Understanding the Nuances: 成本、虧本、賠本

These three words look similar but have very different meanings. Let's learn how to distinguish between 成本、虧本、賠本

成本 Cost

• 解釋：
  The amount of money required to produce, manufacture, or purchase something, or to provide a service.

• 例句：
• 本季原物料的成本增加了。
• The cost of raw materials has increased this quarter. 

虧本 To incur a loss

• 解釋：
  This refers to a situation where revenue is exactly equal to or slightly less than total operating costs. This means there is no net profit, indicating that the effort has been futile, even though the initial investment is largely retained.

• 例句：
• 要換季了，店家決定虧本出清所有過季商品。
• With the change of seasons approaching, the store decided to sell all its previous season items at a loss.
• 出清(Clearance sale) refers to the sale of all goods, typically to clear out inventory or empty a store.

賠本 To lose money

• 解釋：
  This means that total revenue is far lower than total cost, resulting in negative net income, which erodes the initial investment (principal or basic capital). This indicates a significant financial loss and a reduction in original capital.

• 例句：
• 如果降價太多，我們會賠本的。
• If we lower the price too much, we will lose money on every sale.

The terms 虧本 and 賠本 are often used interchangeably in everyday speech. Both terms are frequently used to describe a store or seller losing money when selling products at a price lower than the total cost.