Blog · Territory, capacity and quota planning · Finance and FP&A teams
Use a copyable Excel layout to compare marketplace GMV, fee revenue, transaction costs and operating contribution. Fill the assumptions, rebuild three scenarios and check the results against your own exports.
A marketplace financial model XLS layout should calculate transaction value, earned fees and costs on separate rows, with each scenario using the same formulas. The copyable worksheet below provides that structure; there is no workbook download on this page.
Create an Assumptions and results sheet for the monthly scenarios and an Actuals sheet for the exports behind the starting case. Keep a short Definitions sheet stating the period, GMV policy, fee policy, cost scope and owner of each assumption. This helps a colleague understand whether a number came from an export or a proposed commercial change.
The calculations below assume a fee-only marketplace using finance-approved net fee revenue accounting. Seller proceeds are separate from revenue. They are not deducted again as a transaction expense. Use your company's approved accounting policy if its role or contracts differ.
The search term uses XLS, but file format is a separate decision from financial logic. Microsoft's supported Excel file formats identify XLSX as a modern workbook format and XLS as the older Excel binary workbook format. Choose the format your reviewers require and check the saved copy before circulating it. Covirage is not affiliated with Microsoft.
For the operating relationships behind these rows, see the marketplace financial model method. This page concentrates on a worksheet a finance analyst can reproduce.
Use column A for the row label, B for Base, C for Lower volume and D for Higher take rate. The example is one month for an illustrative US marketplace, with all money in USD. Input rows are 2 through 7; calculated rows start at 8.
| Row | Column A: measure | B: Base input | C: Lower volume input | D: Higher take rate input |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scenario | Base | Lower volume | Higher take rate |
| 2 | Completed orders | 12,000 | 9,600 | 12,000 |
| 3 | Average transaction value (USD) | 80 | 80 | 80 |
| 4 | Fee take rate | 12% | 12% | 13% |
| 5 | Payment cost rate on GMV | 2.5% | 2.5% | 2.5% |
| 6 | Support per order (USD) | 0.80 | 0.80 | 0.80 |
| 7 | Fixed operating expenses (USD) | 65,000 | 65,000 | 65,000 |
The take rate is the assumed share of GMV earned as fee revenue. The payment rate applies to GMV in this example; replace that base if your actual processor charges on a different amount. Support is a variable cost per completed order and excludes salaries already in fixed expenses.
Add the following rows beneath the inputs. Enter the formulas in column B, then copy them across to D. No scenario should have a separately typed revenue or contribution total.
| Row | Column A: calculated measure | Formula in column B |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | GMV (USD) | =B2*B3 |
| 9 | Fee revenue (USD) | =B8*B4 |
| 10 | Payment costs (USD) | =B8*B5 |
| 11 | Variable support (USD) | =B2*B6 |
| 12 | Transaction contribution (USD) | =B9-B10-B11 |
| 13 | Operating contribution (USD) | =B12-B7 |
| 14 | Contribution per order (USD) | =IF(B2=0,0,B12/B2) |
| 15 | Break-even orders | =IF(B14<=0,"No break-even",ROUNDUP(B7/B14,0)) |
Format rows 4 and 5 as percentages. Format money as dollars, with two decimal places for unit amounts, and order counts as whole numbers. Preserve full precision in the formulas; round only the displayed results, except for break-even orders, which deliberately round upward.
The formulas produce these results:
| Measure | Base | Lower volume | Higher take rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| GMV (USD) | 960,000 | 768,000 | 960,000 |
| Fee revenue (USD) | 115,200 | 92,160 | 124,800 |
| Payment costs (USD) | 24,000 | 19,200 | 24,000 |
| Variable support (USD) | 9,600 | 7,680 | 9,600 |
| Transaction contribution (USD) | 81,600 | 65,280 | 91,200 |
| Fixed operating expenses (USD) | 65,000 | 65,000 | 65,000 |
| Operating contribution (USD) | 16,600 | 280 | 26,200 |
| Contribution per order (USD) | 6.80 | 6.80 | 7.60 |
| Break-even orders | 9,559 | 9,559 | 8,553 |
Base GMV is 12,000 × 80 = $960,000. Fees are 960,000 × 12% = $115,200. Subtracting 24,000 + 9,600 = $33,600 of variable costs leaves $81,600, and subtracting fixed expenses leaves $16,600.
Lower volume keeps unit economics unchanged: 65,280 / 9,600 = $6.80 per order. Operating contribution falls to $280 because fixed expenses remain $65,000. The scenario is still above break-even volume, but its remaining operating contribution is small.
Higher take rate changes only the fee assumption. Its revenue increase is 124,800 − 115,200 = $9,600, which flows through to operating contribution because the supplied cost assumptions do not change. Do not assume that fee increases leave demand unchanged in a real plan; that relationship needs a separately supported scenario.
For a subscription business with a different revenue base, use the separate SaaS financial model in Excel rather than relabeling marketplace GMV as recurring revenue.
Place the following check in B17 and copy it across. It must return zero:
=B9-B10-B11-B7-B13
This verifies that the displayed operating contribution agrees with its components. It does not validate the source assumptions, so keep an export reconciliation alongside it.
For example, an Actuals sheet can use A for month, B for category and C for earned fee revenue. If G2 on the summary contains the selected month and G3 contains a category, aggregate the matching fee rows with:
=SUMIFS(Actuals!$C$2:$C$10000,Actuals!$A$2:$A$10000,$G$2,Actuals!$B$2:$B$10000,$G$3)
Microsoft's SUMIFS documentation confirms that the function sums values meeting multiple criteria. Use matching date or period types, extend the ranges when exports grow, and reconcile the sum of all category results to the fee ledger. Do not compare one category's actual fees with the whole-business budget row.
For break-even, the base case rounds 65,000 / 6.80 upward to 9,559 orders. The higher-take case rounds 65,000 / 7.60 upward to 8,553. This assumes fixed spending stays fixed and transaction economics stay constant over that activity range. If either assumption changes, rebuild the affected inputs before relying on the threshold.
Use the FP&A overview for the wider process of reviewing supplied financial results. Keep this contribution schedule distinct from depreciation, financing, taxes and a settlement-based cash forecast.
Bring your completed scenario workbook and the actual exports supporting its assumptions to Covirage. Covirage maps the columns, its tools compute and check figures from the supplied rows, and the external AI model explains the differences with every figure traced to its rows. Create a free Covirage account and bring a sample of your own data.
See Covirage for finance teams for the supporting industry context.
This page provides a copyable worksheet layout and exact formulas rather than a downloadable workbook. Create the rows in Excel, enter your assumptions and copy the calculation formulas across scenario columns. Keep a separate sheet containing the actual export used to support your starting assumptions.
Use the format required by your company's process. Microsoft identifies XLSX as a modern Excel workbook format and XLS as an older binary format. Confirm compatibility with the people receiving the file, then reopen the saved workbook and check formulas, percentage formatting and totals.
No. The layout compares monthly operating economics from transaction counts, basket values, fees and costs. It excludes valuation multiples, financing and investor returns. Add other approved schedules separately if needed, while preserving the distinction between operating contribution, accounting earnings and cash available for use.
Yes, if basket value, take rate and variable cost assumptions remain unchanged as volume changes. Divide fixed expenses by contribution per order and round up to a whole order. If contribution per order is zero or negative, this simple break-even calculation has no positive finite answer.