Finance for ecommerce businesses
Platforms like Shopify and lenders like Wayflyer let ecommerce businesses scale fast, from inception to an established brand. The right finance product changes as you do.
General information only
Ecommerce businesses grow fast, and the capital has to keep up. The catch is that the finance that gets a store off the ground isn’t the finance that should still be funding it two years later. Plenty of stores start on revenue-based lending and never move off it, and staying on longer than you need to costs real money.
Spent online in 2025, up 14% year-on-year, per the Australia Post eCommerce Report.
Sourced data: Australia Post
How fast is Australian ecommerce growing?
That speed isn’t a niche phenomenon anymore. Australians pushed a record amount through online retail in 2025, according to the Australia Post eCommerce Report 2026, with online now accounting for 24% of all retail spend. Marketplaces alone drove $18.9 billion of that, up 13%. A store riding that kind of category growth can go from newly trading to needing real working capital within a single peak season.
Hold that against the business-count data, which runs the other way. The ABS counts of Australian businesses show retail trade business numbers grew just 0.1% in 2025-26, against 3.1% across all industries. Spend is moving online quickly while the number of retail businesses barely moves, which points to existing retailers switching channel rather than a wave of new entrants. An established retailer moving online needs working capital on a different timetable to a startup.
The natural progression: from RBL to overdraft, line of credit or invoice finance
Most ecommerce businesses start on revenue-based lending for their first one to two years. It’s fast, it’s accessible without much trading history, and it’s matched to the ad-spend-and-inventory cycle new stores run on. Once a business becomes established, the transition to overdrafts, lines of credit, and, for businesses with a B2B distribution arm rather than pure B2C, invoice finance, can save a significant amount of money compared to what you’d keep paying in the revenue-based lending space.
Whether you sell B2C or B2B changes the answer. A B2C store is paid upfront: the customer pays, you pick the stock and ship it. A B2B operation often has to place a bulk order with its supplier, then wait weeks for its own customers to pay. That’s where trade finance (for the bulk order) and invoice finance (for the wait) earn their place, and it’s a step a lot of stores with a wholesale arm never take.
A deal Andrew worked on before starting Ecommerce Loans. An ecommerce brand nearly four years old had funded most of its growth on revenue-based lending, across a couple of providers. It had just added a B2B channel, selling to brands in the UK, the US and Asia as well as Australia. Unsecured lending wasn’t an option: the bank statements were tight, and with the revenue-based lenders on the file, no unsecured lender would sit alongside them or lend enough to pay them out. Invoice finance and trade finance could, at $150,000 each, and at less than half the price of the revenue-based lending. They sat alongside the existing facilities, so nothing had to be paid out in a hurry, and they’re only drawn when the business needs them. As the B2B debtor book grows, the limits can grow with it, and the plan is to move off revenue-based lending entirely.
Revenue-based lending
Fast to access, minimal trading history required, priced against your revenue rather than your financials. The right fit while the business is still establishing consistent numbers.
Overdraft, line of credit, or invoice finance
Once turnover is consistent and financials are clean, these products are materially cheaper than staying on RBL. Invoice finance specifically suits businesses with a B2B distribution side, not just direct-to-consumer sales.
What it takes to graduate to the cheaper products
Like any retail business, lenders want to see consistent cashflow. As you move toward the better-priced products, they’ll also want clean financials and a well-managed ATO account. You can access these products without ticking every box, but the price goes up to match. And set the next facility up before peak season, not in the middle of it.
- 01Consistent cashflow over time, not a single strong month, is what lenders in this space are assessing.
- 02Clean financials matter more the further you move toward the cheaper products.
- 03A well-managed ATO account matters more than most sellers expect once you’re being assessed for overdrafts, lines of credit or invoice finance.
Revenue-based lending
Where most stores start. Fast, and priced on revenue, not financials.
Overdrafts & lines of credit
Once cash flow is consistent and the financials are clean. Nothing owing if you don’t draw on it.
Invoice finance
For stores selling B2B on payment terms. It funds the wait between shipping and getting paid.
If your store has moved past its first year or two and your financials have caught up, staying on revenue-based lending is likely costing you more than it needs to.
| Business stage | Typical fit |
|---|---|
| New store, limited trading history | Revenue-based lending |
| Established, consistent cashflow, B2C | Business overdrafts or lines of credit |
| Established, B2B distribution alongside B2C | Invoice finance |
| One-off need, e.g. inventory or equipment purchase | Unsecured business loans or asset finance |
How long do online retailers last?
Nobody measures it directly: the ABS has no ecommerce industry division, so online sellers are spread across retail trade and others. Retail trade is the closest proxy, and it isn’t encouraging: 56.5% four-year survival against 61.9% across all industries, and 46.2% of new retail businesses reaching three years against 49.2% nationally. Treat it as the neighbourhood, not your postcode.
Source: ABS Counts of Australian Businesses, business survival and entries survival, June 2022 to June 2026. Survival counts businesses still operating, so a business sold or wound up solvently also leaves the count. It isn’t a failure rate.
Why work with a broker instead of comparing lenders yourself?
Knowing when your business has reached the point where it can graduate off RBL, and which lender will price the next product correctly for your financials and ATO position, isn’t obvious from the outside. A broker who works across both spaces can tell you whether you’re ready to move, and negotiate the transition rather than you working it out lender by lender. (More on how a business loan broker works.)
When staying on RBL is still the right call
If your financials aren’t clean yet, or your ATO account isn’t well managed, moving too early to a cheaper product can mean a lender declines you or prices it up regardless, and you’ve spent time and effort for no saving. Sometimes the right answer is another few months of clean trading before you switch.
Still paying revenue-based lending rates?
Tell us how long you’ve been trading and what your financials look like and we’ll tell you whether you’re ready to move to a cheaper product.
Give us the basics below and we’ll call you within the hour, or at the time you choose, then come back with the two or three offers worth your time.