Sell more. Stress less. Know your numbers.

Revenue is not the number that matters

A ₦20,000 order that cost ₦11,000 to buy, ₦1,500 to ship, ₦300 in payment fees and carried a ₦1,000 discount returns ₦6,200 — a 31% margin, not the 45% the price list implies. Multiply that across a month and the difference between the two figures is usually the entire profit.

The leakage is rarely one big item. It is payment processor fees nobody deducts, return shipping absorbed silently, and discretionary discounts that were never reviewed after the campaign ended.

The four costs that decide whether you are profitable

• Cost of goods, including the freight and duty to land the stock, not just the supplier invoice.
• Fulfilment: packaging, last-mile delivery, and the failed deliveries you pay for twice.
• Payment fees, which on Nigerian gateways run around 1.5% and are charged on the gross including any VAT you collected.
• Returns and chargebacks, which cost the outbound shipping, the inbound shipping, and often the item.

Track those four against revenue per product rather than in aggregate and the mix problem usually solves itself: most catalogues contain a few lines that lose money on every order, and they are almost never the ones the owner suspects.

VAT on what you sell

Most retail goods are standard-rated at 7.5%. Basic food items are zero-rated, which matters for anyone selling groceries alongside general merchandise: the treatment attaches to the line item, not to the order, so a single invoice can legitimately carry both.

Registration becomes mandatory at ₦25,000,000 of taxable supplies over twelve months — a threshold a growing online store crosses quickly. Cross it and the 7.5% is money you are holding for the Nigeria Revenue Service, not margin, and the monthly return is due by the 21st.