Helm › Helm University › Track 5 › Lesson 5.2
Lesson 5.2A real order, from checkout to your bank
One order, every number, from what the buyer's card is charged to what lands in your bank. This is the lesson almost no marketplace publishes.
Prefer to listen? This is the same lesson, word for word. The text below is the transcript.
This lesson prepares you to: Follow a single order all the way through and calculate the exact amount that reaches you.
The order
A buyer in a 7% sales tax state buys one hoodie from you.
- Hoodie: 40 dollars 00
- Shipping: 6 dollars 00
- Sales tax at 7% on 46 dollars: 3 dollars 22
- The buyer's card is charged: 49 dollars 22
Step one, the whole charge lands on Helm
All 49 dollars 22 goes to the Helm platform account. Not a cent of it is split at the card network. This is deliberate and it is what being the merchant of record means, which is the next lesson.
Step two, the two deductions
| Line | Working | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Commission | 6% of the 40 dollar subtotal | 2 dollars 40 |
| Card processing | 2.9% of 46 dollars, plus 30 cents | 1 dollar 63 |
| Total Helm deduction | 4 dollars 03 |
The floor does not apply here. 0.4% of 46 dollars is 18 cents, and the 6% commission of 2 dollars 40 is far larger, so the larger of the two wins.
Step three, what you are owed
Subtotal plus shipping, less the deduction:
46 dollars 00 minus 4 dollars 03 equals 41 dollars 97
That is your net. It is recorded against the order the moment the order is paid, so you can see it immediately, long before it moves.
Step four, the tax
The 3 dollars 22 of sales tax never enters your net and never appears in your payout. Helm collected it and Helm remits it. You do not touch it, chase it, or file it for this order.
Note what that means for the card fee. The network charged Helm on the whole 49 dollars 22, including the tax, but you were only charged processing on the 46 dollars. Helm absorbed the card fee on the tax.
Step five, the hold
Your 41 dollars 97 sits on the Helm platform account with the order marked held. It is yours, it is recorded, and it is not moving yet. How long it waits depends on your payout tier, which is lesson 5.4.
Step six, the release
When the hold expires, Helm transfers 41 dollars 97 to your Stripe Connect account and the order flips to released. Nobody at Helm presses a button. It is a background job, it runs continuously, and it either succeeds or it retries.
From your Connect account, the money reaches your bank on Stripe's normal payout schedule. That last leg is between you and Stripe.
So what did it actually cost?
You received 41 dollars 97 out of the 46 dollars the buyer paid you for goods and shipping. That is an effective rate of 8.76%, of which 3.5% was the card and 5.2% was Helm.
Why we publish the effective rate and not just the headline
Every marketplace quotes a commission. Almost none of them show you the number that matters, which is what fraction of the money actually reaches you once processing is in the picture. On a 46 dollar order that number is 8.76%. On a bigger order it falls, because the 30 cent flat fee stops mattering. On a 200 dollar order the same maths gives you 184 dollars 22, an effective rate of 7.89%.
A second order, where the floor bites
A one dollar enamel pin with 20 dollars of shipping, no tax.
- Commission: the greater of 6 cents and 8 cents, so 8 cents
- Processing: 2.9% of 21 dollars plus 30 cents, so 91 cents
- Your net: 21 dollars minus 99 cents, so 20 dollars 01
That is the floor doing its job, and it cost you two cents.
Next: why the whole charge lands on Helm in the first place, and what that means for your tax and your chargebacks.