Ecommerce Guides
In-depth technical guides, cost breakdowns, and pricing strategies for online store owners, physical product brands, and retail buyers.
Featured Profit Guides
Gross Margin vs. Net Profit in Ecommerce
Learn why an apparent 60% gross margin on paper can shrink to a 16% net profit margin after accounting for shipping, gateway fees, ad spend, and refunds.
Hidden Ecommerce Costs: The 7-Tier Expense Sequence
A complete breakdown of unrecovered postage subsidies, custom mailers, fixed app stack allocations, and return allowances per order.
All Knowledge Base Articles
Shopify Payments Credit Card Rates & App Allocations
Understand Shopify plan fee tiers (Basic, Shopify, Advanced) and learn how to allocate monthly app subscriptions per order.
Initial Margin (IMU) vs. Maintained Margin (MMU)
How retail buyers set initial sticker markups to protect net profit against inventory shrinkage and end-of-season clearance markdowns.
The B2B Wholesale Pricing & MSRP Waterfall
Side-by-side analysis of manufacturer gross margins versus retailer keystone 50% margins when pitching physical stockists.
Unit Break-Even Volume & Sales Revenue Thresholds
Mathematical formulas for calculating contribution margin per unit and total monthly order volume required to cover fixed overhead.
MerchSites Calculation Methodology & Math Standards
Technical documentation detailing our big.js floating-point precision math, decoupled calculator architecture, and fee benchmarks.
Editorial Independence & Transparency Policy
Our policy on zero sponsored calculator biases, regular fee data verification, and strict independent financial disclosures.
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Financial Disclaimer: MerchSites tools and guides provide estimates for product pricing, margin analysis, and expense planning. All calculations are performed locally in your web browser. Content is for educational purposes and does not constitute formal tax, legal, or accounting advice.