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CFO & Strategy

Finance for Marketplace and GMV Businesses

Written by Harry Prabandham

Curated by Rubric Financial

Last updated July 18, 2026

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GMV and Take Rate Fundamentals

Gross Merchandise Value is the total dollar value transacted on the platform before any deductions, and it is a scale metric, not revenue.
Take rate is your revenue divided by GMV, and it captures the share of each transaction the platform actually keeps.
Blended take rate hides mix, so decompose it into commission, payment fees, and value-added services to see what is really monetizing.
Guard against take rate expansion that outpaces the value you deliver, because sellers will route transactions off-platform to avoid it.

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About the author

Harry Prabandham

Founder & CEO

Founder and CEO of StartupCFO. MBA from Wharton, MS in Computer Science, and decades of experience building and advising venture-backed startups.

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