Prohaar.nl review for Shopify Collective

Feb. 5, 2026

After implementing Shopify Collective and starting real sales, a fundamental accounting and tax problem appears that Shopify does not clearly communicate, and which in practice makes this model unworkable for EU businesses. Once you connect to a supplier: you sell products directly to end customers, payments are received by your store, Shopify automatically splits the revenue based on a predefined “margin”, but you do not receive any purchase invoices from the supplier that would document the cost of goods sold. Key tax consequence From a tax authority’s perspective: a cost exists only if there is a valid invoice, no invoice = no deductible cost. As a result: 100% of the sales revenue is treated as taxable income, authorities assume the goods were acquired “for free”, income tax is calculated on the full turnover, not on the margin. The margin in Shopify Collective is an illusion The margin shown in Shopify Collective: has no tax or accounting validity, is not recognized as a cost, is only an internal platform settlement. In practice: you transfer part of the revenue to the supplier, you still pay fees, payment costs, ads, etc., but income tax is charged on the full sales amount. This means the merchant ends up subsidizing each sale instead of making a profit. High risk for EU merchants Shopify Collective operates like dropshipping or a marketplace, but: provides no supplier purchase invoices, offers no self-billing mechanism, does not issue consolidated monthly cost invoices, shifts all tax risk onto the merchant. Under EU tax rules: Without a cost invoice, there is no cost of goods sold — regardless of real money flows. Conclusion Shopify Collective may look attractive from a technical standpoint, but: it is not aligned with EU tax and accounting requirements, it prevents proper income tax reporting, it creates serious financial and compliance risk for merchants. I strongly discourage using Shopify Collective if you operate a business in the EU and want to stay compliant and profitable.