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How to Calculate Shopify Profit (Not Just Revenue)
Shopify's analytics are great at revenue and orders — and silent on whether you actually made money. Between COGS, Shopify and payment fees, discounts, returns and ad spend, a store doing healthy revenue can run on a razor-thin (or negative) net margin without the owner realising.
Here's how to get to your true Shopify profit, and the numbers that show where it's leaking.
Shopify Profit Calculator
Your numbers
Store revenue and every cost for the period.
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$
Cost of goods
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Net profit
26.6% margin$22,600.00
Profit / order
$16.14
Break-even CPA
$26.86
max ad spend / orderThe Shopify profit formula
Net profit = revenue − every cost: COGS, shipping, Shopify subscription and transaction fees, payment processing fees, discounts, returns and advertising. Net margin is that as a percentage of revenue.
Example: $85,000 revenue with $62,400 of total costs leaves $22,600 net profit — a 26.6% margin, or $16.14 per order across 1,400 orders.
The fees Shopify owners forget
Two costs quietly compound: Shopify's own fees (your plan plus transaction fees if you don't use Shopify Payments) and payment processing (roughly 2.9% + a fixed fee per order). Together they often take 2–3%+ of revenue before anything else. Discounts and returns then come straight off the bottom.
Add them all in once and your ‘profit’ usually drops more than expected — which is exactly why doing this matters.
Profit per order and break-even CPA
Divide net profit by orders for profit per order, and compute contribution before ads to get your break-even CPA — the most you can pay to acquire an order. If your blended CPA is above it, acquisition is losing money even while revenue grows.
Why revenue growth can hide a profit problem
Scaling ads lifts revenue fast, but if each new order carries a CPA above break-even, more sales mean more losses. Watch net margin and profit per order alongside revenue — and your blended ROAS / MER — so growth doesn't quietly cost you money.
Frequently asked questions
Does Shopify show my profit?
Not really — Shopify reports revenue, orders and some costs, but true net profit needs COGS, all fees, discounts, returns and ad spend combined. This calculator does that.
What's a good Shopify profit margin?
Many DTC brands run around 10–20% net, but it varies widely by category and ad intensity. Track your own trend and profit per order.
What fees does Shopify charge?
Your plan fee, plus payment processing (~2.9% + a fixed fee per transaction) and extra transaction fees if you don't use Shopify Payments. Verify current rates in Shopify's pricing.
Track this on a live dashboard
Connect your store and watch these numbers update themselves — no spreadsheets.
Keep reading
The Complete Guide to E-commerce Profitability
Revenue is vanity; profit is sanity. Walk the profit ladder — gross, contribution and net — learn which costs belong where, how discounts, shipping and returns bite, and how to find the numbers that tell you if you're actually making money.
Gross Margin vs Contribution Margin vs Net Margin
Three margins, three jobs. Learn what gross, contribution and net margin each measure, the formula for each, and which one to use for pricing, product decisions and judging the whole business.
How to Calculate Break-even CPA
Break-even CPA is the most you can pay to win an order before it stops making money. Learn the formula, a worked example, and how to hold your Meta and Google CPA against it.