True P&L: Why Your Platform Revenue Number is Not Your Profit
Commissions, returns, ad spend, and COD charges eat silently into margins. Here is how to build a real profitability picture across every channel.
Bzyness Team
February 14, 2026
9 min read
Your Flipkart or Amazon dashboard says you did ₹8,00,000 in revenue last month. But when you check your bank account, the number is closer to ₹4,80,000. Where did the other ₹3,20,000 go?
This gap — between gross merchandise value and what actually reaches you — is the most misunderstood number in Indian e-commerce. The Bzyness True P&L module is designed to close that gap permanently.
The Hidden Costs That Eat Your Margin
Platform commissions
Marketplace fees typically range from 5% to 35% depending on category. They are deducted before settlement and rarely visible in aggregate.
Returns
Returns on Indian platforms average 15–25% for many categories. Each return incurs a reverse logistics cost and frequently a restocking deduction.
Advertising spend
Sponsored product ads and PLA bids are often tracked in separate portals. Without consolidation, your ROAS is invisible.
COD reconciliation charges
Cash-on-delivery orders carry a 1–2% transit fee plus a reconciliation lag of 7–14 days, affecting cash flow forecasting.
GSTIN settlement deductions
GST TCS (Tax Collected at Source) is deducted by platforms at 1% and must be reconciled against your GST filings monthly.
How True P&L Works in Bzyness
The True P&L tab aggregates settlement data from all connected platforms and maps every deduction to a named cost category. Revenue, commission, advertising, returns, logistics, TCS, and net settlement are visible per platform and consolidated across channels in a single table.
You can filter by period, by platform, or by product SKU. For the first time, you can answer "which product is actually profitable?" rather than "which product has the highest GMV?"
Break-Even and P&L Projections
Beyond the historical view, the Financials module includes break-even analysis and 3-month rolling P&L projections. These pull from your current cost structure (COGS, fulfilment, ad spend) and your current revenue run rate to surface the minimum order volume needed to cover fixed costs.
Scenario modelling lets you ask: "What happens to my margin if Flipkart raises commissions by 2%?" or "How much ad spend can I add before my ROAS turns negative?" — and see the answer in real time.
Connecting Cost Management
The Cost Management module sits alongside True P&L and lets you track non-platform costs: packaging, warehousing, salaries, software subscriptions, and any custom cost categories you define. These feed into your consolidated P&L so the dashboard reflects your total operating picture rather than just platform-side charges.
If your True P&L is healthy but your overall business P&L is negative, it is usually a cost management issue that this view makes immediately visible.
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Bzyness is built in India for Indian e-commerce founders who want to know, every day, whether their hard work is turning into real profit.
Kolkata, India
bzyness.tech@gmail.com
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