Free calculator
Shopify Profit Margin Calculator: Margin per Order
Enter one order's price and every cost that comes off it: product, the shipping you pay, packaging, card processing, returns and your Shopify plan. You get the contribution margin per order in dollars and percent, the monthly contribution before ads, and the break-even ROAS that margin allows. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Calculator
Work Out Your Margin per Order
The form holds a worked example: an $80 order with a 2.9% + 30¢ card rate, a 4% returns rate, 300 orders a month and a $105 monthly plan fee. Replace each line with your own numbers; the results update as you type.
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The idea
What Contribution Margin Is
Contribution margin is the money one order leaves after every cost that exists only because the order happened: the product, the shipping label, the box, the card fee and the share of orders that come back. It is the pool that pays for ads first and overhead second.
It is not gross margin, which is price minus product cost, and it is not net profit, which comes after rent, salaries and software. The worked example shows the gap: an $80 order with a $28 product costs $41.32 to fulfill and leaves $38.68, a 48.35% contribution margin. Price minus product cost would say 65%, and a break-even ROAS built on 65% (1.54x) would approve ads that lose money.
The formulas on the right are the whole calculator. Monthly contribution multiplies the margin by your orders and takes the plan fee off once, because the plan is paid per month, not per order.
price - product cost - shipping - packaging - (rate × price + fixed fee) - (returns rate × price)$80 - $28 - $6 - $1.50 - $2.62 - $3.20 = $38.68margin per order ÷ price$38.68 ÷ $80 = 48.35%margin per order × orders per month - plan fee$38.68 × 300 - $105 = $11,499.001 ÷ margin %1 ÷ 0.4835 = 2.07xHidden costs
Why Shopify Stores Undercount Costs
Six lines that are easy to skip when the margin is worked out from the product invoice alone.
- Returns are treated as rare. A 4% returns rate costs $3.20 on an $80 order even though most orders never come back, because the refund is spread over every order.
- Free shipping is still a cost. When the price includes shipping, you pay the label. A $6 label is 7.5% of an $80 order, and it is paid again when a return is shipped back.
- Packaging is forgotten. Mailer, tissue, insert and tape add up. $1.50 is about 2% of this order, and more on cheaper items.
- Card fees are charged on the whole payment. The processor takes its percentage of everything collected, a shipping charge and sales tax included, plus a fixed fee on each transaction. On this order that is $2.62.
- The plan fee sits outside the order math. $105 a month is $0.35 per order at 300 orders and $3.50 at 30. The calculator takes it off the monthly total so it cannot be lost in a per-order figure.
- Discounts come off before the margin. A 10% code on an $80 item makes it a $72 order; every percentage cost falls a little, but the product, label and box cost the same.
Worked example
The Worked Example, Line by Line
The same $80 order from the calculator, with the running total after each cost.
| Line | Amount | Running total |
|---|---|---|
| Selling price | $80.00 | $80.00 |
| Product cost | -$28.00 | $52.00 |
| Shipping you pay | -$6.00 | $46.00 |
| Packaging | -$1.50 | $44.50 |
| Card processing (2.9% of $80 + $0.30) | -$2.62 | $41.88 |
| Returns (4% of $80) | -$3.20 | $38.68 |
| Contribution margin per order | $38.68 | 48.35% of the price |
| Monthly, 300 orders less the $105 plan | $11,499.00 | Break-even ROAS 2.07x |
Costs per order add up to $41.32, so 51.65% of the price is spent before any ad runs. The $11,499 of monthly contribution is the most the ads can cost in that month before the store loses money on these orders.
Shopify fees
Shopify Plan Fees and Card Rates
As of October 2026, from Shopify's US pricing page, which lists the three main plans as Basic, Grow and Advanced. Shopify Plus starts at $2,300 a month with a 2.25% + 30¢ online card rate.
Basic
- $39 a month, or $29 a month paid yearly
- Online card rate 2.9% + 30¢ with Shopify Payments
- 2% transaction fee with a third-party payment provider
Grow
- $105 a month, or $89 a month paid yearly
- Online card rate 2.7% + 30¢ with Shopify Payments
- 1% transaction fee with a third-party payment provider
Advanced
- $399 a month, or $359 a month paid yearly
- Online card rate 2.5% + 30¢ with Shopify Payments
- 0.6% transaction fee with a third-party payment provider
The worked example pairs the Basic card rate (2.9% + 30¢) with the Grow monthly price ($105). On Grow with Shopify Payments the rate drops to 2.7% + 30¢, which makes the card fee $2.46 instead of $2.62 and lifts the margin to $38.84, or 48.55%. International cards add 1% on every plan. Enter the rate your plan and provider charge you.
Sensitivity
Margin at Three Product Cost Levels
Same $80 order, same shipping, packaging, card fee and returns. Only the product cost moves.
| Product cost | Costs per order | Margin per order | Margin | Break-even ROAS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25% of price ($20.00) | $33.32 | $46.68 | 58.35% | 1.71x |
| 35% of price ($28.00) | $41.32 | $38.68 | 48.35% | 2.07x |
| 45% of price ($36.00) | $49.32 | $30.68 | 38.35% | 2.61x |
Ten points of product cost move the margin by ten points and the break-even ROAS by about half a turn. A supplier price cut from $28 to $20 lowers the ROAS you need from 2.07x to 1.71x, a change no bidding setting can make, because bids never move the margin.
Ad decisions
How to Use the Margin in Ad Decisions
The margin sets the ROAS floor, the fee and profit goal set the target, and the monthly contribution caps the budget.
Set the break-even ROAS
Break-even ROAS is 1 ÷ margin. At 48.35% it is 2.07x: every $1 of ad spend must bring back $2.07 of revenue before the ads earn anything. The ROAS formula guide shows the derivation and a margin table.
Add the fee and a profit target
The ROAS calculator takes this margin, your ad spend and your management fee and returns break-even with the fee and a target ROAS for the profit you want. Both go into your Google Ads bidding settings.
Size the budget from orders, not averages
Monthly contribution before ads, $11,499 in the example, is the most the ads can cost before the month loses money. Our Google Ads cost guide covers how budgets and click prices play out from there.
How do I calculate profit margin on Shopify?
Take the order price and subtract product cost, the shipping you pay, packaging, card processing (rate × price + fixed fee) and returns (returns rate × price). Divide the result by the price for the margin percentage. The calculator above does this for one order and multiplies by your monthly orders, then takes the plan fee off the month.
What is a good profit margin for a Shopify store?
A margin is good when the break-even ROAS it gives (1 ÷ margin) sits below the ROAS your ads already earn, with room for the management fee and the profit you want. In the example, 48.35% gives a 2.07x break-even. At 25% the break-even is 4.00x before any fee, so every dollar of ad spend has to bring back four.
Does the calculator include Shopify's card fees?
Yes. Enter the rate and the fixed fee for your plan. The worked example uses 2.9% + 30¢, the Basic online card rate on Shopify's October 2026 pricing page, with a $105 monthly plan fee. On the Grow plan with Shopify Payments the rate is 2.7% + 30¢, which makes the card fee $2.46 and the margin $38.84 on the same order.
Should I count returns if most orders never come back?
Yes. Returns are averaged over every order. At 4%, each $80 order carries $3.20 of expected refunds, and the product that comes back often cannot be resold at full price. The calculator takes the refund off and adds nothing back, which keeps the margin conservative.
Where does the Shopify plan fee go?
Off the month, not off the order. Margin per order × orders per month - plan fee = monthly contribution before ads. In the example, $38.68 × 300 - $105 = $11,499.00. At 30 orders a month the same $105 costs $3.50 per order; at 300 it costs $0.35.
What about sales tax, discounts and apps?
Enter the price after discounts and before sales tax. Tax collected is passed on, not earned, so it stays out. Apps and themes are monthly overhead; add them to the plan fee line to see them in the monthly figure.
Does the page store my numbers?
No. The math runs in your browser, and nothing you type is sent to us or saved anywhere.
Free audit
Do Your Ads Clear This Margin?
Send us the account and the margin you got here. We tell you whether we found what is holding the return back and name one or two issues before any work starts.
- Shopify Partner
- Google Partner agency
- No obligation
Sources
Sources and Related Pages
- Shopify, Pricing (United States): shopify.com/pricing. Plan prices paid monthly and yearly, online standard card rates and third-party transaction fees for Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus. Read on October 24, 2026.
- Logical Gecko, ROAS Formula: How to Calculate ROAS and Break-Even ROAS.
- Logical Gecko, How Much Does Google Ads Cost? 2026 Price Guide.