GMV vs TPV
GMV is the total value of goods sold through a marketplace; TPV is the total value of payments processed. They overlap but measure different things.
GMV (gross merchandise value) is the total value of goods and services sold through a marketplace; TPV (total payment volume) is the total value of payments processed through a platform. Related, but not the same number.
How it works
- GMV counts sales value — what buyers bought — regardless of who moved the money.
- TPV counts payment flow — what actually ran through the payment rails, including tips, taxes, and sometimes off-platform items.
- A marketplace that processes its own payments will see GMV and TPV converge; one that doesn’t can post high GMV with low TPV.
Neither is revenue. The platform’s actual income is its take rate applied to the volume.
Why it matters
Investors and operators use GMV and TPV as headline scale metrics, but they flatter easily — a big GMV says nothing about what the platform keeps. Confusing volume with revenue, or double-counting payments as sales, is how a growth story hides thin economics.
How Fynex does it
When Fynex processes a marketplace’s payments, GMV moves through as real settlement and the platform keeps its cut at that moment — platform commission taken at settlement, every share traceable back to the books.