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How to prepare your cost data

Answer the questions below to prepare your cost data. This is important in order to get started quickly.


Fallback Costs

Fallback costs are configured in Expenses > Fallback Costs, and are used to provide average costs when specific costs are not available:

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What is your VAT/Tax rate?

We use this to calculate the full payment processing fee as well as calculate the revenue incl. VAT/Tax for Google Ads and Analytics. 

What is your average Product Markup or Margin?

These are dynamic fields - as soon as you enter a value in any of these three fields, the others auto-calculate based on what you've entered. We use these to calculate the estimated cost price for each product in case the cost price is missing. You only need to know one of them, but it is important that you understand the difference.

Markup

Description: Markup is the amount added to the cost price of a product to determine the selling price. It is usually expressed as a percentage of the cost price.

Example: If the cost price of a product is $100 and the sales price is $300, the “Markup” is calculated as follows:

Markup Percentage=((Sales Price−Cost Price)/Cost Price)×100

Markup Percentage=((300−100)/100)×100=200%

Margin

Description: Margin is the difference between the sales price and the cost price, expressed as a percentage of the sales price. It represents the profit made on the sale.

Example: If the cost price of a product is $100 and the sales price is $300, the “Margin” is calculated as follows:

Margin Percentage=((Sales Price−Cost Price)/Sales Price)×100

Margin Percentage=((300−100)/300)×100=66.67%

Price/Cost Ratio

Description: The price/cost ratio is a simple comparison of the sales price to the cost price. It shows how many times the cost price is contained in the sales price.

Example: If the cost price of a product is $100 and the sales price is $300, the “Price/Cost Ratio” is calculated as follows:

Price/Cost Ratio=Sales Price/Cost Price

Price/Cost Ratio=300/100=3

What is your Average Shipping Cost ex. VAT/Tax?

We use this to deduct the shipping cost when no specific Shipping Method is set. We will define the specific Shipping methods in Expenses > Shipping Methods, so in this field please add either your most common shipping cost, or your average shipping cost.
NOTE: this is the amount you pay to the shipping company, not the amount you charge customers at checkout.

What is your Average Payment Processing Fee (%)?

We use this to deduct the Payment Processing Fee when no specific Payment Method is set. We will define the specific Payment methods in Expenses > Payment Methods. 

What is your Packaging and handling cost?

This is a fixed amount deducted from all orders and usually covers things like packaging, labels, and other handling-related expenses.

Exact shipping costs

Go to Expenses > Shipping Costs. Click 'Download Shipping Methods' to get a list of all your different shipping methods and shipping costs. You might be able to get these values directly from the shipping company you are using. You can see more here on how to configure your shipping costs.

Exact payment costs

Go to Expenses > Payment Costs. Click 'Download Payment Methods' to get a list of all your payment methods and payment costs. You might be able to get these values directly from the payment provider you are using.

Product costs

Make sure you know the cost price of all, or the most popular, products and import them into your e-commerce platform for more precise profit calculations. Some modules will generate a feed for you automatically, though you may need to generate your own XML feed as well. Please see our knowledge base for additional guides.