Field guide

How to calculate real profit on Shopify — every fee explained (2026)

Q: What fees does Shopify charge per sale?

With Shopify Payments on the Basic plan, card processing is roughly 2.9% + 30¢ per online transaction (rates vary by country and plan). If you use a third-party payment provider instead, Shopify adds its own transaction fee on top — typically 0.5–2% depending on your plan. Refunds usually return the money to the customer but not the processing fee to you.

Q: What profit margin is normal for a Shopify store?

After all costs — product, shipping, fees, apps and advertising — many e-commerce stores land between 10% and 25% net margin; paid-traffic dropshipping often sits at the low end or below zero while testing. The exact number matters less than knowing yours weekly, because it moves.

Q: How do I track profit on Shopify automatically?

First make the data true: fill in cost per item on every variant — without it, no tool can help. Then either maintain a weekly spreadsheet with the seven cost lines from this guide, use a profit-tracking app, or have an AI operator assemble the P&L for you. The method matters less than the cadence: weekly, without exceptions.

Shopify's dashboard shows revenue. Your bank account shows something much smaller, and the gap is seven specific costs. Here they all are, with the formula and a worked example.

Updated 19 August 2026 · by the team behind Savva HQ · ~9 min read

A confession to set the tone: when we first audited our own store (a UK wellness brand we run), cost per item was 0.00 on every product. Which means every "profit" number anywhere in that admin was fiction. It's the single most common bookkeeping failure in small stores — so before any formula, go check yours: Products → any product → cost per item. We'll wait.

The formula (all seven lines)

Real profit = Revenue − COGS − Shipping − Payment fees − Plan & apps − Refunds − Ad spend

Every line below exists in your numbers whether you track it or not. Untracked just means invisible.

1. COGS — what the product costs you

Supplier price + inbound shipping to you (or per-unit dropship cost). Fill it into Shopify's cost per item field on every variant — it's the one field that makes every later report honest.

2. Shipping to the customer

What you pay the carrier minus what you charge the buyer. "Free shipping" is not free — it's a cost you moved into the price (fine!) or into your margin (check which).

3. Payment processing

With Shopify Payments on a Basic plan, roughly 2.9% + 30¢ per online card transaction (varies by country and plan). Using a third-party provider like PayPal as your main gateway? Shopify adds its own 0.5–2% transaction fee on top, by plan. On a $30 order, processing alone is about $1.17 — nearly 4%.

4. Plan & apps

Your Shopify plan ($39/mo Basic and up) plus every app subscription. App stacks quietly grow to $150–750/mo; divide the monthly total by your order count and it becomes a per-order cost that surprises people. (It also slows your site — a second of load time costs ~7% of conversions.)

5. Refunds & chargebacks

A refund returns the customer's money — but the processing fee usually stays spent, and the product often isn't resellable. A chargeback adds a penalty fee (commonly ~$15) on top of the lost order. Budget refunds as a percentage of revenue (2–5% is typical; yours may differ — measure it).

6. Advertising

The big one for paid-traffic stores. Total ad spend ÷ orders = your real cost per acquisition. It belongs inside the profit formula, not in a separate mental account labelled "growth".

7. Taxes — the line we won't fake

Sales tax/VAT you collect is not revenue (you're holding it for the government), and income tax depends on your country and legal setup. We won't pretend a blog post can compute it — just make sure collected tax isn't inflating your revenue line, and ask an actual accountant once you're profitable.

A worked example: the $30 order

Line	Amount	Running total
Revenue (customer pays)	$30.00	$30.00
COGS (product + inbound)	−$8.00	$22.00
Shipping to customer	−$4.50	$17.50
Payment fee (2.9% + 30¢)	−$1.17	$16.33
Plan + apps ($120/mo ÷ 100 orders)	−$1.20	$15.13
Refund reserve (3% of revenue)	−$0.90	$14.23
Ad spend (CPA for this order)	−$12.00	$2.23
Real profit	$2.23	7.4%

A "$30 sale with a $22 gross margin" is a $2.23 profit once everything real is counted. This is why stores "doing $10k months" close down: 100 such orders is $223. The fix isn't despair — it's seeing the seven lines early enough to change them (raise AOV with bundles, cut the app stack, fix the CPA) while each fix is cheap.

📌 The weekly habit: four numbers in one place, every week — revenue, COGS, ad spend, fees. If you can't produce them in five minutes, that's the first problem to fix, before any growth tactic. Our store audit checklist starts exactly there.

The honest bottom line: most owners overestimate their margin because they track the two visible costs (product, ads) and forget the five quiet ones. The quiet ones are 15–25% of revenue. Know your seven lines weekly, and every other decision — pricing, discounts, scaling — stops being a guess.

Not sure where your margin is leaking?

Savva's free audit checks your store for the classic profit leaks — empty cost-per-item fields, margin-eating discount codes, app bloat — each finding tied to the money it costs you. No card, about a minute.

Run a free audit

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Common questions

Why does my Shopify store show sales but no money in the bank?

Because Shopify reports revenue, and at least seven costs sit between revenue and your bank: product cost, shipping, payment fees, plan, apps, refunds and advertising. Most owners track two or three of the seven.

What fees does Shopify charge per sale?

With Shopify Payments on Basic, roughly 2.9% + 30¢ per online card transaction (varies by country and plan). Third-party gateways add Shopify's own 0.5–2% transaction fee on top. Refunds return the customer's money but usually not your processing fee.

What profit margin is normal for a Shopify store?

After all costs, many stores land between 10% and 25% net; paid-traffic dropshipping often sits at the low end (or below zero while testing). Knowing your number weekly matters more than the benchmark.

How do I track profit on Shopify automatically?

First fill in cost per item everywhere — without it no tool can help. Then a weekly spreadsheet with the seven lines, a profit-tracking app, or an AI operator that assembles the P&L. Method matters less than cadence: weekly, no exceptions.