What profit margin actually measures
Profit margin is the share of a sale you keep after the costs of making that sale. The number most stores quote first is gross margin: selling price minus product cost, divided by the selling price. A product that sells for 50 and costs 20 to make or buy has a gross profit of 30 and a gross margin of 60%. Gross margin is useful for comparing products, but it is not what an order leaves in the bank.
An online order carries more costs than the product itself. Shipping and packing, the payment processor's percentage and fixed fee, the advertising that brought the buyer, and the share of orders that come back as refunds all come out of the same sale. This calculator takes each of them off, one line at a time, and shows the profit per order after costs and the net margin per order beside the gross figures.
Margin and markup are not the same number
Markup is profit divided by cost; margin is profit divided by price. The same 30 of profit on a product that costs 20 is a 150% markup and a 60% margin. Suppliers and wholesalers often talk in markup, while finance and ecommerce reports usually talk in margin. Mixing them up is one of the most common pricing mistakes: a "50% markup" leaves only a 33% margin before any other cost. The calculator shows both, so the two can never be confused.
How to fill it in
It works as an ecommerce margin calculator for any store, and as a Shopify profit calculator when you use the costs from your Shopify orders.
- Selling price: what the customer pays for the product, before tax.
- Product cost: what one unit costs you to buy or make, landed, including inbound freight and duties if you pay them.
- Shipping and fulfilment: what you pay to pick, pack and ship one order, after anything the customer pays for shipping.
- Payment fee: the processor's percentage and its fixed fee per transaction.
- Ad cost per order: advertising spend divided by orders, if ads drive your sales.
- Refund rate: the share of revenue you give back in refunds.
Optional fields left blank count as zero. Results update as you change any figure once you have calculated, so you can test a price or a cost change in seconds.
The formula
Profit per order = price - product cost - shipping - (price x fee % + fixed fee) - ad cost - (price x refund rate). Net margin = profit per order / price. Gross margin = (price - product cost) / price. Markup = (price - product cost) / product cost.
Limitations
This is one order with the costs you enter. It does not know your real refund pattern by product, the discounts you ran, how shipping costs vary by destination, or the fixed costs of running the business, such as salaries, software and rent. Treat the result as the contribution an order makes toward those fixed costs, not as the profit of the company.
Everything is calculated in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to ORVX or stored anywhere, and there is nothing to sign up for.
From one order to every order
A margin calculator answers the question for one product at one price. ORVX answers it for every order your store takes, with the real product costs, the real refunds, the real shipping and the ad spend read from Meta and Google, and traces each figure back to the orders behind it.
Worked examples
Illustrative figures, not benchmarks.
A healthy-looking order
A 50 product costing 20, with 6 shipping, a 2.9% + 0.3 card fee, 8 of ads and 3% refunds. Gross margin reads 60%, but only 12.75 is left: a net margin of 25.5%.
The same logic with 20% VAT
A 60 shelf price with 20% VAT included is 50 net, and the tax was never yours. After 20 cost and 6 shipping, the order leaves 21.96, a net margin of 43.92%.
Thin margin plus ads
A 30 product costing 18, 5 shipping and 6 of ads. Gross margin is 40%, yet the order loses 0.17. Margin that looks fine before ads can be negative after them.
How VAT and GST change the answer
Same order everywhere: shelf price 100 with tax included, product 40, shipping 8, card fee 2.9% + 0.30. The result is the net margin per order.
| Country | Standard rate | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Prices without tax | 0% | 48.8% |
| United Kingdom | 20% VAT | 38.56% |
| Australia | 10% GST | 43.68% |
| United Arab Emirates | 5% VAT | 46.24% |
| New Zealand | 15% GST | 41.12% |
| Singapore | 9% GST | 44.19% |
| Canada (Ontario) | 13% HST (Ontario) | 42.14% |
Rates as checked on 26 October 2026. Check the official page before you rely on one.
Common mistakes
- Calculating margin on the price with VAT included, which overstates it by the whole tax.
- Mixing up margin and markup: 150% markup is 60% margin.
- Leaving out payment fees and refunds because each one looks small.
- Using the product price without inbound freight and duty.
Questions
Is margin the same as markup?
No. Margin is profit divided by price; markup is profit divided by cost. The calculator shows both.
Should I enter my Shopify plan fee?
No. A plan fee is fixed each month, not per order. Enter the percentage and fixed fee you pay per order.