Working Capital
Revenue-based funding against your deposits. The fastest path to an inventory buy.
Direct lender · Retail & e-commerce
Funding for retail and e-commerce businesses — $10,000 to $2,000,000
Shelfline Capital is a direct lender for established retailers, marketplace sellers, DTC brands and distributors. We underwrite in house, we underwrite every channel you sell on, and we fund the things your sales platform's capital program will not.
No minimum credit score. $15,000 a month in revenue. Six months in business. Decision the same business day. Funded in as little as 24 hours on a two-page contract.
$10K–$2MFunding range
24 hrsTo funding
$0Application fees
2 pagesOf contract
What you need to qualify
| Requirement | Shelfline minimum |
|---|---|
| Credit score | No minimum FICO. We do not decline on credit score alone. |
| Monthly revenue | $15,000 per month in business bank deposits |
| Time in business | 6 months |
| Funding range | $10,000 to $2,000,000 |
| Business location | All 50 U.S. states |
| Entity type | LLC, S-corp, C-corp, partnership, or sole proprietorship |
| Bank account | One U.S. business bank account |
| Documents to apply | One-page application plus your last 4 months of business bank statements. No tax returns and no financial statements for working capital under $250,000. |
| Decision | Same business day. Most files are decided in 2 to 6 hours. |
| Funding speed | As fast as 24 hours after you sign |
| Contract | Two pages. |
| Collateral | None required on working capital, lines of credit, or revenue-based funding |
| Personal guarantee | Standard validity guarantee only on working capital. Full guarantee on term, SBA and equipment products. |
| Prepayment | Discount of up to 30% of remaining cost if you pay off early |
| Credit inquiry | Applying is a soft inquiry. It does not affect your personal credit score. |
| Cost to apply | $0. No application fee, no broker fee, no fee of any kind unless you fund. |
Who we do not fund: businesses under 6 months old; businesses under $15,000 a month in deposits; businesses with an open, undischarged bankruptcy; businesses without a U.S. business bank account; pre-revenue startups; personal or consumer borrowing; and any business whose primary activity is federally illegal.
We publish these numbers because they are the question. If you do not clear a line above, you will not waste a day finding out.
Will this buy pay for its own capital?
Most funding calculators tell you a payment. That is not the decision you are making. The decision is whether an inventory buy throws off enough gross profit to cover what the money costs and still leave something on the table. Move the sliders.
$175,000Amount funded toward this buy
$31,500Total cost of funding
18.0%Cost as % of amount advanced
$318,182Revenue this buy generates
$143,182Gross profit on the buy
9.9 ptsCost as points of revenue generated
Cost of funding is 22% of the gross profit this buy throws off. That is workable.
Gross profit is before fulfilment, media and overhead. On a typical direct-to-consumer file, contribution after media lands at 12 to 18 points of revenue — check this buy against that number too.
Estimates only. Your actual amount, cost and term are set by underwriting after we review four months of bank statements. Nothing here is an offer of credit.
What platform capital will not do
Capital offered inside your sales platform is cheap and it is fast. It is also, by design, narrow. It underwrites one channel, it funds one channel, and in most cases you cannot even ask for it — you wait to be picked.
| Capital offered inside a sales platform | Shelfline Capital | |
|---|---|---|
| Can you apply? | Invitation only on most platform programs — offers are generated by an automated model with no queue and no appeal. | Yes. Public application, any business day. |
| Minimum to be considered | Typically a few months of platform history and a processing-volume threshold. Rarely published. | 6 months in business, $15,000 a month in deposits, no minimum FICO. |
| What gets underwritten | One channel only. Revenue outside that platform does not count. | All revenue, all channels, all business deposit accounts. |
| Amount | Set by the model. Often capped at a fixed share of platform sales and can be cut without notice. | $10,000–$2,000,000, sized to the whole business. |
| Can you choose the amount? | No — the offer amount is fixed once you accept, and underwriting may reduce it. | Yes. You propose the number and what it is for. |
| Where the money lands | Your balance inside that platform. | Your business bank account. |
| Lock-in | Typically you cannot change your primary gateway while a balance is outstanding, and repayment is taken from settlements even in slow months. | None. Fixed ACH from your business bank account. |
| Off-platform uses | Built for on-platform growth. | Wholesale POs, customs duty, buildout, equipment, payroll, acquisitions — no restriction. |
| Who you talk to | A support ticket. | A named underwriter with a direct line. |
If your platform offered $60,000 and your fourth-quarter buy is $400,000 with a 30% deposit due in August, the platform did not say no. It said not this. That gap is what we fund — on its own, or layered behind the offer you already took.
Platform terms vary by provider and change frequently. Verify current terms with your provider before relying on them.
Six ways to fund a retail or e-commerce business
Line of Credit
A revolving facility you draw on when a PO lands and repay when the goods sell.
Term Loans
Fixed amount, fixed payment, 12 to 60 months, for a buildout or an acquisition.
SBA Loans
7(a) up to $5,000,000 through our bank and SBA partners, for the lowest cost of capital available.
Equipment Financing
POS, refrigeration, racking, forklifts, packing lines, delivery vehicles. Up to 100% of cost.
Invoice Factoring
Advance against invoices issued to retailers, distributors or 3PL customers on net-30 to net-90 terms.
Who we fund
Amazon & marketplace sellers
FBA and FBM sellers on Amazon, Walmart Marketplace, eBay and Target+. We count marketplace settlements as deposits and we do not require your inventory as collateral.
Shopify & DTC brands
Direct-to-consumer brands on Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce or a custom stack. Every gateway counts — Shopify Payments, Stripe, PayPal, Affirm, Shop Pay Installments.
Brick-and-mortar retail
Single-store and small-chain retail: apparel, home, specialty food, garden, pet, sporting goods, gift. Card settlements and cash deposits both count.
Wholesale & distribution
Distributors and wholesalers shipping to retailers on net-30 to net-90 terms. This is where invoice factoring usually beats an advance.
Subscription & replenishment
Subscription boxes, replenishment and membership commerce. Predictable recurring revenue underwrites well and usually prices near the bottom of our range.
The retail cash gap is 14 to 20 weeks wide
Here is the arithmetic on a $3,000,000-a-year brand planning a $1,200,000 fourth quarter.
In early August you place a $400,000 purchase order. A 30% deposit — $120,000 — leaves your account that week. Production runs about six weeks. Ocean freight and customs take another five to seven. The 70% balance, $280,000, is due at or near shipment, and duty is assessed at the border before a single unit sells. By the time the container clears you have deployed roughly $550,000, and the last dollar went out about six weeks before the first meaningful revenue week.
That is a 14-to-20-week gap between cash out and cash in, and it is not a planning failure. It is the structure of the business.
Then the collection side stretches it further. Marketplaces hold funds until days after delivery confirmation, and sellers report extended reserves running three weeks or longer with no published trigger. Settlement cycles run about 14 days. Wholesale buyers pay net-60 or net-90. Your money is real and you cannot touch it.
And it does not end in December. January revenue typically lands around 40% of December's, which is why a fixed monthly payment sized against November is the single most common way a good fourth quarter turns into a bad first quarter. Plan for about 70% of the Q4 buy sold through by 31 January, not 100%.
What we do about it: we size the facility against the whole gap, not one month of it, and we structure repayment so the heavy weeks fall when the revenue does. On seasonal files we will build a step-down — larger remittance November through January, reduced February through April — in writing, in the original agreement, not as a hardship workout later.
What it costs
We quote one number: the total dollar cost of funding. There is no origination fee, no application fee, no monthly servicing fee, no maintenance fee on an undrawn line, no prepayment penalty, and no closing fee deducted from the wire.
Cost depends on time in business, deposit consistency, how many months of statements show growth, and the term you choose. On working capital, the typical total cost of funding runs 9% to 34% of the amount advanced, and the term runs 4 to 18 months. A four-year-old seller with $150,000 a month in steady deposits prices near the bottom of that range. A ten-month-old seller with uneven months prices near the top.
Pay early and you keep up to 30% of the remaining cost. That discount is in the two-page agreement, not a goodwill gesture. On a fourth-quarter buy that sells through in 90 days, it is usually the largest single lever on your effective cost.
You will see the dollar cost, the payment, the number of payments and the total payback on one page before you sign anything.
How it works
1. Apply — 4 minutes. One page. Legal name, EIN, time in business, monthly revenue, what you need and what it is for.
2. Send four months of business bank statements. PDF upload or a read-only bank connection. No tax returns and no financial statements for working capital under $250,000.
3. Decision the same business day. Most files are decided in 2 to 6 hours. Your underwriter calls you with the number, the cost and the term.
4. Funded in as little as 24 hours. Two-page agreement, e-signed. ACH to your business account.
What happens after you submit: a Shelfline underwriter reviews your file and calls you — usually within two hours during business hours, and by the next business morning if you apply overnight or on a weekend. You will speak to the same person through closing. We do not put you into an automated sequence.
Business hours: Monday–Friday, 9:00am–7:00pm ET; Saturday 9:00am–2:00pm ET.
Frequently asked questions
What credit score do I need for retail or e-commerce business funding?
None. Shelfline has no minimum FICO and does not decline on credit score alone. We underwrite your business bank deposits. Applying is a soft inquiry and does not affect your personal credit score.
How much revenue do I need?
$15,000 a month in business bank deposits is the minimum.
How long do I have to be in business?
Six months.
How much can I get?
$10,000 to $2,000,000 on working capital.
How fast is it?
Same-business-day decision, most files in 2 to 6 hours. Funded in as little as 24 hours after you sign.
Can I get funding if I already took capital from my sales platform?
Yes. Platform advances are underwritten against one channel and are usually sized well below what the whole business supports. Tell your underwriter what is outstanding and we will size around it.
Do you fund marketplace sellers who hold inventory at a fulfilment centre?
Yes. Fulfilment-centre and in-transit inventory do not need to be collateral — working capital and lines of credit are unsecured.
Do I need to switch payment processors or connect my store?
No. We read four months of business bank statements. You keep whatever gateway and processor you use now, and nothing about your checkout changes.
What does it cost?
On working capital, a total cost of funding of 9% to 34% of the amount advanced over a 4-to-18-month term, with no fees of any kind and a prepayment discount of up to 30% of the remaining cost. You see the dollar amount before you sign.
Is Shelfline a direct lender or a broker?
Shelfline Capital is a direct lender. Every file is underwritten in house first. SBA and conventional term products are placed with our bank and SBA partners because those products require a chartered institution.
You know what the buy costs. Find out what the money costs.
No application fee. Soft credit inquiry. Same-day decision.
Or call (888) 896-5559 · Mon–Fri 9am–7pm ET, Sat 9am–2pm ET