POD Cash Flow Calculator

A profitable sale is not necessarily spendable cash

For ordinary Printify store integrations, the customer pays the sales channel while the merchant pays Printify separately for production and shipping. Printify Pop-Up Store uses a different arrangement. Confirm your supplier's billing workflow before applying this model. Printify payment-process guidance

Etsy distinguishes pending earnings from funds eligible for deposit; payout availability depends on account circumstances. Estimate the full sale-to-bank delay, not only the date an amount becomes eligible. Etsy payment-account guidance

Bring three numbers from your actual workflow

1. Upfront cost: use the complete amount you must fund per order, including production, supplier shipping, and other immediate charges. Convert foreign-currency invoices to CAD using your payment assumptions.
2. Net receipts: use customer proceeds after platform fees and remitted tax, before supplier costs. Our Etsy fee calculator can help separate the fees; do not copy its final profit into this field.
3. Timing: use ordinary and delayed sale-to-bank days. Delayed days are a total from the sale, not extra days added after the ordinary payout. Include deposit scheduling and bank arrival in your assumption.

Etsy says reserve percentages and holding periods vary by account; verified in-transit tracking can allow earlier release. The held share in this tool is a percentage of estimated net receipts, not an exact simulation of Etsy's reserve rules. Check your account and test scenarios. Official reserve guidance

How the 30-day calculation works

Setup spending leaves cash on day zero. The model then creates the same number of orders each day. It pays that day's upfront costs before adding any payouts at day end, including when the delay is zero. Each daily group of orders schedules ordinary and delayed receipts separately.

Daily upfront spending

Orders per day × upfront cost per order

Ordinary receipt per day's orders

Orders per day × net receipts per order × (1 − held share)

Delayed receipt per day's orders

Orders per day × net receipts per order × held share

Running cash

Starting cash − setup spending − upfront spending paid + receipts reaching the bank

Extra cash needed

Maximum of zero and (peak funding gap − starting cash)

The peak funding gap is the largest cumulative deficit before adding starting cash, including the point before each day's payout. Unreceived receipts are amounts from these orders scheduled beyond day 30. They are not available to cover an earlier supplier charge.

Worked example: no payouts during the first month

Suppose one order arrives each day for 30 days. Each costs CAD20 upfront and produces CAD30 in net receipts. Setup costs CAD50, starting cash is CAD100, and no receipts reach the bank within the period. These are illustrative amounts, not supplier prices or marketplace terms.

• Upfront order spending: 30 × CAD20 = CAD600.
• Peak funding gap, including setup: CAD600 + CAD50 = CAD650.
• Extra cash needed beyond CAD100 starting cash: CAD550.
• Day-30 model balance: −CAD550; net receipts still unreceived: CAD900.

That negative balance identifies an unfunded scenario, not permission to keep accepting orders. Re-run with a different order pace, complete supplier quote, or payout assumption before deciding what you can support.

Limits: a scenario, not a bank forecast

This model assumes constant daily orders and costs, no existing unpaid orders, and two fixed receipt delays. It does not reproduce a platform ledger, variable weekends, refunds, chargebacks, currency movements, credit-card repayment dates, or later tax payments. Include relevant immediate expenses in your inputs and keep separate allowances for risks not modelled. A result is neither an earnings forecast nor financial or tax advice.

POD funding questions