Small Shop Notes
Pricing, margins and numbers for one-person online shops.
inventory
FIFO vs Average Cost, How Your Inventory Method Changes Reported Profit
How the IRS-recognized FIFO and average cost inventory methods produce different taxable profit on the same sales, shown with a worked example.
Latest
small business
Margin vs Markup, the Mistake That Costs Money
Why confusing profit margin with markup leads small shop owners to underprice their products, shown with the exact math for both terms.
small business
Pricing a First Product, Step by Step
A step-by-step pricing framework for a first product that accounts for landed cost, selling-platform fees, and a target margin, with the math shown.
pricing
When a Discount Loses You Money, the Break-Even Math
How to use the SBA's own break-even formula to check whether a sale price actually makes a small shop money or quietly erases its margin.