Revenue reported after subtracting cancellations, refunds, chargebacks, and similar deductions from gross revenue — the actual revenue a business retains, as opposed to the total value of transactions initially booked.
Why it matters
Gross revenue or gross bookings figures can make a business look larger than the revenue it actually keeps. "Net of cancellations" and "net of refunds" are the standard qualifiers used to clarify that a reported number already accounts for money that didn't ultimately stick — a meaningfully more conservative and accurate figure for evaluating real business performance.
In a sentence
"Gross bookings were up 20%, but net of cancellations, actual revenue growth was closer to 12%."
Related terms
- Antonyms: Gross revenue, gross bookings (the pre-deduction figures net revenue is calculated from).
- Often confused with: Profit or margin (net revenue still refers to top-line revenue after specific deductions like refunds — it is not the same as profit, which also subtracts costs of goods sold, operating expenses, and other costs).
- Synonyms: Realized revenue, adjusted revenue.