Seller ProfitCash flow and money tied up in stock
Profit on paper is not cash in hand. Stock, courier time and payout delays all hold your money.
The cycle
You pay for stock. It sits until it sells. It is delivered. The platform pays you some days later. The total time from paying to being paid is your cash cycle. The money you need to run the shop at your sales rate is roughly the cost of the units sold per day times the cycle length.
Why turnover can beat margin
A product with a 20 percent margin that turns over every 20 days earns about 18 times a year on the money in it. A product with a 30 percent margin that turns over every 60 days earns about 6 times a year. The first earns more on the same money, even though its margin is lower.
COD and returns
Cash on delivery orders can be slower to pay out and are returned more often in many places. Add the extra days and the extra returns to the sum for those orders.
Common questions
Why does the payout delay matter?
You pay your supplier first and are paid later. Each extra day your money is stuck is a day you cannot buy new stock, so a long delay limits growth even when each sale is profitable.
How can I shorten the cycle?
Order smaller batches more often, sell slow stock at a clearance price, and ask suppliers for payment terms. Check the settlement schedule of your platform for any option to be paid sooner.
Keep going
Fee percentages, GST rates and other figures in the examples on this site are made up to show the working. They are not the fees or rates of any marketplace or country: type the numbers from your own seller account and from the tax authority. Checked 14 November 2026.