Cost calculation for bol.com business sales. How to get all my costs transparent.
By Kevin van der Eijk, CEO FiveX
Posted on February, 2022
The selling price of a product consists of many different costs, and because of all the costs and commissions, calculating the profit can sometimes be tricky. In this blog you will find all about the different costs and a profit calculator that allows you to easily calculate the profit and break-even point.
What are the different costs?
To help you make sense of all the costs and calculate your profit, we list all the major cost items for you. All the costs involved in selling via bol.com at a glance;
Commission costs bol.com
Bol.com charges sellers commission on products sold through their platform. They do this as compensation for the service and opportunities that selling through their platform offers. The commission fees depend on the product and situation. Each product has a fixed cost of € 0.83 (ex. VAT) per item, plus an additional 12.4% of the selling price per item (ex. VAT). These costs may vary depending on the price of the article, the type of article or additional services;
Calculate your commission cost from globe using the following tool: https://partnerplatform.bol.com/nl/hulp-nodig/financien/de-commissie/
The differences in mediation contributions
The biggest change for cost per item is on a selling price basis. Below you can see what these differences are.
For products with a selling price €0-10 this is €0.20 (ex. VAT)
For products with a selling price €10-20, this is €0.40 (ex. VAT)
For products with a selling price >€20, this is €0.83 or €2.48 (ex. VAT)
As indicated earlier, there are also different variable costs, which in turn depend on the product category.
The commission ranges from 4.0% (exc. VAT) to 20.7% (exc. VAT).
The full list with can be found here : https://partnerplatform.bol.com/content/uploads/2020/11/Commissietabel-PDF-112020.pdf
Pickup cost of packages to Bol warehouse
When you will sell your items from the Bol warehouse and thus use Bol Logistics, you can choose to have your items picked up at a location and brought to the warehouse by Bol itself. In that case, you use the Bol delivery service. This is not mandatory, but it is a fine service. The costs for this service depend on your quantity of packages.
| Number of packages | rate per package |
|---|---|
| 1 | € 10,25 |
| 2 | € 6,50 |
| 3 | € 5,25 |
| 4 | € 4,65 |
| 5 - 7 | € 4,25 |
| 8 - 10 | € 3,95 |
| 11 - 15 | € 3,75 |
| 16 - 20 | € 3,50 |
Bol.com inventory costs LVB
Within LVB, there are different product sizes. Based on the dimensions of a product, the class is determined. This distinguishes between shipping costs, Pick and Pack costs and inventory storage. The classes run from XXXS to XXL. Bol.com's normal warehouse holds packages with sizes from XXXS (letterbox packages) to L 72x50x41 (16 kg)
So it's important to know what class the product falls into to make the calculation. In FiveX's profit calculator you will find all dimensions and weights per package. So you can easily see per item what inventory costs you pay and what this means for your profit.
The inventory cost is calculated per day; number of pieces * inventory cost per category = inventory cost. The different prices are listed below.
| Rate group | Cost per item | Cost per delivery | Total per item ordered | Stock cost per item per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xxxs | € 1,30 | € 1,65 | € 2,95 | € 0,10 |
| xxs | € 1,40 | € 1,95 | € 3,35 | € 0,10 |
| xs | € 1,50 | € 2,90 | € 4,40 | € 0,15 |
| s | € 1,90 | € 3,35 | € 5,25 | € 0,30 |
| m | € 2,00 | € 3,40 | € 5,40 | € 0,40 |
| l | € 2,50 | € 3,60 | € 6,10 | € 0,60 |
VAT
In most cases, the VAT is 21%, only with food is the VAT slightly lower namely 9%. This amount must be offset during your sales tax return. Because the cost of taxes for over your e-commerce business is such an important topic, we have created a short video course for it.
Learn more about tax issues check out our video course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ8VBvh52bk&t=26s
Return costs
At Bol.com, customers can always return their purchases free of charge within 30 days. This is important to you as a seller because these costs fall on you. However, Bol.com is kind enough to offer their sales partners a small concession on return costs. For a reasonable fee, sellers can arrange a return seal through Bol.com. Check out the general rates below.
| Type of shipment | Country | Price (excl. VAT) |
|---|---|---|
| Mailbox package | Within the Netherlands | € 1,27 |
| Standard package | Within the Netherlands | € 2,13 |
| Standard package | Within Belgium | € 2,29 |
| Standard package | Netherlands to Belgium | € 2,41 |
| Standard package | Belgium to the Netherlands | € 2,41 |
When will you get paid by bol.com?
To maintain financial overview, it is essential to know when to expect a new cash flow. Your total revenue will be after the deduction of the previously mentioned charges will be paid into your account by Bol. Bol.com pays the income on the 2nd - 4th day of the new month. When making a financial plan, make sure you take into account when you get paid.
Automate your calculations easily
Within FiveX it is very easy to keep a grip on your sales results. When you link the sales account to the system it is possible to add the cost price and shipping costs. From then on you always have an up-to-date picture of the results and gross profit. The system also takes into account returns and all the different commissions. In addition, you have all the KPIs listed in order to optimize the assortment. In short, you have your total business in one overview and you have the entire profit calculation clear.
