Does Cash Workspace pull my platform and gateway fees automatically?

No. It does not connect to your bank, store platform, or gateway. You download each fee statement and record it as an expense yourself, attaching the statement so it stays with the record.

How should I record cost of goods?

Record each supplier order as a cost-of-goods expense with vendor, amount, date, and a product or SKU note, and attach the supplier invoice.

Can I see my store's profit here?

Cash Workspace keeps revenue and cost records side by side for your own review, but it does not compute any profit or margin figure for you. That's a question for your accountant.

Cash Workspace

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Small business finance · E-commerce

Get your online store's costs organized in one place

Running a DTC store means your costs hide in a dozen dashboards: a supplier invoice here, a platform fee statement there, ad spend in another tab, and a pile of shipping labels in your inbox. None of it syncs to anywhere useful at tax time. Cash Workspace gives you one place to record cost of goods, fees, shipping, ad spend, and returns as plain expense records, with the supplier invoice or fee statement attached to each one.

Start a free workspace Cost-of-goods records

The problem

Why store costs are hard to pin down

Platform and gateway fees come out before money reaches you, so they're easy to forget as costs. Meanwhile COGS, shipping, and ad spend live in separate places with no common record.

Platform and gateway fees are deducted at the source, so they never get recorded as expenses.
A supplier's invoice for a 500-unit reorder is in email and never filed against the inventory.
Shipping and fulfillment costs are scattered across carrier accounts and label receipts.
Ad spend across two channels is never recorded next to the rest of the store's costs.
Refunds and returns are handled in the storefront but never logged as expense records.

The workflow

Record store costs from every source

Pull each cost out of its dashboard once a week and record it as an expense with its statement attached.

1
Set your categories
Use clear categories: cost of goods, platform fees, gateway fees, shipping, fulfillment, ad spend, returns, and packaging.
2
Record supplier orders
When a supplier invoice arrives, record it as a COGS expense with vendor, amount, and date, and attach the invoice.
3
Log fee statements
Download each monthly platform and gateway fee statement and record it as an expense — recorded by you, not synced.
4
Capture shipping and ads
Record carrier and label costs and each channel's ad spend with their receipts attached.
5
Record returns and refunds
Log refunds and return-shipping costs as their own expense records so they're not invisible.
6
Review monthly by category
Once a month, look over each category so you can see where the store's money actually went.

Record structure

What to record for each store cost

A consistent record per cost keeps COGS, fees, and overhead clearly separated.

Category: Cost of goods, platform fee, gateway fee, shipping, fulfillment, ad spend, returns, or packaging.
Vendor or platform: The supplier, marketplace, payment gateway, carrier, or ad network the cost came from.
Amount and currency: What it cost, in the currency it was charged, so multi-currency suppliers stay clear.
Date or statement period: The purchase date, or the month a fee statement covers.
Statement or invoice attachment: The supplier invoice or fee statement attached to the record.
SKU or product note: For COGS, a note of which products the order covered.
Order or batch reference: The supplier PO or order number for cross-checking later.
Status note: For supplier invoices you still owe, a note of whether it's been paid.

Example setup

An example category setup

One way to structure your store's costs inside the workspace.

Cost of goods 2026

Supplier invoices for each inventory reorder, recorded by vendor with the invoice attached.

Platform & gateway fees

Monthly fee statements recorded as expenses, one record per statement period.

Shipping & fulfillment

Carrier charges, label receipts, and fulfillment costs, attached and dated.

Ad spend & returns

Each channel's monthly ad spend plus refund and return-shipping expense records.

Common mistakes

Mistakes to avoid

Treating platform and gateway fees as 'just the cost of selling' and never recording them.
Filing supplier invoices in email instead of attaching them to a COGS record.
Leaving ad spend in ad dashboards instead of recording it with the rest of your costs.
Ignoring refunds and returns so the year's costs look lower than they were.
Mixing COGS and overhead in one category so margins are impossible to review.

How it helps

How Cash Workspace helps

Fees recorded as expenses

Record each platform and gateway fee statement as an expense by hand and attach the statement, so deducted fees are visible.

COGS with invoices attached

Record each supplier order as a cost-of-goods expense with the invoice attached for easy cross-checking.

Costs side by side

Keep COGS, shipping, ad spend, and returns in clear categories you can review together.

Exportable records

Keep each fiscal year's store costs in folders you can export for your accountant.

Cost-of-goods records

Organize COGS records cleanly per supplier order.

Inventory purchase records

Keep stock purchases organized by vendor and date.

E-commerce handoff checklist

What to gather before the accountant handoff.

Refund and return records

Log refunds and returns so the year stays accurate.

All finance workflows

Browse the full Cash Workspace workflow library.

FAQ

Online store finance FAQ

Does Cash Workspace pull my platform and gateway fees automatically?: No. It does not connect to your bank, store platform, or gateway. You download each fee statement and record it as an expense yourself, attaching the statement so it stays with the record.
How should I record cost of goods?: Record each supplier order as a cost-of-goods expense with vendor, amount, date, and a product or SKU note, and attach the supplier invoice.
Can I see my store's profit here?: Cash Workspace keeps revenue and cost records side by side for your own review, but it does not compute any profit or margin figure for you. That's a question for your accountant.

Organizing help — not tax, accounting, or legal guidance

Cash Workspace is a free workspace for organizing invoices, expenses, receipts, clients, and documents. This page is organizing guidance only — not tax, accounting, legal, or bookkeeping guidance. Cash Workspace does not connect to your bank, does not scan or read your receipts for you, and does not move or collect payments. Whether an expense is deductible depends on your situation, so confirm it with a qualified accountant or tax professional.

Pull every store cost into one place

Start a free workspace and record COGS, fees, shipping, and ad spend with their statements attached, so your store's real costs stop hiding across a dozen dashboards.