Cross-border e-commerce financial data recording and management fee processing methods

Cross-border e-commerce financial data recording is an essential link in the process of building a cross-border e-commerce financial system. This article will discuss how to record platform fees, miscellaneous expenses, management expenses, administrative expenses, financial expenses and tax expenses, as well as product procurement, logistics expenses, internal product allocation and other aspects of financial data.

Platform fee recording method

Platform fees mainly refer to the store opening fees, transaction fees and other fees paid to the platform for sales on cross-border e-commerce sales platforms. Taking the AliExpress platform as an example, the platform fee mainly means that the platform will charge 5% of the total transaction amount of the seller’s order (including product amount and shipping fee) as a handling fee after the transaction is completed. Some special categories may charge a higher rate. . There are two ways to record platform fees:

1. Self-calculation method: Use the amount paid by the buyer (including the product amount and shipping fee paid by the buyer) minus the amount of cancellation of orders, refunds, etc., and multiply it directly by 5%. For example, if the cost of an order is US$100, and the buyer and seller reach an agreement to partially refund US$70, then the platform will charge a transaction fee of US$30, that is, 30×5%=US$1.5. This method of calculation by the seller is very convenient when quickly calculating short-term orders.

   The calculation formula is: platform fee = (total transaction amount – refund amount – order cancellation amount) × 5%

2. Backend download method: Go directly to the backend of AliExpress or a similar platform to download platform transaction data, and directly extract the handling fees charged by the platform.

How to record various miscellaneous expenses

Various miscellaneous expenses involved in cross-border e-commerce retail business, the most common ones include packaging material fees (packaging bags, tapes, cartons, kraft bubble bags), consumption of printing materials, normal inventory losses, etc. cannot be directly Expenses allocated to specific orders. The recording principle of these expenses is relatively simple, which is “regular inventory, daily flow record consumption combined with weekly (or monthly) inventory”. After these miscellaneous expenses are recorded, they undergo regular monthly inventory. After confirming that the consumption is true and normal, they can be apportioned to the net profit calculation of the current month through amortization.

Recording methods of management expenses, administrative expenses, financial expenses and tax expenses

The recording methods of management expenses, administrative expenses, financial expenses and tax expenses in the cross-border e-commerce retail industry are not essentially different from the recording methods of these expenses in other industries. Cashiers and financial personnel only need to follow the standard “cashier-finance” operating procedures to collect and record relevant expenses. These data will be integrated into the company’s accounts and recorded and organized when the profit and loss statement (income statement), cash flow statement and balance sheet are compiled every financial month, so that the company’s net profit, cash flow situation, changes in assets and liabilities, etc. can be obtained completely company financial statements.

Product purchase recording method

The records of product procurement mainly involve two aspects of data: one is data directly related to the product, including product name, SKU supplier name, purchase unit price (may change each time), purchase quantity, purchase order freight ; The other is data related to operators or departments, including the purchasing warehouse (specifically which warehouse of the seller to enter), buyer, purchasing date and expected arrival date, etc. These data can be organized into a relatively clear Excel table. On the one hand, these data faithfully record the occurrence of each expense, and accurately implement these expenses to specific products. For example, the “purchase order freight” refers to the domestic freight spent on purchasing this batch of products, which can be calculated according to the product. The weight is allocated to each inventory product; on the other hand, sorting out the purchase date, expected arrival date, purchase warehouse and other information can effectively help purchasing personnel and warehouse personnel to connect their work.

Logistics cost recording method

The calculation of logistics costs is to record the package number (or AliExpress order number), weight, destination, transportation method, tracking number and other data, and then based on the transportation method (see its freight quotation table, weight and destination) , calculate the actual shipping cost for each package separately. These data can be organized into a “freight record table”. Calculating international shipping costs is not complicated. The only thing that may cost sellers a lot of time is the process of weighing the package and calculating shipping costs separately by destination. The efficiency of this work is very low, and it will be impossible to complete it only by hand when the order volume increases. However, these problems can be solved with the help of third-party cross-border e-commerce tools.

Product internal allocation recording method

In situations such as “sending products to overseas warehouses” or “transferring products from the warehouse to the art department for photography”, the ownership of the product will not be transferred. In this case, a “transfer order” needs to be designed for these actions. as financial records.

The above covers the main content of financial data recording for cross-border e-commerce companies. Through the above methods, companies can better manage and control costs and improve operational efficiency.