How do payout deductions work?

Deductions let you withhold costs from a customer's payout, so the amount you are charged is the offer minus whatever you have configured.

You choose them in your payout preferences. The options are the shipping label, shipping insurance, and an authentication fee, and none of them apply unless you have turned them on.

Shipping label and insurance are taken from the real cost of the inbound shipment, so you are never guessing a figure. They are charged once per package: if a customer sends several items in one box, the label is deducted once, not once per item. If a package was already charged on an earlier payout, it is not charged again. Only labels bought through Trendful count, and return shipments are never deducted.

They apply once the package is moving. A label that has been created but not yet scanned by the carrier is not deducted, because the package may never be sent.

Authentication is a fixed amount you set, and it applies to every item.

Deductions are worked out when the payout is created and stored on it. The payout dialog shows them before you send, so you always see what the customer will receive and what you will be charged. Because they are fixed at creation, a payout created before the carrier scans the package will not gain the shipping deduction afterwards.