What does each ecommerce order contribute?

Sales revenue alone does not show whether an order helps cover the rest of your business. Enter costs for the same representative order and compare alternative assumptions.

Interactive planning tool

Ecommerce contribution calculator

Estimate what one order contributes after the variable costs entered below. Use costs and revenue for the same representative order.

Defaults are hypothetical examples, not recommended budgets, platform fees, or industry benchmarks. Replace them with your own estimates. All money amounts are in USD.

Selling price per order ($) Use order revenue after discounts, including shipping charged to the customer, excluding collected sales tax. Enter 0 to 10,000,000. Product cost per order ($) Include supplier cost and allocated inbound freight or duties. Enter 0 to 10,000,000. Outbound shipping per order ($) Your full outbound delivery cost; include customer shipping charges in selling price above. Enter 0 to 10,000,000. Packaging per order ($) Boxes, labels, mailers, and other packaging materials. Enter 0 to 10,000,000. Percentage fees (%) Combined percentage fees applied to the selling price entered here. This example is not a provider rate. Enter 0 to 100. Fixed fees per order ($) Combined flat transaction, marketplace, or other variable fees. Check your own fee basis. Enter 0 to 10,000,000. Advertising cost per order ($) Allocated acquisition spend for the same order or cohort. Enter 0 to 10,000,000. Expected return cost per order ($) Average incremental return/refund loss across all orders. Include revenue lost and recovery value; avoid counting costs already entered twice. Enter 0 to 10,000,000.

Contribution per order before fixed overhead

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Contribution is not net profit. Fixed overhead, income tax, and owner pay are excluded unless you explicitly allocate them into the cost inputs. Fee bases differ by provider; add any additional variable cost to the appropriate input. This educational worksheet is not tax or investment advice. Nothing you enter is submitted or saved by this calculator. Calculations run only in this browser.

Contribution is different from net profit

The amount left must still cover fixed overhead and any costs you have not entered. Return assumptions should account for refunds, recoverable goods and extra handling without counting the same cost twice. Fee structures and tax treatment vary; use your actual provider terms.

Source: Shopify: distinguishing revenue, margin and investment returns.