Most Shopify sellers know their revenue. Few know their actual profit after platform fees, ad spend, shipping, returns, and packaging. This free calculator shows the real number — in under a minute.
Open the free Shopify profit calculatorNo account required · Works on mobile · Free forever
When a customer pays $49.99, that number feels real. What reaches your bank account is another story. Here are the five cost layers that quietly compound on every Shopify order.
On Shopify Basic with Shopify Payments, every transaction costs 2.9% + 30¢. Sell $49.99 and you lose $1.75 before touching the product. On a $1,000/day store that's over $6,000/year — just in processing. Third-party gateways add another 0.5–2% on top.
Facebook and Google ads are how most Shopify stores acquire customers. $3–8 in ad cost per order doesn't appear in your COGS but absolutely reduces net profit. Misallocate ad spend across your SKU mix and you'll confidently scale the wrong products.
A 5% return rate sounds small. On a $49.99 product that's a $2.50 average cost per unit sold — you lose the sale, may lose the inventory, and often pay return shipping. Apparel, footwear, and electronics routinely see 10–25% return rates.
"Free shipping" is never free — it's subsidized by your margin. Actual shipping varies by zone, package weight, and carrier. Budget a flat average and you'll think your margin is 5–8 points higher than reality, especially for bulky or heavy products.
Branded boxes, tissue paper, thank-you cards, and packing labor add $1–2 per order. On a $49.99 product that's another 2–4% of margin gone before the customer opens the box. Premium unboxing experiences are worth it — but only if you account for them.
Here's what “50% gross margin” actually looks like once every real cost is applied.
That's a 37% net margin— not bad. But most sellers see “50% gross margin” and plan pricing, ad spend, and restock around that number. Now run the same product with a 15% return rate, $6 shipping to heavy zones, and $5 ad spend: net profit drops to $9.99 — a 20% margin. The difference changes every scaling decision you make.
Storewide average margin hides which products are dragging you down. Your best-selling SKU might have a 42% net margin. Your second-best-seller might be losing money after returns. Without SKU-level profit data, you cannot make confident decisions about:
The free Shopify profit calculator below handles one SKU at a time. Enter your actual numbers — sale price, COGS, platform fee, ad spend, shipping, packaging, return rate, and discount — and get true net profit and net margin instantly. No spreadsheet, no signup.
Enter one SKU. See true net profit, net margin, and a cost breakdown in 60 seconds. Results update instantly as you type. Works for Shopify, Amazon FBA, Etsy, and any other channel.
Open free profit calculator — no signupWorks for Shopify, Amazon FBA, Etsy, WooCommerce, and any other channel
The free calculator handles one product at a time. MerchantHQ Starter connects to your Shopify store and calculates true net profit per SKU automatically — syncing your cost data, fees, and ad spend in real time. Know exactly which products to scale and which to cut.
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Shopify charges a monthly subscription fee plus a per-transaction payment processing fee. On Shopify Basic with Shopify Payments, the processing fee is 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction. On Advanced Shopify it drops to 2.4% + 30¢. If you use a third-party payment gateway, Shopify adds an additional 0.5–2% transaction fee on top of your gateway's own fees. Combined with Shopify's platform fee, these charges can consume 3–5% of every sale.
To calculate true net profit per SKU: start with the net sale price after discounts, then subtract COGS (product/landed cost), Shopify and payment processing fees, actual shipping cost, packaging, your allocated ad spend per order, and a return allowance based on your return rate. The result is your true net profit per unit sold. MerchantHQ's free Shopify profit calculator automates this in 60 seconds — no signup required.
A healthy Shopify net profit margin after all costs — including ads, shipping, fees, packaging, and returns — is typically 15–30% for DTC brands. Below 10% is thin: small increases in ad spend or return rates can flip a SKU unprofitable. Above 30% gives you room to scale ad spend aggressively or invest in new products. Margin benchmarks vary significantly by category: apparel and electronics tend to be lower (5–20%) while beauty and supplements can run higher (25–50%).
Ad spend reduces Shopify profit by exactly what you spend to acquire each order. If your blended customer acquisition cost (CAC) is $5 on a $50 average order value, ads alone consume 10% of revenue — before any other cost. Many sellers calculate gross margin without allocating ad spend to individual SKUs, causing them to overestimate profitability and overspend on underperforming products. Tracking ad spend per SKU or per collection is critical for accurate profit analysis.