Ecommerce Business Loans
Working capital that keeps pace with your sales and funds your next inventory order.
Apply in minutes with your sales data. Most ecommerce sellers get a decision the same day.
Business loans for ecommerce sellers
Ecommerce lives and dies on inventory and ad spend. You buy the stock upfront, you pay to acquire the customer, and the cash comes back weeks later, so growing too fast can leave you out of money while your revenue chart points straight up.
FundBetter gives you capital that moves at online speed, so the next order or the winning campaign never waits on a payout. One application and funds in as little as 24 hours to buy inventory before peak season or pour more budget into a campaign that's working.
Why ecommerce sellers need working capital
Inventory before the rush
Buy the stock you need months ahead of Q4 or a product drop, even when suppliers want payment upfront, with cash that doesn't wait on sales.
Ad spend that scales
Pour budget into a winning campaign fast, and let funding cover the days or weeks before the returns land after the money goes out.
Payouts you cannot spend yet
Spend against money you have already earned even while marketplaces and processors hold settlements, so bills don't wait on a payout that lands days or weeks late.
Why profitable ecommerce sellers still run short on cash
Funding closes the gap an ecommerce business lives with: it pays for everything early and gets paid late, whether or not it's profitable.
Start with inventory. You place a purchase order, put down a deposit, and pay the balance before the goods leave the factory. If you source overseas, add production and freight time on top. Money leaves your account months before a single unit is available to sell.
Then there's ad spend. Meta and Google charge you daily, sometimes as fast as you can raise the budget. A campaign that works asks for more money immediately, and the profit from those orders doesn't arrive at the same speed. That's because marketplace and processor payouts are held. Amazon settles on a rolling schedule and holds a reserve against returns and chargebacks. Other processors run their own payout delay, and newer accounts sit on longer holds. Your money exists, but it isn't in your bank account on the day the ad bill is due. A wholesale channel stretches the wait further, since a retail buyer on net 30 leaves you holding an invoice rather than a deposit, which is the gap invoice factoring is built to close.
Finally, returns claw back revenue you already counted. In apparel and footwear, return rates in the double digits are normal, and the refund hits weeks after the sale settled. Add Q4 concentration, where a large share of the year lands in a few weeks, and you have a business that can be growing, profitable, and out of working capital at the same moment.
Revenue-based financing vs. a merchant cash advance
Revenue-based financing and a merchant cash advance are the two products ecommerce sellers ask about most, and they're easy to confuse. Both flex with sales, so you repay faster in a strong month and lighter in a slow one. What differs is the pool the repayment is drawn from, and what that means for a multi-channel store.
| Revenue-based financing | Merchant cash advance | |
|---|---|---|
| Repayment drawn from | A share of total monthly revenue across every channel, including marketplace payouts | A fixed percentage of daily card settlements as they clear |
| Typical amount | $25K to $2M, scaled to trailing monthly revenue | $10K to $500K, scaled to monthly processing volume |
| Cost basis | A flat fee expressed as a multiple of the amount advanced | A factor rate set upfront, with a holdback taken from every batch |
| Speed of repayment | Slows in a soft month, accelerates through Q4 | Tracks daily card volume, concentrating repayment into busy weeks |
| Best suited to | Sellers with revenue spread across a website, marketplaces, and wholesale | Sellers with high, steady card volume on their own site |
| Weaker fit for | Stores with less than six months of sales history | Stores paid mainly through delayed marketplace payouts |
What ecommerce sellers finance most
Funding rarely goes to one line item. Most online stores put it to work across several of the costs below at once.
Inventory and purchase orders
The largest use by far. Fund deposits to suppliers, balance payments before shipment, freight and duties, and safety stock ahead of a launch. Overseas lead times mean the order you fund in summer is the stock you sell in November.
Ad spend and customer acquisition
Cover the gap between paying for a click today and collecting the payout weeks later. Fund prospecting budget on Meta and Google, marketplace sponsored placements, influencer and affiliate fees, and the higher auction prices that arrive every fourth quarter.
Warehousing and 3PL costs
Keep inventory flowing while funding covers storage fees, pick and pack charges, inbound receiving, and the long-term storage surcharges marketplaces apply to slow-moving units. Peak season fee increases land here too.
Product photography and creative
Fund lifestyle shoots, video for paid social, and the creative refresh a paid account needs once ads fatigue. Creative is usually billed in a lump sum well before the campaigns using it earn anything.
Platform and app subscriptions
Cover store platform fees, subscription and reviews apps, email and SMS tools, returns software, and the analytics stack. Individually small, they're collectively a real monthly outflow that scales with order volume.
When to use ecommerce business loans for ad spend
Borrowing to buy customers works when the numbers are already proven and the payback period is short. It fails when funding is used to hope a channel into profitability.
When funding ad spend makes sense for your store
- You have a channel with a known contribution margin and a customer acquisition cost that is already paying back inside a single purchase, or close to it.
- Your payback period is shorter than the financing term, so orders are settling and repaying the advance before it comes due.
- You are constrained by budget, not by performance. Performance holds steady when you raise spend rather than degrading as you reach a colder audience.
- You are funding a Q4 push where demand is proven from prior years, and you have the inventory depth to serve the extra orders. Selling out mid-campaign wastes the ad spend and leaves the repayment in place regardless.
When an ecommerce seller should hold off
- Your customer acquisition cost is rising and you are borrowing to keep volume flat. Financing makes an unprofitable channel more expensive, not more viable.
- Payback depends on repeat purchases twelve months out while the repayment starts this week. The timing mismatch is where online sellers get caught.
- Your return rate is high enough that reported revenue overstates what you keep. Refunds arrive after the sale, but the repayment schedule does not adjust for them.
- You are testing a new product, market, or channel with no performance history. Test with cash you can afford to lose, then finance the winner.
- Marketplace payout holds or a reserve mean the cash from those extra orders will not reach your account until after several repayments have already been taken.
Best ways to use ecommerce business loans
These are the requests we see most from online sellers.
Funding options for ecommerce sellers
Your revenue is measured daily and your costs land daily. The products below repay on a similar rhythm, which is why they suit online sellers better than a rigid long-term note.
Business Lines of Credit
Draw for supplier deposits ahead of a peak week and repay as orders ship.
Learn moreRevenue-Based Financing
Repayment moves with daily store revenue, so a slow week does not strain the account.
Learn moreShort-Term Business Loans
Fund a product launch or a container order against a clear payback window.
Learn moreMerchant Cash Advance
Best when you need stock fast and processor volume is steady enough to carry it.
Learn moreWho qualifies for ecommerce business loans?
We underwrite on store performance. If your sales are steady and your payment processor history is clean, a thin credit file is rarely the deciding factor.
Check if you qualifyFrequently Asked Questions
Can I get an ecommerce business loan with no physical storefront?
Yes. An online-only store is normal for us. We underwrite on your sales performance rather than premises or hard assets, so what matters is your revenue history, your processor and marketplace statements, and how your bank account behaves month to month. Sellers on their own site, on marketplaces, or across both are all fundable.
Can I get funding if Amazon holds a reserve against my payouts?
Yes, and it's one of the most common reasons sellers apply. A reserve doesn't mean the revenue is in question, only that the platform is holding it against future returns. We look at gross sales and settlement history to understand what you actually earn. Funding is often used precisely to bridge that hold.
How much can an ecommerce business borrow?
Funding runs up to $5M, though most online sellers land at a size tied to trailing monthly revenue rather than the ceiling. If your store does $50K a month, expect offers scaled to that. Larger amounts follow a longer track record and consistent volume across your channels.
When should I apply for funding before Black Friday?
Work backwards from your supplier lead time. If overseas production and freight take twelve weeks, you need the deposit paid roughly four months before the season, which means applying in summer. Funds can arrive in as little as 24 hours, but a purchase order placed in October won't become sellable stock in November.
How do returns and chargebacks affect ecommerce repayment?
A refund or chargeback pulls back revenue you already recorded. With revenue-based financing, repayment moves with what you actually collect, which softens the effect. With a merchant cash advance, the holdback comes from settlements as they clear. If your category runs a high return rate, size the funding against net revenue, not gross.
Are SBA loans a good fit for an online store?
Rarely for fast-moving needs. SBA loans carry the lowest cost but take weeks to months to close, and the timeline doesn't match an inventory order or a campaign that needs budget this week. They can suit a large, planned move such as acquiring a brand or buying a warehouse. For inventory and ad spend, a business line of credit or revenue-based financing is the better tool.
Other industries we fund
We know the cash-flow realities of 22 industries. If yours is not Ecommerce, chances are we fund it too.
Fuel growth with ecommerce business loans
Tell us about your store and your monthly sales. A real advisor will come back with the options that fit, usually the same day.