Classification of Ecommerce fees on Income Stmt
A company that sells products directly to consumers through the Shopify platform and Stripe payment gateway faces the situation where each transaction is recorded net of fees deducted by the platform and payment service provider. Based on a specific case (selling price of $100, Shopify fee of $2, Stripe fee of $3, and bank receipt of $95), this article analyzes whether to recognize $100 in revenue and include the $5 in cost of goods sold, or to directly recognize $95 in net revenue, and provides the applicable scenarios and rationale for each treatment method.
One of my companies sells consumer product directly to consumers over the internet. The company uses Shopify, an ecomm platform, which is connected to Stripe, a credit card payment gateway/processor. Stripe is the merchant of record as they are doing the fraud check, authorizing the credit card, collecting funds and then remitting the proceeds to my company's bank account each week. Shopify charges a couple of % for transactions that go thru their platform. Stripe charges a couple % for each transaction that they clear. The NET proceeds (Shopify and Stripe fees taken out by those service providers as they control the funds) shows up in my company's bank account. e.g. Sale Price to Consumer = $100; Shopify fees = $2, Stripe fees = $3. So net amount of $95 shows up in my bank account. Should my company record $100 of revenue and also $5 of COGS for the Shopify and Stripe fees? Or should I record $95 of Net revenue (100 gross - 5 of sales adjustments)? Thanks for any input.