What you really keep on each order
Answer in a few clicks, change anything anytime: see what you keep on each order, the ROAS below which your ads lose money, and the price that hits your margin.
Your margins hold. Does your store convert?
Every extra sale at the same ad spend lifts your margin. Describe your brand: Ova builds a Shopify theme around your products, then you adjust it by talking to it.
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Attack Shark
Lumai
Mixup
ZOHI
Flow
Nutripure
Studio Rotin
MatchataThe formulas, no black box
The whole calculation, to redo by hand or in your spreadsheet. The examples use the calculator’s €39 candle.
Price excl. VAT
Price incl. VAT ÷ (1 + VAT rate)€39 with 20% VAT gives €32.50 excl. VAT. VAT goes to the government: it never counts toward your margin. Under a VAT exemption nothing comes off: the price before VAT is what the customer pays.
Gross margin
Price excl. VAT − product cost€32.50 − €9 = €23.50. What the sale brings in before shipping, ads and the rest.
Net profit
Gross margin − returns − shipping − packaging − payment fees − ads − subscription ÷ orders − micro-entreprise contributionsReturns cost the gross margin of refunded orders. The candle leaves €3.25, a 10% margin on the price excl. VAT.
Max CPA
Net profit + ad cost per saleWhat’s left before ads: €15.25. A sale that costs more than that in ads loses you money.
Break-even ROAS
Price incl. VAT ÷ max CPA€39 ÷ €15.25 = 2.56. Based on the price incl. VAT; if your ad platform tracks revenue excl. VAT, divide the price excl. VAT instead.
Margin or markup
Gross margin ÷ price excl. VAT, or ÷ product costMargin: €23.50 ÷ €32.50 = 72%. Markup: €23.50 ÷ €9 = 261%. The calculator shows margins as a share of the price excl. VAT.
Margin questions
What merchants ask us most about a Shopify store’s margin.
How do I calculate profit margin on Shopify?
Start from the price incl. VAT and remove the tax to get the price excl. VAT. Subtract the product cost: that’s the gross margin. Then subtract everything an order costs (shipping, packaging, payment fees, ads, a share of the subscription, returns): what’s left is net profit. The calculator runs these steps and shows where each dollar goes.
I’m VAT exempt: how do I work out my margin?
You don’t charge VAT, so what the customer pays is yours, before fees. Pick “No, I’m VAT exempt” in the calculator and it stops taking VAT off the price. In return, you can’t reclaim the VAT on what you buy: count your costs including tax (product, shipping, ads). If you go over your exemption thresholds, you owe VAT: switch back to “Yes, I charge VAT”.
I run a French micro-entreprise: how are my contributions counted?
A micro-entreprise pays its contributions on turnover, not on profit. For goods sales: 12.3% social contributions and 0.1% training contribution (service-public.gouv.fr, checked on 1 January 2026). With the income tax prepayment (versement libératoire), income tax adds 1% of turnover (impots.gouv.fr). Pick “Micro-entreprise” and the calculator takes these rates off the price before VAT of every order kept, so even an order that loses money pays them. ACRE, which lowers contributions when you start, isn’t counted.
What’s the difference between gross and net margin?
Gross margin only subtracts the product cost from the price excl. VAT. Net margin also subtracts everything an order costs to happen: shipping, payment fees, ads, returns and the subscription. A 70% gross margin can leave a net margin close to zero when ads are expensive.
What is break-even ROAS?
It’s the lowest ROAS at which a sale doesn’t lose money: the price incl. VAT divided by what you keep before ads. With €15.25 left before ads on a €39 product, you need a ROAS of at least 2.56. Below that, every sale bought with ads costs you money.
What are Shopify Payments fees in France?
According to shopify.com/fr/tarifs on September 15, 2026: 1.5% + €0.25 per European card on Basic, 1.3% + €0.25 on Grow, 1.1% + €0.25 on Advanced and 1% + €0.25 on Plus. American Express and non-European cards cost more (2.7% + €0.25 on Basic). With a third-party payment provider, Shopify adds 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus. Rates differ by country: check your own on Shopify’s pricing page.
What’s the difference between margin and markup?
Both divide the same profit, by a different number. Margin divides it by the selling price excl. VAT, markup by the product cost. A product bought for €9 and sold for €32.50 excl. VAT has a 72% margin and a 261% markup.
How are returns counted?
A returned order is refunded and the product goes back into stock: you lose its gross margin, while the shipping, payment fees and the ad that sold it stay paid. So the calculator subtracts the gross margin times your return rate. If returned items can’t be resold, add their cost to packaging and other.