Install

Cost types

The unit cost from your supplier is rarely what a sale costs you. These are the costs merchants add on top of it, how to turn each into a per-unit figure, and whether it belongs in the cost Shopify reports on.

Price $68.00Margin on total cost 59.7%
Written to Shopify $22.60
Total cost $27.42
  • Unit cost · Supplier AIn Shopify's cost per item$21.40
  • Packaging · Per unitIn Shopify's cost per item$1.20
  • Pick and pack · Per unit, whole shopKept in Cogsy only$2.85
  • Payment processing · 2.9% of priceKept in Cogsy only$1.97
One sale of a $68.00 throw, to scale. Shopify's reports see the first two segments. The margin you keep depends on all four.
  • Packaging

    How to work out packaging cost per unit for a Shopify product, the difference between product packaging and shipping packaging, and where each belongs.

  • Inbound freight

    How to turn a freight invoice into a per-unit cost for Shopify products, the three ways to allocate it across a mixed shipment, and a worked example.

  • Import duties

    How to work out import duty per unit for a Shopify product, which taxes count as cost and which are reclaimed, and how to record duty so a rate change is visible.

  • Pick and pack

    How to turn a 3PL's pick and pack fees into a per-unit cost, why the fee belongs in your margin but rarely in Shopify's cost per item, and how bundles change it.

  • Payment processing fees

    How to count card processing fees in your margin per product, as a percentage of price plus a fixed part, and why they stay out of Shopify's cost per item.

  • Outbound shipping

    When you offer free or subsidised shipping, the postage is a cost of the sale. How to estimate it per unit and keep it out of the cost of goods.

  • Inserts and labels

    Thank-you cards, care leaflets, barcode labels and hang tags add cents to every unit. How to cost them and decide which belong in the product's cost.

  • Returns allowance

    Returns cost return postage, handling and written-off stock. How to turn a product's return rate into a per-unit or percentage allowance so margins reflect it.

Set a cost once, override it where it differs

  1. Shop · Every variant

    $2.85

  2. Product · Oversized quilt, all sizes

    $4.50Used

  3. Variant · Oversized quilt, King

    Not set

The King has no amount of its own, so it takes the product's $4.50. Every other product in the shop still gets $2.85.

Pick and pack for one variant. Cogsy looks at the variant first, then its product, then the shop, and uses the first level that has an amount.

Start with the costs Shopify already has.

Install the app, sync your catalog and see which variants are missing a cost.

Install on Shopify