Which sell-through denominator is standard?

There is no single standard in live use. Units received, beginning on-hand, sold plus ending, and average inventory all appear, and marketplace variants add another. Choose one per source, state it beside the number, and never average across sources that chose differently.

Why is a sell-through above 100% not automatically an error?

Because some marketplace variants divide by something other than the inventory available in the period, so a ratio above one is expected behaviour for that definition. The error is comparing it to a ratio built on a different base.

Can I compute sell-through when the file states no inventory total?

No rate should ship in that case. Publish the units sold as a count, label it unverified against a base, and say the denominator is missing rather than assembling one yourself.

Failure catalogue · The metric means something else · 19 of 51

OBSERVED FAILURE MODE

Sell-through's four denominators.

Sell-through names a ratio, not a formula. The denominator can be units received, beginning on-hand, sold plus ending, or average inventory, and one large marketplace publishes a variant that routinely exceeds 100%. Four defensible denominators wear the same word on the same slide. Each ties to its own source, and none of them says which it is.

What we saw

Meridian Journal Group sells print copies through newsstand partners, and the word sell-through arrived from four directions at once. Distribution meant copies sold over copies shipped. The warehouse read meant sold over what was on hand when the week opened. A partner portal reported sold over sold plus ending. A marketplace feed returned a figure above 100%, because its denominator is not period inventory at all. Four numbers, one word, and a channel review that ranked partners by mixing them.

Why it passes a glance

Each variant reconciles against the file that produced it, so every arithmetic gate is green on all four. The differences surface as ranking changes rather than as errors, and a ranking has no total to tie to. A reader who has used one denominator for years reads the column as that denominator, and nothing on the page prompts the question.

What addresses it

The contested-metrics skill treats the basis question, percent of what, as a fork to settle before the first computation, and the Metric Library catalogues the variants in live use with the exact question each one needs answered. Principle 10, a metric without its definition is not a number, then requires the chosen basis to render beside the value, per source, in the same weight as the unit.

Check your own file in two minutes

Find the denominator the figure actually divides by, in the file, not in the report.
Ask each partner or system which base its own sell-through uses, and write the answer down beside the source name.
Check any value above 100% before treating it as a data error, since it usually signals a different denominator.
Refuse to rank sources by the metric until every row states the same basis.

What this does not catch

Naming the basis proves what was divided by what. It does not make two partners comparable when their systems count different things, and it cannot repair a file that states no denominator at all. Where the base is missing, the count ships unverified and the rate does not ship.

Quick answers

Which sell-through denominator is standard?: There is no single standard in live use. Units received, beginning on-hand, sold plus ending, and average inventory all appear, and marketplace variants add another. Choose one per source, state it beside the number, and never average across sources that chose differently.
Why is a sell-through above 100% not automatically an error?: Because some marketplace variants divide by something other than the inventory available in the period, so a ratio above one is expected behaviour for that definition. The error is comparing it to a ratio built on a different base.
Can I compute sell-through when the file states no inventory total?: No rate should ship in that case. Publish the units sold as a count, label it unverified against a base, and say the denominator is missing rather than assembling one yourself.

Nearby failures

Two churn definitions, 3.4 points apartThe metric means something else Gross, net, and total from one adminThe metric means something else The average of incomparablesThe metric means something else

Last updated 2026-09-02 · Dylan, founder · one of 51 observed failure modes, every one seen in a real build or in our own audits, none invented.

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