Shopify Break-Even ROAS & Profit per Order

The Shopify Break-Even ROAS & Profit per Order calculator turns pricing and costs into clear ad targets. Start with product price, subtract your discount rate to get a working subtotal, then apply platform and payment fees. Add COGS and shipping to capture variable costs. What remains is contribution dollars per order, the money available to buy traffic while staying profitable. From there, the tool gives your break-even ROAS, the highest CPA you can afford, and a CPC ceiling based on your site conversion rate. A quick what-if field shows how a deeper discount shifts each target so you can decide whether a promo is sustainable.

Model the checkout math, not list price. Fees are taken on the discounted subtotal, so promos reduce both revenue and fee amounts. Payment processors typically charge a percent plus a small fixed fee; include both to avoid overstating your target CPA. If you use paid apps that charge a percent of revenue, place that in platform fee percent for a clean all-in view.

Translate ROAS into CPA and CPC you can act on. Media tools optimize against CPA or CPC more often than ROAS at small budgets. CPA is simply your contribution dollars per order; if a campaign exceeds that number, it likely loses money. CPC depends on your conversion rate: small changes in conversion shift the CPC ceiling more than you expect, so validate rate by device and channel before scaling spend.

Use ad spend percent to read real profit. Many brands run steady mixes where ads consume a set share of revenue. Enter your typical share to see profit after ads in dollars per order. If that value is thin, you can raise price, cut shipping weight, negotiate packaging, or reduce discounts. When testing new creatives, start with campaigns that aim just under your break-even CPA and adjust once you see stable conversion and returns.

Pressure-test discounts. The what-if discount compares your current settings to a deeper promo and shows the new break-even ROAS and CPA. If the adjusted CPA is lower than your channel’s average, plan a shorter promo or a bundle that lifts average order value.

Practical optimization tips. Track actual payment statements to confirm the percent and fixed fees you enter here. Trim grams to drop to a cheaper shipping tier, and test lightweight mailers. Use one-click post-purchase offers to lift AOV and improve contribution without raising ad costs. When your conversion rate improves, update the field to raise your CPC ceiling—this is the easiest way to buy more traffic at the same CPA.

This calculator is educational and offline. It doesn’t fetch fee tables or tax rules. If taxes are absorbed, add an average per-order amount into COGS or shipping to keep margin honest.

Contribution dollars = Subtotal − Platform fee − Payment fee − COGS − Shipping. Contribution margin = Contribution ÷ Subtotal. Break-even ROAS = 1 ÷ Contribution margin. If contribution is 20 dollars on a 50 dollar subtotal, margin is 40 percent and break-even ROAS is 2.5. Your CPA ceiling equals contribution dollars; with a 2.5 percent conversion rate, CPC target = 0.025 × CPA. Profit after ads with a planned spend share a% is Contribution − Subtotal × a.