FCL vs. LCL Shipping: When Booking a Full Container Beats Sharing One
Past about 15 cubic meters, a full container usually beats sharing one — compare all-in quotes, count the LCL days, and capitalize freight into inventory.
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Ecommerce
Online selling, ecommerce platforms, multi-channel retail, and digital storefront management
Authorization Holds, Explained: How Long Each Card Network Lets You Hold Funds — and When to Reverse Instead of Capture
Visa gives card-present holds 5 days and card-not-present 10; Mastercard 7; Amex 7; Discover 10 — capture or reverse before the clock runs out.
Vendor Chargebacks, Explained: How Small Suppliers Get Hit With Retail Compliance Fines, Shortage Claims, and EDI Penalties — and How to Dispute Them
Retailers deduct 1–5% per violation for late shipments, bad labels, and missing ASNs — dispute fast with PO, ASN log, and proof of delivery.
UFLPA Detention Notice: How Small Importers Answer a Forced-Labor Hold and Get Goods Released
A UFLPA detention gives importers 30 days to prove goods sit outside the forced-labor presumption — with a full supply-chain map, not a vendor letter.
Freight-In vs. Freight-Out: Why Inbound Shipping Belongs in COGS and Outbound Shipping Is an Operating Expense
Freight-in is part of inventory cost and becomes COGS when goods sell; freight-out is a selling expense. Mixing them distorts gross margin and tax.
How to Track COGS for an Etsy Shop: Materials, Labor, Fees, and Shipping
Etsy fees are not COGS — they are Schedule C selling expenses. Track materials, labor, fees, and shipping per listing to price for real profit.
Marketplace Payment Reconciliation: Record Gross Sales, Not the Deposit
Record gross marketplace sales as revenue and fees as expenses — Form 1099-K reports gross Box 1a, so net-deposit bookkeeping never reconciles.
The Black Friday–Cyber Monday Accounting Playbook: Prep Your Books for Peak Volume, Record Discounts Right, and Survive the December Returns Wave
Record BFCM promo codes as contra revenue, reconcile processor payouts weekly, and accrue December's ~17% holiday returns before year-end close.
Illinois' Remote-Retailer Tax Amnesty Closes October 31: How Out-of-State Sellers Come Clean on 2021–2026 Sales Tax
Illinois waives all penalties and interest on 2021–2026 remote-seller sales tax paid at a flat 9% by October 31, 2026; after that, IDOR may assess 15%.
Product Liability Insurance for Makers, Manufacturers, and Resellers
The average small business liability claim now costs $97,200, while $1M/$2M product liability coverage averages about $1,192 a year. What the policy pays, who in the distribution chain can be sued, and five mistakes that leave sellers exposed.
Selling Notion Templates Through a Merchant of Record: A Bookkeeping Guide to Gross Sales, Fees, and Taxes
How to keep books for Notion-template sales when a merchant-of-record platform collects sales tax and nets fees from your payout—separating customer charges, platform fees, refunds, and taxes through a clearing account so a $1,530 deposit is fully explained, and treating Form 1099-K as a cross-check rather than your ledger.
Customer Refunds and Returns: Why They Belong Against Revenue — Not Buried in Expenses
Learn how small businesses should book customer refunds as contra-revenue, not expenses — covering Schedule C line 2, sales-tax payable reversals, inventory COGS adjustments, payment processor reconciliation, and ASC 606 refund liabilities with a monthly workflow to keep net sales accurate.