Shopify Profit Margin Calculator
Profit margin is your profit divided by your selling price. On Shopify, profit is the price minus product cost, shipping, the payment fee, and what you spent on ads to get the order.
Profit margin(price - all costs) / price
That is a 34.5% profit margin on a $50.00 sale.
- Payment fee
- $1.75
- Total costs
- $32.75
- Profit per order
- $17.25
- Profit margin
- 34.5%
- Markup on product cost
- 150%
- Break-even discount
- 35.5%
Sales tax and your monthly Shopify plan are not included. The fee is worked out on the sale price only.
How the math works
Payment fee. A percent of the sale price, plus a flat amount per order.sale price x fee % + flat fee
Profit per order. What is left after every cost.sale price - product cost - shipping - payment fee - ad cost
Profit margin. Profit as a share of what the buyer paid.profit / sale price
Markup. How far the price sits above what the product cost you.(sale price - product cost) / product cost
Break-even discount. The percent off where profit hits zero. The flat costs stay the same at any price, so only the percent fee gets smaller as the price drops.1 - (product cost + shipping + ad cost + flat fee) / (price x (1 - fee %))
A worked example
You sell a product for $50. It costs you $20. Shipping costs you $6, and you spend about $5 on ads for each order. You are on the Basic plan, so the card fee is 2.9% + 30¢.
The fee is $1.45 plus $0.30, so $1.75. Your costs add up to $32.75. You keep $17.25 on each order, a 34.5% profit margin. Your markup on product cost is 150%.
You break even at 35.5% off. Any deeper discount and each order loses money.
Shopify payment fees
These are the standard online card rates with Shopify Payments in the US. The last column is the extra fee Shopify adds if you use a different payment provider.
| Plan | Card fee | Other provider |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | 2.9% + 30¢ | +2% |
| Grow | 2.7% + 30¢ | +1% |
| Advanced | 2.5% + 30¢ | +0.6% |
| Plus | 2.25% + 30¢ | +0.2% |
Source: Shopify pricing, checked October 18, 2026. Rates can change, and cards from other countries can cost more. Your exact rate is in your Shopify admin under Settings, then Payments.
If you use another payment provider, add its rate and Shopify's extra fee together and type the total into the payment fee box.
What a discount does to your margin
A discount comes off the price, but most of your costs do not move. The product still costs $20. Shipping is still $6. The ads that brought the buyer in still cost $5. Only the payment fee gets a little smaller.
Take the example above at 20% off. The price drops to $40 and the fee drops to $1.46. You now keep $7.54 per order, a margin just under 19%. A 20% discount cut your profit by 56%.
If you only count product cost, a $50 product that costs $20 looks safe up to 60% off. Once shipping, ads, and fees are in, it starts losing money past 35.5% off.
To check a discount against the margin you want to keep, use the discount margin calculator.
Checking a whole store
This page works one order at a time. Before a store-wide sale, every product has a different cost, and the thin ones are easy to miss.
PromoMath is a Shopify app for that job. It reads the price and Cost per item already in your Shopify store and shows which variants stay above your minimum margin at the discount you plan to run. It checks gross margin, so it leaves out shipping, fees, and ads. Set your minimum high enough to cover them. It is $9 a month after a 7-day free trial. PromoMath on the Shopify App Store.
Questions
What is the formula for profit margin?
Profit margin is profit divided by the selling price. Profit is the price minus every cost of the order. A $50 order with $32.75 in costs makes $17.25, and $17.25 divided by $50 is a 34.5% margin.
How much does Shopify take from each sale?
With Shopify Payments in the US, the online card fee is 2.9% + 30 cents on the Basic plan, and lower on bigger plans. If you use another payment provider, Shopify adds its own fee of 2% on Basic on top of what that provider charges. These rates are from Shopify's pricing page, checked October 18, 2026.
Is margin the same as markup?
No. Margin is profit divided by the price. Markup is the price minus product cost, divided by product cost. A $50 product that costs $20 has a 150% markup. Its margin after shipping, fees, and ads is 34.5% in the example on this page.
How do I work out ad cost per order?
Take what you spent on ads in a period and divide it by the orders you got in that same period. $500 in ads and 100 orders is $5 per order. If you do not run ads, leave it at zero.
What is a break-even discount?
It is the biggest percent off you can give before the order loses money. It counts product cost, shipping, ads, and the payment fee. Past that point, every order you take costs you money.
Does the payment fee apply to shipping and tax?
Yes. The card fee is charged on the full amount the buyer pays, including any shipping you charge and sales tax. This calculator works out the fee on the sale price only, so your real fee can be a few cents higher.
Does this calculator save my numbers?
No. The math runs in your browser. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.