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BlackpeakCFO Fractional Controller & CFO
Built for E-commerce

Revenue's Up 40%.
Profit? Nobody Knows.

You're selling on Amazon, Shopify, and wholesale. Revenue hit $6M last year. But your COGS is a single line in QuickBooks, your Amazon fees are buried in a settlement report nobody reads, and you've got $400K in inventory you can't move. You don't have a profit problem. You have a visibility problem. We fix that.

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No contracts · From $3,995/mo · ACMA CGMA · 24 years in professional finance

The 5 Finance Problems Every Growing E-commerce Brand Has

1. Your COGS Is Wrong — Because Nobody Tracks Landed Cost per SKU

Your product costs $8.50 to manufacture. Freight from Shenzhen adds $1.20. Customs duty adds $0.68. 3PL receiving and storage adds $0.45. Actual landed cost: $10.83 — not $8.50. You're pricing off the wrong number. That 55% gross margin you're quoting on your pitch deck is actually 41%. And nobody knows because your bookkeeper records inventory at purchase price and ignores everything else.

2. Marketplace Fees Are Eating Your Margin — and You Can't See It

Amazon takes 15% referral fees. FBA charges $5.80 per unit for pick, pack, and ship. Advertising costs $3.20 per sale. Returns run 12% and Amazon keeps the referral fee on half of them. That $29.99 product generates $11.40 in net revenue after all Amazon costs. Shopify's better — but payment processing, app fees, and shipping eat 18–22% of the sale price. If you're not tracking true contribution margin per channel, you're subsidizing unprofitable sales with profitable ones.

3. Your Inventory Valuation Is a Guess

Your balance sheet says $520K in inventory. Is that right? When did you last reconcile physical counts to your books? You've got dead stock from two seasons ago still carried at full cost. You've got 3,000 units in Amazon FBA that aren't in your accounting system at all. Inventory is probably your biggest asset and your biggest liability — and right now it's the number you trust the least.

4. You Don't Have a Channel-Level P&L — So You Can't Tell What's Working

Amazon does $3.2M. Shopify does $1.8M. Wholesale does $1M. Which channel is actually profitable after all costs? You don't know. Because your P&L is one big bucket. Amazon ad spend, FBA fees, and returns aren't allocated to Amazon. Shopify transaction fees and fulfillment costs aren't isolated. Without channel-level contribution margin, you can't decide where to invest your next dollar. You're just pouring money into revenue and hoping profit shows up.

5. Your Cash Is Trapped in Inventory — and Nobody Models the Cycle

You place a PO for $180K. Supplier wants 30% deposit upfront. Goods arrive in 90 days. They sit in the warehouse for 45 days before they sell. You collect cash 14 days later from Shopify, 21 days from Amazon. Total cash cycle: 170 days. For five and a half months, that $180K is locked up. You're profitable on paper but borrowing on a credit line to make payroll because all your cash is sitting in a shipping container or a 3PL bin. Without a cash conversion model, every PO is a blind bet.

What Your E-commerce Company Gets Each Month

Everything a full-time controller delivers — tuned for e-commerce economics.

Channel-Level P&L

Separate profit and loss for Amazon, Shopify, wholesale, and any other channel. Revenue, COGS, marketplace fees, ad spend, fulfillment, and returns allocated correctly. Know exactly which channels make money and which ones are burning it.

Unit Economics per SKU

True landed cost, contribution margin, and net profit per SKU across every channel. Identify which products to push, which to kill, and which need a price increase. Decisions backed by actual numbers — not gut feel.

Inventory Cash Cycle Analysis

Cash conversion cycle modeled from PO deposit to customer collection. Days inventory outstanding, reorder point analysis, and dead stock identification. Stop tying up $300K in products that won't sell for six months.

13-Week Cash Flow Forecast

Rolling weekly forecast that accounts for PO deposits, inventory purchases, marketplace payout timing, advertising spend, and seasonal demand. E-commerce cash flow is wildly lumpy. We make it predictable.

Management Accounts by the 5th

Full income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow — closed five business days after month-end. Variance analysis against budget. Inventory reconciliation included. No more waiting until Q2 to find out Q1 was a disaster.

Monthly Strategy Call

60 minutes with a CFO who understands multichannel economics. Pricing strategy, inventory planning, channel mix decisions, and growth modeling. We tell you what the numbers mean and what to do about them.

Further Reading for E-commerce Founders

Get Your Free E-commerce Financial Diagnostic

30-minute call. We'll look at your COGS accuracy, check if you've got channel-level visibility, and tell you exactly where your margin is leaking. No pitch — just proof.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How do you calculate true COGS for an e-commerce brand? +

We track landed cost per SKU — not just the manufacturing price. That includes freight, customs duties, 3PL receiving and storage, and any other costs incurred before a unit is sellable. For a product that costs $8.50 to manufacture, the actual landed cost might be $10.83 once you add international shipping, duties, and warehousing. We build this into your inventory valuation so your gross margin reflects reality, not a guess.

Can you reconcile Amazon settlement reports with our accounting system? +

Yes. Amazon settlement reports contain referral fees, FBA charges, advertising costs, returns, and reimbursements — all netted together in a biweekly deposit. We break these apart and map them to the correct GL accounts so you see true contribution margin per channel. The same applies to Shopify payouts, wholesale invoices, and any other sales channel you operate.

What is sales tax nexus and how do you handle it for multi-channel sellers? +

Nexus means you have a tax collection obligation in a state — triggered by storing inventory there (e.g., Amazon FBA warehouses), exceeding economic thresholds ($100K in sales or 200 transactions in most states), or having employees in that state. We identify where you have nexus, ensure you're registered and collecting correctly, and reconcile sales tax filings monthly. Ignoring nexus creates audit liability that compounds fast.

How does a fractional CFO help with inventory cash flow management? +

We model your cash conversion cycle from PO deposit to customer collection. For a typical e-commerce brand, that cycle can be 150–180 days — meaning your cash is locked up in inventory for nearly half a year. We build reorder point models, identify dead stock for liquidation, and forecast PO timing against expected sales so you stop tying up $300K in products that won't sell for six months.

Do you build channel-level P&Ls showing margin by Amazon, Shopify, and wholesale? +

Yes — that's one of the first things we set up. Each channel gets its own P&L with revenue, COGS, marketplace fees, advertising, fulfillment costs, and returns properly allocated. You'll see true contribution margin per channel so you can decide where to invest your next dollar. Most brands discover at least one channel that looks profitable on revenue but is actually break-even or negative after all costs.

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