E-commerce Profit Truth
Your margin is not what the platform tells you it is.
Shopify shows you sale price minus product cost and calls it margin. Reality includes apps, transaction fees, payment processing, returns, disputes, advertising, and the cross-currency hit on settlement. We rebuild margin from first principles.
- Available calculators
- 3
Tools
Shopify True Cost Calculator
LivePlan + Apps + Transaction fees + Payments fees + Currency conversion — what you actually pay every month.
Open calculator →Landed Cost Calculator
LiveProduct + shipping + duty + insurance + customs broker — what a unit really costs to land on your shelf.
Open calculator →Break-Even ROAS Calculator
LiveThe exact return on ad spend an order must beat to break even — after COGS, payment fees, shipping, and returns, plus your max CAC.
Open calculator →
Source standards
Source standards for ecommerce calculations
Shopify plan, transaction, and payment assumptions are checked against public pricing pages, then separated from user-entered operating costs such as app spend, shipping, returns, product cost, duty, and ad spend. We do not estimate financing products, negotiated enterprise contracts, or tax obligations unless a calculator explicitly says so.
How to use this section
Work through the numbers in the order that prevents bad decisions.
- 01
Start with contribution margin
Revenue is not the operating metric. Begin with product cost, payment fees, shipping, returns, and ad spend so the calculator shows the order-level margin you can actually keep.
- 02
Separate platform fees from growth costs
Shopify plan cost is usually smaller than payment processing, apps, and paid acquisition. The true-cost pages keep those buckets separate so you do not upgrade a plan to solve a marketing or return-rate problem.
- 03
Use landed cost before pricing a SKU
A product that looks profitable at supplier quote can lose margin after freight, insurance, duty, broker fees, and currency spread. Landed cost should be checked before ROAS or discount strategy.
Guides & deep dives
Long-form explainers that go deeper than the calculators — the hidden traps, the real math, and how operators actually cut the bill.
The True Cost of a Shopify Store in 2026
GuideBeyond the plan price — the third-party gateway double-charge, app debt that scales with traffic, the plan-upgrade breakeven, and the fees you eat on every refund.
Read guide →Shopify vs WooCommerce: True Monthly Cost Compared
GuideBoth platforms priced all-in at $5k, $20k and $100k/month revenue — plan fees vs hosting, apps vs extensions, identical card rates, and the maintenance line every comparison post leaves out.
Read guide →The Ecommerce Profit Playbook: Why Revenue Isn't Profit
GuideThe seven-layer cost stack between a sale and a profit — COGS, payment fees, platform + app debt, shipping, returns, and ad spend — with a worked example and breakeven-ROAS math.
Read guide →
Why this category exists
Apps quietly eat margin
Most stores carry 8–15 paid Shopify apps. At an average of $25/month each, that's $2,400+/year that doesn't show up in any product margin calculation.
Currency settlement spreads
If you sell in USD but settle in NZD/AUD, your effective margin drops 2–4% via Shopify Payments' FX markup unless you use a multi-currency bank account.
Dispute reserves are real
Card disputes carry $15+ fees plus chargeback amount. A 0.6% dispute rate erodes 1.5%+ off effective margin for a typical AOV.
FAQ
- Do you account for Shopify Capital cash advance pricing?
- No. The Shopify True Cost Calculator does not include financing or Shopify Capital cash-advance pricing.
- How do you model app spend if I haven't installed all apps yet?
- The calculator includes typical-bundle defaults (e.g., Klaviyo, Loop, Judge.me) at their public pricing. Override to match your actual stack.