E-commerce expense list
The costs will either be your directly or indirectly in the prices that vendors charge you.1. Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)

  • Inventory/Merchandise: Wholesale cost of purchasing products.

  • Raw Materials: Supplies used to create handmade or custom products.

  • Manufacturing/Labor: Costs paid to factories or assembly workers.

  • Import Duties & Tariffs: International shipping and customs fees.

2. Shipping & Fulfillment

  • Customer Shipping: Postage, labels, and freight delivery.

  • Packaging Materials: Boxes, mailers, bubble wrap, and packing tape.

  • Fulfillment Centers: Fees for warehousing and third-party logistics (3PL) providers.

3. E-commerce Platform & Software

  • Platform Subscriptions: Monthly hosting fees for storefronts like Shopify or WooCommerce.

  • Payment Processing Fees: Transaction fees from Stripe, PayPal, or Amazon/Etsy seller fees.

  • Inventory Management: Software to track stock levels across multiple channels.

  • Accounting & CRM: Subscriptions to tools like QuickBooks or Klaviyo.

4. Marketing & Advertising

  • Digital Ads: Paid campaigns on Google, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

  • Marketplace Promoted Listings: Sponsored ads on Amazon, eBay, or Etsy.

  • Email & SMS Marketing: Software subscriptions and campaign costs.

5. Overhead & Operations

  • Website Costs: Domain registration, custom themes, and SSL certificates.

  • Home Office/Warehouse: Rent or a proportional write-off for dedicated workspace.

  • Utilities & Internet: The cost of power, water, and broadband required to run your online business.

  • Legal & Professional Fees: Payments made to CPAs, attorneys, or e-commerce consultants.

  • Business Insurance: General liability and product liability coverage.

  • Licenses & Permits: State filing fees, LLC registration, and local business licenses.

Sourcing products: Finding the right products or manufacturing products to sell. 
 * Travel logistics to visit potential and actual manufacturer of your products and parts and packaging
 * Cost of inspection services for mfg. and shipping

  • Storage: The cost of storing your inventory can include rent, shelves, etc.

  • Platform/hosting fees: Whether you host your store on Shopify, BigCommerce or any other platform, you’ll likely have to pay fees.

  • Plugins/apps: Plugins or apps that connect to your platform such as for accounting, inventory or marketing.

  • Shipping: The cost of shipping products to your customers. Can include boxes, labels, etc. as well.

  • Returns/refunds: An inevitable part of most e-commerce businesses is accepting the cost of returns and refunds. Whether it’s a change of mind, damage or a faulty product, always be prepared for this expense.

  • Bank/processing fees: You’ll likely have to pay fees for the bank and processing fees payment gateways such as PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.net, etc. 

  • Marketing /advertising: Most e-commerce businesses will have to invest in an array of marketing and advertising such as paid ads, email, social media, SEO and more.

  • Utilities: Don’t forget about the good old internet bill, electricity bill and any other utility you might need to run your business.

 

  • Insurance: Definitely not a top-of-mind expense but still an important one if you want to protect yourself against disasters, theft and more.

  • Salaries: As your business grows, you’ll likely have to pay wages or salaries to staff or even to yourself.

  • Taxes: Last but definitely not least is taxes. Expect to take care of sales taxes and income taxes. As they say, nothing is certain but death and taxes.

 Shared by: Pointer Consulting
David Bruce Savage ♦ 404 323-8686 ♦ Dave@DaveSavage.com ♦ Jacksonville Florida

Founder and leader of the Inventor’s Education Forum in Jacksonville Florida 

Pointing the way for inventors and Product Developers with Connections, Resources and Advice
  InventorsEducationForum.org

From my varied work and personal experiences, as well as my leadership of two inventor’s education groups, I provide advice for saving time, money and frustration for inventors, product developers. And I’ll point out the devilish and challenging details that others often avoid sharing. 

Whether you are just exploring the viability of your ideas or have products on the market it will be well worth your while to spend some time with me.