The difference between gross

sales and net sales

Gross sales are the grand total of all sale transactions reported in a
period, without any deductions included within the figure. Net sales
are defined as gross sales minus the following three deductions:

 Sales allowances. A reduction in the price paid by a customer,

due to minor product defects. The seller grants a sales allowance after
the buyer has purchased the items in question.
 Sales discounts. An early payment discount, such as paying
2% less if the buyer pays within 10 days of the invoice date. The seller
does not know which customers will take the discount at the time of
sale, so the discount is typically applied upon the receipt of cash from
customers.
 Sales returns. A refund granted to customers if they return
goods to the company (typically under a return merchandise
authorization).

In total, these deductions are the difference between gross sales

and net sales. If a company does not record sales allowances, sales
discounts, or sales returns, there is no difference between gross
sales and net sales.

All three of the deductions are considered contra accounts , which

means that they have a natural debit balance (as opposed to the
natural credit balance for the sales account); they are designed to
offset the sales account.

A company may elect to present its gross sales, deductions, and net
sales information on separate lines within its income statement .
However, doing so takes up a considerable amount of space, so it is
much more common to see a net sales presentation, where the
gross sales and deduction amounts are aggregated into a single net
sales line item.
Gross sales can be a misleading figure when reported as a single
line item, separate from the remainder of the income statement,
since it may considerably overstate the amount of sales, and
readers will have no way of knowing the amount of the various sales
deductions. Thus, if sales are to be reported separately from the
income statement, the amount should be reported as net sales.

The difference between gross sales and net sales can be of interest
to an analyst, especially when tracked on a trend line. If the
difference between the two figures is gradually increasing over time,
it can indicate quality problems with products that are generating
unusually large sales returns and allowances.