Rex says
Money math without the spreadsheet headache. Plug in your numbers and I'll show you exactly where the dollars land.
Try a scenario
Click to load — tweak from there.Inputs
Result
Higher-profit channel
DTC
Marketplace net profit/order
$11.50
DTC net profit/order
$11.65
DTC CAC breakeven point
$12.15
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How to use this
- 1Enter sale price ($).
- 2Enter cost of goods ($).
- 3Enter shipping cost ($).
- 4Enter marketplace fee rate (%).
- 5Enter dtc payment processing rate (%).
- 6Enter dtc acquisition cost per order ($).
- 7Read your higher-profit channel on the right — it updates as you type.
- 8Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone.
About this calculator
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.
Worked example
Using the values the calculator loads with:
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 $
Results
- Higher-profit channel: DTC
- Marketplace net profit/order: $11.50
- DTC net profit/order: $11.65
- DTC CAC breakeven point: $12.15
What each field means
Inputs
- Sale price ($)
- The sale price used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 45 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Cost of goods ($)
- The cost of goods used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 14 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Shipping cost ($)
- The shipping cost used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 6 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Marketplace fee rate (%)
- The marketplace fee rate used in the calculation, measured in %. Starts at 30 % so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 0–60 %.
- DTC payment processing rate (%)
- The dtc payment processing rate used in the calculation, measured in %. Starts at 3 % so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 0–10 %.
- DTC acquisition cost per order ($)
- The dtc acquisition cost per order used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 12 $ so you have a working example on load.
Results
- Higher-profit channel
- Returned as a plain value and shown as the headline result. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Marketplace net profit/order
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- DTC net profit/order
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- DTC CAC breakeven point
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
FAQ
Does this account for marketplace traffic being 'free' versus paid DTC traffic?
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.
Why would I ever choose DTC if marketplace nets more per order?
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.
How do I get an accurate DTC CAC per order for this comparison?
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.
Should I run different SKUs on different channels?
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.
Accuracy and 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.
Related tools
Amazon FBA Fee & Profit Calculator
Referral fee, FBA fulfillment fee, and true per-unit profit.
Shopify All-In Margin Calculator
True margin after payment processing, shipping, and packaging on your own store.
Blended CAC vs MER Calculator
Total marketing spend against total revenue and new customers, not per-channel math.
Cite this calculator
Writing about this topic? Grab a citation — every link helps keep these tools free.
RevenueLab. (2026). Marketplace vs DTC Profit Comparison Calculator. Retrieved from https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/marketplace-vs-dtc
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/marketplace-vs-dtc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marketplace vs DTC Profit Comparison Calculator — RevenueLab</a> (2026).</p>
Source: [Marketplace vs DTC Profit Comparison Calculator — RevenueLab](https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/marketplace-vs-dtc) (2026).