{
  "slug": "marketplace-vs-dtc",
  "title": "Marketplace vs DTC Profit Comparison Calculator",
  "heading": "Marketplace vs DTC Channel Comparison Calculator",
  "category": "financial",
  "url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/marketplace-vs-dtc",
  "summary": "Compare net profit per order selling on a marketplace versus your own site.",
  "description": "The same product often nets very different profit depending on whether it sells through a marketplace like Amazon (higher fees, built-in traffic, no acquisition cost) or your own DTC site (lower per-order fees, but you pay for every visitor through ads). Comparing them on price alone misses this tradeoff entirely. This calculator runs the same product through both channel cost structures side by side: marketplace referral/fulfillment fees against DTC payment processing plus an allocated customer acquisition cost per order, both starting from the same COGS and shipping cost. Enter your sale price, product cost, marketplace fee percentage, DTC payment processing percentage, and DTC acquisition cost per order (blended CAC spread across the average orders a customer places). The output shows net profit per order on each channel side by side, which channel wins at current settings, and the acquisition cost threshold where DTC profit matches marketplace profit, letting you decide where to prioritize inventory and marketing budget.",
  "formula": "Marketplace net = price − COGS − shipping − (price × marketplace fee%); DTC net = price − COGS − shipping − (price × processing%) − CAC per order.",
  "dateModified": "2026-09-30",
  "run_url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/api/public/calc?tool=marketplace-vs-dtc",
  "inputs": [
    {
      "id": "price",
      "label": "Sale price",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 45,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "cogs",
      "label": "Cost of goods",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 14,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "shipping",
      "label": "Shipping cost",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 6,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "marketplaceFeePct",
      "label": "Marketplace fee rate",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 30,
      "unit": "%",
      "min": 0,
      "max": 60
    },
    {
      "id": "dtcProcessingPct",
      "label": "DTC payment processing rate",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 3,
      "unit": "%",
      "min": 0,
      "max": 10
    },
    {
      "id": "dtcCac",
      "label": "DTC acquisition cost per order",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 12,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    }
  ],
  "outputs": [
    {
      "id": "winner",
      "label": "Higher-profit channel",
      "format": "raw",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": true
    },
    {
      "id": "marketplaceNet",
      "label": "Marketplace net profit/order",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "dtcNet",
      "label": "DTC net profit/order",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "cacBreakeven",
      "label": "DTC CAC breakeven point",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    }
  ],
  "worked_example": {
    "inputs": [
      "Sale price: 45 $",
      "Cost of goods: 14 $",
      "Shipping cost: 6 $",
      "Marketplace fee rate: 30 %",
      "DTC payment processing rate: 3 %",
      "DTC acquisition cost per order: 12 $"
    ],
    "outputs": [
      "Higher-profit channel: DTC",
      "Marketplace net profit/order: $11.50",
      "DTC net profit/order: $11.65",
      "DTC CAC breakeven point: $12.15"
    ]
  },
  "how_to": {
    "title": "How to use this",
    "steps": [
      "Enter sale price ($).",
      "Enter cost of goods ($).",
      "Enter shipping cost ($).",
      "Enter marketplace fee rate (%).",
      "Enter dtc payment processing rate (%).",
      "Enter dtc acquisition cost per order ($).",
      "Read your higher-profit channel on the right — it updates as you type.",
      "Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone."
    ]
  },
  "scenarios": [
    {
      "name": "Conservative",
      "description": "Lower-end numbers — what if things land soft?",
      "values": {
        "price": 27,
        "cogs": 8,
        "shipping": 3.5999999999999996,
        "marketplaceFeePct": 18,
        "dtcProcessingPct": 1.7999999999999998,
        "dtcCac": 7
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Typical",
      "description": "Defaults — the most common real-world setup.",
      "values": {
        "price": 45,
        "cogs": 14,
        "shipping": 6,
        "marketplaceFeePct": 30,
        "dtcProcessingPct": 3,
        "dtcCac": 12
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Ambitious",
      "description": "Higher-end numbers — what if things really pop?",
      "values": {
        "price": 72,
        "cogs": 22,
        "shipping": 9.600000000000001,
        "marketplaceFeePct": 48,
        "dtcProcessingPct": 4.800000000000001,
        "dtcCac": 19
      }
    }
  ],
  "limitations": [
    "Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.",
    "Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.",
    "This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant."
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "Does this account for marketplace traffic being 'free' versus paid DTC traffic?",
      "a": "Indirectly — that's exactly why marketplace fees run higher (Amazon effectively charges for the built-in demand and discovery it provides) while DTC's lower transaction fee is offset by the CAC you input separately. The comparison is fair because both models roll their respective acquisition cost into the total."
    },
    {
      "q": "Why would I ever choose DTC if marketplace nets more per order?",
      "a": "DTC builds an owned customer relationship you can remarket to for free on repeat orders, gives you full pricing and brand control, and isn't subject to a marketplace suspending your account. Many brands run both channels deliberately, using marketplace for volume and DTC for margin and brand equity."
    },
    {
      "q": "How do I get an accurate DTC CAC per order for this comparison?",
      "a": "Use blended CAC divided by average orders per customer lifetime if you want to reflect that repeat customers lower effective acquisition cost per order, or use raw first-order CAC if you're only evaluating the profitability of net-new customer acquisition specifically."
    },
    {
      "q": "Should I run different SKUs on different channels?",
      "a": "Often yes — lower-margin, highly-searched commodity-style products may do better on marketplaces where fee-eating discovery traffic is 'free,' while distinctive branded products with strong content and higher margin often perform better funding DTC acquisition where you keep the customer relationship."
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/amazon-fba-fee-profit",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/shopify-margin-calculator",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/blended-cac-mer"
  ],
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "citation": "RevenueLab — Marketplace vs DTC Profit Comparison Calculator (https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/marketplace-vs-dtc)"
}