for the VAT on, and which you do?
Get this wrong and the VAT return is wrong, or you hold cash you could have spent months ago.
- 04
Are refunds and returns recorded against the product and the channel that caused them?
A line with heavy returns can look profitable all year if refunds sit in one general bucket.
- 05
Can you see advertising spend next to the revenue of the channel it drove?
Otherwise you keep paying for traffic to products that never covered the fees in the first place.
- 06
Do wholesale and trade customers appear as debtors with an age against each balance?
Uninvoiced or unchased orders are the quietest cash problem an e-commerce business has.
- 07
Can you see, today, what is left after the next supplier payment and the next VAT bill?
The bank balance is not the cash position when stock and VAT are both sitting inside it.
- 08
Do you know which product or channel makes the money, rather than which makes the noise?
Revenue by SKU is easy to see. Contribution after fees, shipping and returns is the number that decides the reorder.
Ask whoever keeps your books these three questions this week. They are about payouts, stock and VAT on platforms. If the answers take longer than a day, you have the wrong accountant.
- 01Could they tell you what last month’s marketplace payout was made of, sales, fees, refunds and shipping?
- 02Could they tell you what stock you held at the end of last month, and what it cost you?
- 03Could they tell you which of your sales the platform accounts for the VAT on, and which you do?
Three yeses and you’re fine. Anything else is what the review is for.
Entry 01
What turned up the first time someone reconciled the sales ledger properly
One entry from client work, anonymised by type.
Figures as recorded in client work · names withheld
“”
What changes in the first ninety days, and when you feel it
A defined onboarding, so you know what you get in month one rather than month twelve.
You find out what the records actually say
We agree the scope, complete AML checks and collect the records. If you already have an accountant, we run the handover ourselves.
Payouts, stock and VAT stop contradicting each other
Banks and platforms are reconciled, stock has a value, and customer and supplier balances make sense. Any historic gaps are named.
Margin by channel stops being an argument
Routines are set for bookkeeping, supplier bills, credit control and reporting, so the monthly numbers arrive without chasing.
The reorder decision takes an afternoon
Management information lands on the agreed date each month: cash, debtors, creditors, stock and performance by channel.
What you are actually buying each month
One monthly fee for the finance function, scoped once we have seen how the business runs.
Payouts, stock and VAT reconciled
Bookkeeping kept to a routine, platform payouts broken down, banks reconciled and VAT returns prepared from records that agree.
Margin by channel and by product
Management accounts on the agreed date: cash, debtors, creditors, stock and what each channel contributed after fees.
A finance lead for the reorder and the price rise
Virtual FD input on pricing, supplier terms, hiring and funding, drawn from years of running a finance function in-house.
Who this does not suit, said plainly
We do not take on cash businesses, including market and pop-up trade settled mainly in notes.
We do not work with construction businesses whose finances turn on CIS.
We walk away from anything reportable, including VAT records that have been altered.
It does not work if you cannot explain how your own business makes its money.
If you are unsure which side of that you sit on, the review is where we both find out.
The questions owners ask before they book
Is the review a sales call?
No. It is a working session on your payouts, stock, VAT and reporting, and you leave with the top five priorities written down. It carries a fixed review fee, credited in full against onboarding.
We already have an accountant. Is there any point?
Most of our clients did. The filings were fine. What was missing was a monthly answer on channel margin, stock and cash while there was still time to use it.
What happens with our current accountant?
We handle it. Professional clearance, records collection and a transition plan agreed around your year end, with no separate charge for the handover.
Do we have to commit straight away?
No. Ongoing work is a monthly fee scoped after we have seen the records. Capacity is capped at four new clients a month, so timing is the real constraint.
Do you work with sellers on more than one platform?
Yes, including sellers holding stock and selling through their own site alongside marketplaces. Records are kept in Xero, with each platform reconciled separately.
Make the next reorder with the number already in the room
Start with the review. We look at your payouts, stock, VAT and reporting, and tell you what your books can and cannot answer.