A minimum order looks fine as a unit price and terrifying as a bank balance. Enter four numbers and see the cash it ties up, how long that money stays frozen, and whether the order is safe or a squeeze.
Cash tied up · months to recoup · verdict
Recoup time uses gross profit per unit times monthly sell-through and assumes steady sales. Slower months push the recoup date out, so treat this as a planning estimate.
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The supplier says the minimum is a thousand units at six dollars. Six dollars a unit sounds cheap, so it feels like a green light. Then you place the order and six thousand dollars leaves the account for stock that will take five months to sell.
That is the part sellers skip. A minimum order is not a unit price, it is a cash commitment with a clock on it. If it buys more months of inventory than your sales can chew through, a big slice of your working capital sits frozen in a warehouse while the rest of the business runs on fumes.
This calculator turns the minimum into the number that actually matters, the cash it locks up and how long before you get it back.
The minimum order, your landed cost, how many units you sell per month, and your price.
Cash committed, months of inventory it buys, and how long your profit takes to earn it back.
Safe, tight, or dangerous, so you know before you wire the deposit whether this order squeezes you.
MOQ stands for minimum order quantity, the fewest units a supplier will produce in one order. It matters because a high minimum forces you to buy more inventory than you may sell soon, which locks up cash you could use elsewhere.
Multiply the minimum order by your landed cost per unit and that is the cash committed the moment you order. This tool also shows how many months of inventory that buys and how long your gross profit takes to earn it back.
Compare the units in the order against how many you actually sell per month. If it buys more than roughly six months of stock, a big share of your cash sits frozen and the order looks dangerous. This tool gives you that verdict in one line.
Yes. Run it as many times as you want, no account. Drop your email only if you want the breakdown sent to you.
Recoup time depends on how fast the inventory sells, and that comes down to your product page. A page that converts better empties the warehouse faster and frees your cash sooner. Our free Profit Audit scans your page and shows you, in dollars, what a weak page costs you per thousand visitors.
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