A Spreadsheet Alternative for Reseller Profit Tracking
Almost every reseller starts in a spreadsheet, and it works fine for a while. The trouble shows up quietly. Poshmark tweaks its fee, Mercari changes its structure, and the formula you wrote eight months ago keeps using the old number. Your profit column looks right and isn't. The spreadsheet isn't the enemy here. The upkeep is. Cleared exists so the fee math is never your job to maintain.
A real example
You sell a jacket on Poshmark for $60 that cost you $18.
- Sale price: $60.00
- Poshmark fee (20% over $15): −$12.00
- Item cost: −$18.00
- Your net profit: $30.00
Half of the sale price. A spreadsheet only gets this right if its 20% is still correct and you remembered to subtract the cost. Cleared does both, every time, on every platform.
| A spreadsheet | Cleared | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | $4.99/mo |
| Flexibility | Total, build it any way you like | Opinionated around reseller profit |
| Fee tables | You type and maintain them | Built in, kept current, editable |
| When a platform changes a fee | Quietly wrong until you fix it | Update the rate once, done |
| Running P&L | If you build it | Included |
| Tax-time export | It is the spreadsheet | CSV export |
When a spreadsheet is the right call
If you like full control and your fee math is simple, a spreadsheet is hard to beat on price and flexibility. You can shape it around exactly how you think, add whatever columns you want, and it costs nothing. For a low volume of sales on one or two platforms, the upkeep is small and a spreadsheet is genuinely fine. Some people also just enjoy running their own sheet, and that's a fair reason to keep it.
When Cleared fits better
If you sell across several platforms, or your volume is high enough that a stale fee rate would cost you real money, Cleared takes the maintenance off your plate. Log a sale, pick the platform, and it subtracts the right fee automatically, then keeps a running profit and loss you can read at a glance. The fee engine is editable, so a rate change is a one-time edit rather than a hunt through formulas. You get the same overview a spreadsheet gave you, with the arithmetic kept right for you.
FAQ
What's wrong with a reselling spreadsheet?
Nothing, for a while. A spreadsheet works fine until a platform changes its fee. Then every cell that hard-coded the old rate is quietly wrong, and you usually don't notice until your profit column stops matching your payouts. You also re-type each platform's fee logic by hand, which is where small mistakes hide.
How is Cleared different from a spreadsheet?
Each platform's fee structure is built in and kept current. You log a sale, pick the platform, and Cleared applies the right fee automatically. The fee engine is editable too, so if a marketplace shifts its rates you can match them yourself instead of rebuilding a formula across every row.
Can I still see everything in one place, like a spreadsheet?
Yes. Cleared keeps a running profit and loss across all your sales and platforms, so you keep the at-a-glance view a spreadsheet gave you, without maintaining it. You can also export your numbers as a CSV when you need them somewhere else, like tax time.
What does Cleared cost, and why pay when a spreadsheet is free?
Cleared is $4.99 a month, with a free start. A spreadsheet costs nothing up front, but a fee that drifted out of date can quietly skim a few dollars off every sale for months. Over a busy year that adds up to more than the subscription.
Retire the spreadsheet
Let Cleared keep the fee math right across eBay, Poshmark, Mercari, Depop, and Vinted. Free to start.