The Vault, in depth

The Vault is your list of products you might buy. This page follows one product, all the way across. The product is Red Truck Movie. Its ASIN is B0EXAMPLE1. An ASIN is Amazon’s id for one product. It is a kids movie in Movies & TV. You would sell it in the US. Every figure below is for one unit.

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The gate chip

You add it from Add to Vault. Amazon has approved you to sell it. The chip on that preview reads OPEN. OPEN is an approved listing. GATED means Amazon limits who may sell it. BLOCKED means you cannot sell it. Any other answer shows a dash.

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Cost

In Cost, you type $8.00. That is what you pay the store for one copy. The row keeps 800 cents. When you save, the dollars are rounded to the nearest cent. Type 0 as the cost. The cell then says No cost yet. A cost of $0 means you have not entered a cost. Say you saved the movie from the Gate Scanner instead, with Save to Vault. It comes in the same way, with no cost. The cell says No cost yet until you type $8.00.

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Sell

Sell shows $25.00. That is the FBA Buy Box. FBA means Amazon ships the item for a seller. The Buy Box is the offer Amazon features. SourceDock uses that FBA Buy Box first. The column header says this is the Buy Box price from a seller Amazon ships for. The price was checked 3 hours ago. Under it you see “3h ago”. A price up to 24 hours old stays gray. Older than 24 hours turns amber. More than 7 days turns red. The hover also says this age covers the price only. The sales estimate updates on its own schedule. Later, no FBA seller holds the Buy Box. Then SourceDock uses Keepa’s 90-day FBA average. If the newest check found no FBA seller, the cell also says No FBA offer. Hover it. It says if the Sell is the 90-day average, or the last price SourceDock saw, and how long ago. Say two FBA sellers held the Buy Box. One held it 60 percent of the time, at $24.00. The other held it 40 percent of the time, at $26.00. SourceDock adds 60 times $24.00 and 40 times $26.00. That total is $2,480. Divide by the FBA sellers’ shares added up. Here that is 60 plus 40, which is 100. Round to the cent. The Sell becomes $24.80. The sale line then says Buy Box average (90 days). The hover says the Sell is Keepa’s 90-day average for FBA sellers in the Buy Box. A live FBA Buy Box is used before that average. While Amazon has no offers at all, the cell says No live offers found. After three checks in a row with no offers, it says No buyable offers on Amazon right now, with Check now. Before the first check finishes, the Sell cell shows a gray bar. The product line says Waiting for data.

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How this profit adds up

Hover the Profit cell. The box title is How this profit adds up. Your store is connected, but Amazon didn’t give a fee quote for this movie. So SourceDock uses its own price table until Amazon answers. It asks Amazon again every 15 minutes, and a product Amazon still won’t price waits a day. The referral, closing, and FBA lines each say SourceDock’s estimate. Under the profit you also see est. fees. That mark means the referral fee and the FBA fee are estimated. When Amazon’s quote comes back, those lines say Amazon’s quote, and the est. fees mark goes away. With no connected store, SourceDock uses Keepa’s FBA fee for this product’s size, when Keepa has one. The package is 10 by 8 by 0.5 inches, and it weighs 0.5 lb. That is small standard size. Small standard is at most 15 by 12 by 0.75 inches, and at most 1 lb. The fee lines were worked out in October. Sale price is $25.00. The line says Buy Box. Referral fee is −$3.75. Movies & TV pays 15 percent. 15 percent of $25.00 is $3.75. The fee is rounded to the nearest cent. It is never under $0.30. Closing fee is −$1.80. Movies & TV pays this media closing fee. Books, CDs & vinyl, video games, and software pay it too. SourceDock keeps referral and closing together as one fee, like Amazon’s quote does. $3.75 plus $1.80 is $5.55. The hover shows the two lines apart. The profit takes $5.55 off one time. FBA fulfillment fee is −$6.95. SourceDock’s price table charges $6.95 for a sale from $10.00 through $50.00. Under $10.00 it is $3.86. Over $50.00 it is $11.00. This table looks at price, not size. Low-stock fee is −$0.32. You pay it when both stock windows are under 28 days. You also shipped at least 20 units in the last 7 days. The higher window picks the rate. Here that window is 25 days. 25 days sits in the 21-to-28 day band. A small standard item of 1 lb or less pays $0.32 there. This fee needs your connected US store. Some products never pay it, like grocery, extra-large items, and items new to FBA. When a product does not pay it, the line is not shown. Storage fee is −$0.06. Cubic feet are 10/12 times 8/12 times 0.5/12. That is 40/1728 cubic feet. October through December uses the peak rate. Standard size then costs $2.40 per cubic foot. 40/1728 times $2.40 is 5.56 cents. That rounds to 6 cents, which is $0.06. The stay is 1 month, so the note says 1 month at the peak rate, from size. This movie is inside standard size, so the oversize rate is not used. Inbound placement fee is −$0.32. Your placement choice is still the starting one, minimal shipment splits. Your store has no placement charges from recent boxes yet. The estimate uses the highest rate Amazon lists for this size and weight. At 0.5 lb that high rate is $0.32. The note says “Estimated: Minimal shipment splits”. Once your recent boxes show what Amazon charged per unit, that figure is used for every product that doesn’t have its own placement choice. You give one product its own choice with Change on this hover. The note then says “Amazon’s charges on the seller’s recent boxes”. Inbound shipping is −$0.20. Your rate is $0.40 per pound. Half a pound times $0.40 is $0.20. The note says $0.40 per lb x 0.50 lb. A Shipping Cost ($) above $0 on this row replaces that rate. Prep is −$0.25. This movie’s own Prep Cost ($) is $0. The line uses your default of $0.25. The note says The seller’s default. Your own prep, when it is above $0, replaces that default. Buy cost is −$8.00. The note says The Vault’s buy cost. Sales tax is −$0.64. You typed $0.64 in Tax Cost ($). The note says Sales tax on the cost. The Vault subtracts those saved cents. It does not multiply the buy cost by a tax percent. Now subtract in the same order as the hover. $25.00 minus $3.75 leaves $21.25. $21.25 minus $1.80 leaves $19.45. $19.45 minus $6.95 leaves $12.50. $12.50 minus $0.32 leaves $12.18. $12.18 minus $0.06 leaves $12.12. $12.12 minus $0.32 leaves $11.80. $11.80 minus $0.20 leaves $11.60. $11.60 minus $0.25 leaves $11.35. $11.35 minus $8.00 leaves $3.35. $3.35 minus $0.64 leaves $2.71. Storage and the low-stock fee are taken off with the Amazon fees. Placement is taken off with prep. Inbound shipping is taken off as the shipping cost. A line SourceDock cannot work out shows a dash. That line is left out of the profit. The note says a line it cannot work out yet is left out. This list has no refund line. It has no reimbursement line either.

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Profit

The Profit badge reads +$2.71. A gain starts with a plus. A loss uses a minus, as in −$1.05. A profit of exactly $0.00 has no sign. A gain is green. A loss is red. Zero is gray. Change the $8.00 cost to 0. The badge goes away. The cell says No buy cost. Profit not shown. It also says At $25.00 you keep $10.71 after fees, before cost. $2.71 plus the $8.00 you cleared is $10.71. The ROI cell is a dash.

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ROI

ROI compares the profit with the money you put in. Open the row menu and choose Edit Prospect. ROI Method starts on Buy Cost Only. Buy Cost Only divides the profit by the $8.00 buy cost. $2.71 divided by $8.00 is 0.33875. Times 100, that is 33.875 percent. The cell prints 33.9%. The bar uses 33.875, before that rounding. A full bar means 50% ROI. 33.875 divided by 50 fills 67.75 percent of the bar. The bar is green when ROI is 30% or more. 33.875 is green. Under 30% the bar is amber. An ROI that cannot be worked out shows a dash. Switch ROI Method to Total Cost, then press Save Changes. Total Cost divides by the buy cost plus prep, placement, inbound shipping, and tax. $8.00 plus $0.25 plus $0.32 plus $0.20 plus $0.64 is $9.41. $2.71 divided by $9.41 is 0.28799. Times 100, that is 28.799 percent. The cell prints 28.8%. 28.799 is under 30, so the bar is amber. 28.799 divided by 50 fills 57.6 percent of the bar. Switch ROI Method to Sell Price, then press Save Changes. Sell Price divides the profit by the $25.00 sell price. $2.71 divided by $25.00 is 0.1084. Times 100, that is 10.84 percent. The cell prints 10.8%. A buy cost of $0 makes every method a dash.

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Profit margin %

Profit margin % starts off. Click the column button at the right end of the table header. Under Columns, turn on Profit margin %, then press Save. It is this unit’s profit divided by Sell. $2.71 divided by $25.00 is 10.8%, to one decimal. That matches Sell Price ROI. It is a different percent from Buy Cost Only and from Total Cost. Above 0 the percent is green. Below 0 it is red. Zero is gray. With no buy cost, the cell is a dash. The header uses its own example. Buyers pay $20 and you keep $5, so that example is 25%.

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FBM profit

Sell As has two choices, FBA and FBM. FBM means you ship the item yourself. On FBM, Sell is the lowest price from a seller who ships it, shipping included. Here that price is $22.00. When that lowest price is missing and the FBM offer count is 0, the cell says No FBM offer. In Filters, set FBM shipping cost (per unit) to $4.50. A blank box means the cost is not set. Profit then says Set shipping. It does not pretend the shipping is $0. The most the box takes is $999.99. FBM profit starts at $22.00. Referral is 15 percent of $22.00, which is $3.30. On FBM the closing fee stays out of that referral figure. It comes off on its own, another $1.80. Your shipping is $4.50. Cost with prep and tax is $8.00 plus $0.25 plus $0.64, which is $8.89. $22.00 minus $3.30 minus $1.80 minus $4.50 minus $8.89 leaves $3.51. The badge reads +$3.51. The hover reads $22.00 Sell FBM − referral $3.30 − closing fee $1.80 − the seller’s shipping $4.50 − cost with prep and tax $8.89 = $3.51. The title is Profit if the seller ships it themselves (FBM). The note says No FBA fee. Referral is Amazon’s cut of the price with shipping. The $6.95 FBA fee, storage, low-stock, placement, and inbound shipping stay off this profit. Buy Cost Only is $3.51 divided by $8.00. That is 43.875 percent, printed 43.9%. Total Cost adds your $4.50 shipping to the $8.89. $13.39 is the base. $3.51 divided by $13.39 is 26.214 percent, printed 26.2%. Sell Price divides $3.51 by $22.00. That is 15.955 percent, printed 16.0%. A listing that is not in US dollars shows a dash for this profit. The hover says SourceDock shows FBM profit for US listings only for now.

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Compare FBA vs FBM

In Filters, turn Compare on. Close Filters. The chip reads Compare FBA vs FBM. The column FBA vs FBM shows on each row. The FBA side shows +$2.71. The FBM side shows +$3.51. FBM is ahead by $0.80. That side is filled green, because +$3.51 is a gain. A winner that is still a loss is filled gray. A tie picks no side. The row’s Shipping Cost ($) is what you pay to send the item to Amazon. It comes off the FBA profit only.

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Price Trend

Price Trend needs two prices. With one price, the line is flat and gray. With no price, the cell is blank. The line keeps at most 12 points. The line ends at today’s Sell, $25.00. Older points come from Keepa’s price history (its lowest FBA price when it has one, else its Buy Box, then Amazon’s price) and SourceDock’s own checks. This line runs from $22.00 up to $25.00. The end is higher, so the line is green. A lower end is amber. A flat line is gray. On FBM, the line follows the FBM sell price instead.

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Sales per month

Sales per month shows 100+. The estimate stored for this movie is 100. An estimate of 100 or more gets a plus. Under 100, the cell shows the number with no plus. No estimate shows a dash. On the product, the same figure reads 100+/mo. The header says Amazon gives a range, like 100+ or 2,000+, so the real number can be higher.

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Total seller count

Total seller count shows 8. That is how many sellers offer this movie new right now. On the product, the same count reads 8 offers.

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Seller count trend

Seller count trend needs two counts. This one falls from 12 sellers to 8. Fewer sellers is the good direction, so the line is green. More sellers turns the line amber. A flat count is gray. The hover says 8 sellers. On FBM, the line counts sellers who ship it themselves.

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Added

You added the movie on October 2 this year. Added shows Oct 2. A date in another year includes the year. A date SourceDock cannot read shows a dash.

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Max landed buy cost

Open Price History from the row menu. The title is Price History, then the ASIN, with a copy icon. The line under it says the chart is from the Keepa history SourceDock saved for this product, then your own store’s prices since. The buy figures always use 90 days of history. The chart window can be longer. That does not change these two figures. Max landed buy cost is $4.86. Breakeven landed cost is $9.86. Under them you read Clears 30% ROI and $5.00 profit at a $24.00 sale (lower of Buy Box $25.00 and 90d median $24.00). Until you change them, the floors are 30% ROI and $5.00 profit. They are your profit calculator goals: see The profit calculator and every setting. The sale price is the lower of today’s Buy Box and the 90-day median. The latest Buy Box in that history is $25.00. The 90-day median is $24.00. The median is the middle price. An even count averages the two middle prices, then rounds to the cent. The lower price is $24.00. When the two prices match, that lower-of note is left off. The referral fee is quoted again at $24.00. 15 percent of $24.00 is $3.60. The $1.80 closing fee is inside that quote. The bucket is $5.40. The FBA fulfillment fee stays $6.95. It is not priced again at $24.00. Storage stays $0.06, and the low-stock fee stays $0.32. Money left before your own costs: $24.00 minus $5.40 leaves $18.60. $18.60 minus $6.95 leaves $11.65. $11.65 minus $0.06 leaves $11.59. $11.59 minus $0.32 leaves $11.27. Prep, placement, inbound shipping, and tax are already extra. $0.25 plus $0.32 plus $0.20 plus $0.64 is $1.41. $11.27 minus $1.41 is $9.86. $9.86 is the Breakeven landed cost. At a $24.00 sale, profit is $0 when the buy cost is $9.86. The words say landed cost. The number is the most you can pay the store. It is a cost, not a sale price. The Chrome extension’s Break-even price is a sale price. Those extras are already taken out. The $5.00 profit floor leaves $9.86 minus $5.00, which is $4.86. The 30% floor allows $9.86 divided by 1.30. That is $7.5846, and the screen keeps whole cents, so $7.58. $4.86 is lower, so it wins. This test divides profit by the buy cost. It keeps that way even when ROI Method is Total Cost or Sell Price. One cent more is $4.87. Profit would then be $4.99, under $5.00. So $4.86 is the highest cent that still clears both floors. You can type a cost in Test a landed cost. The readout shows that cost’s profit and ROI at the $24.00 sale, with ROI on the buy cost.

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The headline

Above the table, In the Vault counts every product the Vault lists. That includes products added from your purchases, and leaves out listings Amazon says are gone. A filter on the table does not change that count. Best profit is the highest profit in one marketplace. Best ROI is the highest ROI in that same marketplace. This movie can win only when the buy cost is above $0. The price also has to be no older than 24 hours. Two countries are not compared. An empty figure is a dash. It is not $0.00. A gain prints with a plus. Best ROI prints one decimal and a percent sign. If this movie has the best ROI, the hover names it with the $8.00 cost and the $25.00 sell price. A click filters the table to B0EXAMPLE1. On FBM, these read Best FBM profit and Best FBM ROI. Both use your selected store’s country. Each row’s ROI uses its own ROI Method.