Identify the rate before calculating the charge
Use 9% as the standard planning case. Eligible product categories may carry a 7% rate, and qualifying new sellers may receive a temporary 4% or 2% rate under the country-group policy. Keep the category, incentive status and effective date with each rate.
These percentages describe platform commission. They do not include an independently agreed creator commission, your advertising spend, warehouse costs or all possible statement adjustments. A shop selling mixed categories should calculate the affected items separately.
Calculate the fee base without removing VAT twice
The 9 June commission guidance uses net sales plus customer-paid shipping, less the corresponding refunded sales and shipping. Its Net Sales term is a platform field, not a direction to divide the order by the country's VAT rate. Keep your VAT revenue calculation in a separate column.
The 12 June fee-reduction policy includes platform-discount terms in its displayed formula, while the dedicated commission guide uses the simpler shipping/refund version. For orders involving platform-funded coupons, retain the actual discount funding and chargeable base from Seller Center rather than assuming one simplified equation covers both documents.
Commission = (platform net sales + customer-paid shipping − refunded net sales − refunded customer-paid shipping) × applicable rateIllustrative example with buyer-paid shipping and a partial refund
Assume €60 of item sales, €4 shipping paid by the customer, a 9% fee and no coupons. The initial commission is €64 × 9% = €5.76. If €20 of item sales is refunded and customer shipping is unchanged, the remaining base is €44 and commission is €3.96.
The €1.80 reversal is the commission on the refunded €20. If the entire order and customer shipping are refunded, this simple example's base becomes zero and the full €5.76 reverses. That reversal does not say that the seller's actual carrier, advertising or return-handling expenses are reimbursed.
| Order state | Chargeable base | Commission at 9% |
|---|---|---|
| Original sale + buyer shipping | €60 + €4 = €64 | €5.76 |
| €20 item refund; shipping retained | €60 + €4 − €20 = €44 | €3.96 |
| Full item and buyer-shipping refund | €60 + €4 − €60 − €4 = €0 | €0.00 |
Explain a variance before changing the formula
Match the original order, each SKU and later refund or adjustment rows. Check whether the actual charge uses a different category rate, a valid incentive, a different shipping amount or a coupon-funded base. Recalculate with the precision present in the export before attributing a few cents to rounding.
The published platform fee includes applicable tax. Do not automatically multiply the displayed rate by another VAT factor. For accounting treatment and recoverable tax on the fee invoice, use the invoice's own tax information and the seller's applicable treatment.
- Record the original rate and the basis for it.
- Rebuild the chargeable amount from order fields.
- Attach refunds and later adjustments to the same order.
- Compare expected fee, actual fee and reversal separately.
- Keep an unresolved variance visible with its supporting documents.
Find the rule that applies to this transaction
Check the order’s SKU category, active mission and transaction date before selecting a rate. A new-seller discount is a conditional first-EU-shop mission, not an automatic entitlement whenever another country shop opens. Commission already includes applicable taxes; do not add VAT to the fee again.
What should a rate change trigger in the business?
Update pricing, creator limits and break-even ROAS for orders governed by the new rate, while preserving the historical rate used for older transactions. A single global spreadsheet cell can silently rewrite the expected fee on every old order and destroy the audit trail.
Monitor material changes in effective fee, not only the headline percentage. A shift toward a different product category or promotion can change total commission even when the published standard rate stays constant.