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The numbers under a store, explained properly.

Written for operators rather than accountants. Every piece is about a number you can act on this week, and the figures in them are computed by the same engine that builds the product's P&L.

Profit1 Sep 202612 min read

Profitable on paper, no cash in the bank: the four calendars

The statement says the store earns money and the account still falls. The four calendars that separate profit from cash, and the plan that fits a genuinely profitable store.

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Shopify1 Sep 202612 min read

Why your Shopify numbers never match, and which one to trust

Shopify, the payout report, the bank, the ad manager and your accountant each report a different number for the same day. Every gap has a boring cause; here is each one.

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Profit1 Sep 202613 min read

How to calculate your Shopify store's true profit, step by step

Strip the VAT, price the goods, subtract parcel, fees and ad spend, then spread the fixed block: the full method for computing what your Shopify store actually keeps.

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Profit1 Sep 202612 min read

The Shopify P&L statement, explained block by block

What a real P&L for a Shopify store looks like: the margin ladder from net revenue to operating profit, the recognition rules, and how to read a month off it.

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Margins1 Sep 202611 min read

Which products actually make money? Rebuild the bestseller list

Your bestseller list is a revenue ranking. Rebuilt as a profit ranking, it reorders: discounts, returns, parcels and fees decide which products actually earn.

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Costs1 Sep 202611 min read

Are Shopify fees eating your profit? Itemise before you panic

Every order loses a slice to fees, and the fixed part bites hardest on small baskets. The full fee stack, the mechanics that inflate it, and the four levers that help.

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Marketing1 Sep 202611 min read

Ads eating your profit? Find your MER floor before you cut

Spend is up, profit is down, and every platform claims success. Find your blended MER floor, separate the marginal euro from the average, and cut in the right order.

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Margins1 Sep 202611 min read

Returns killing your margins? Diagnose, price, then reduce

A return takes back the margin, the parcel and more. Where returns concentrate, what a normal rate is, the levers that actually reduce them, and how to survive the lag.

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Comparisons1 Sep 202610 min read

Bloom alternatives: from an affordable dashboard to a full P&L

Bloom is the affordable end of Shopify profit analytics. Where its three plans fit, where a 34-line P&L with dated costs and per-parcel logistics fits, prices dated.

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Comparisons1 Sep 202610 min read

Kleio alternatives: from one flat $29 plan to a full P&L

Kleio is one flat plan at $29 with everything in it. Where that fits, where a 34-line P&L with four cost engines and dated costs fits, and how the two compare, prices dated.

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Margins1 Sep 20269 min read

Five ways to raise CM1 without touching your prices

The margin after goods moves on cost, mix and shrinkage as readily as on price. Five levers, their arithmetic, and what each one is worth on a real catalogue.

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Costs1 Sep 20269 min read

Negotiating a carrier rate card, with the arithmetic in hand

Carriers price by bracket, zone and volume. What each part is worth per parcel, which asks are cheap for them, and how to size the request before you make it.

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Costs1 Sep 20268 min read

Box size economics: the cheapest margin you are not taking

A box two sizes too big costs more to buy, more to fill, more to ship and more in EPR fees. What right-sizing is actually worth, computed four ways.

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Marketing1 Sep 20269 min read

Setting an ad budget from your margin, not from last month

Most budgets are last month's number plus a feeling. Build one from contribution instead: what the orders leave, what the fixed block needs, what is left to spend.

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Costs1 Sep 20268 min read

The quarterly fixed cost review, in ninety minutes

Fixed costs creep by subscription and renewal, never by decision. A short quarterly routine that prices every line in orders and cancels what nobody defends.

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Costs1 Sep 20268 min read

Free shipping thresholds: the arithmetic before the offer

Set the threshold at your average order and you discount half your orders for nothing. Where the line actually sits, and the two numbers that prove it worked.

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Marketing1 Sep 20269 min read

Discount strategy: what each code costs before it sells anything

A ten percent code takes about a quarter of what an order keeps. The volume it must bring, where scoping beats depth, and how to judge a promotion honestly.

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Margins1 Sep 20268 min read

Bundle economics: what one parcel instead of three is worth

A bundle is judged against the discount and paid for partly by fulfilment. The three worlds to compare, and the depth at which a bundle stops earning.

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Margins1 Sep 20269 min read

The price rise playbook: how much volume you can afford to lose

Almost every cent of an increase reaches contribution. The tolerance line, how to stage a rise, and what to watch in the four weeks after it lands.

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Margins1 Sep 20269 min read

Margin-based pricing: building a price from what it must cover

Cost plus a percentage prices for the goods and nothing else. Build the price from the costs an order really carries, then sanity-check it against the market.

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Costs1 Sep 20267 min read

A chargeback and a return are not the same cost

Both hand money back. Only one hands the goods back, and only one charges a fee whichever way it goes. Why a P&L has to treat them separately.

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Shopify1 Sep 20267 min read

Gift cards are not revenue, and counting them twice is easy

Selling a gift card is a liability. The revenue happens on redemption, where the card is only a payment method. What that means for a P&L.

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Costs1 Sep 20266 min read

Nobody gives the payment fee back when you refund

A refund returns the money and not the fee. Why that makes a refunded order worse than a sale that never happened, and how it should sit on a statement.

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Shopify1 Sep 20266 min read

Cancelled and test orders: small numbers that move a month

Both sit in every export and neither is trade. What each one does to revenue, order counts and average order value if it is left in.

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Shopify1 Sep 20266 min read

Which day is today? Store timezones and the month boundary

An order at 23:30 belongs to one day for you and possibly another for a report in UTC. Why one timezone everywhere is the only defensible answer.

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Costs1 Sep 20267 min read

What a split shipment really costs, and why nobody sees it

One order, two parcels, two of every fulfilment cost. Why per-order averages hide it, what causes splits, and what reducing them is worth.

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Costs1 Sep 20267 min read

Partial refunds: the goodwill that quietly reprices your catalogue

A ten euro adjustment costs more than ten euros of margin and never appears in a discount report. How to count goodwill honestly.

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Costs1 Sep 20267 min read

Exchanges on a P&L: two events wearing one word

An exchange is a return and a new order, and treating it as neither hides two parcels and a restock. How to book it so the costs stay visible.

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Shopify1 Sep 20267 min read

Compare-at price hygiene, and why bad data flatters revenue

A compare-at price left on a product turns an ordinary sale into a permanent discount line. What good hygiene looks like and what bad data does to a statement.

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Costs1 Sep 20267 min read

When a refund credits the cost of goods, and at which price

Refunded units come back into stock at the cost that was effective on the original order, not at today's. Why the rule prevents phantom margin.

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Costs1 Sep 20268 min read

The rounding drift: how a cent a parcel became €600 a year

Packaging fees are fractions of a cent. Rounding each parcel loses the same fraction every time, in the same direction. What we found and how we fixed it.

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Costs1 Sep 20267 min read

Spreading overhead: the arithmetic that makes a day readable

Rent billed on the first is consumed all month. How proration works, why 365ths, and what happens to a daily P&L without it.

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Costs1 Sep 20267 min read

Backdating a cost safely, when you find out late

A supplier raised prices in March and told you in June. How to apply it from when it really started without rewriting everything else.

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Profit1 Sep 20268 min read

Anatomy of a losing day: reading a bad Tuesday properly

A negative day is usually one of five things, and only two of them are problems. How to tell them apart before reacting to any of them.

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Shopify1 Sep 20268 min read

Net sales and gross sales in Shopify: which one is which

Two figures in the same report, several euros apart, and neither is your revenue. What each one contains and which belongs in a margin calculation.

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Shopify1 Sep 20268 min read

Reconciling a Shopify payout, line by line

A payout is not a day of sales. What is inside one, why it never matches your revenue, and how to tie a single payout to its orders in an hour.

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Shopify1 Sep 20268 min read

Where the fees hide: six charges and where each one appears

Subscription, processing, third-party surcharge, currency conversion, disputes and apps. Which invoice each lands on, and which belong to an order at all.

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Shopify1 Sep 20268 min read

Reading refund reports without misreading your month

Refund reports answer a cash question, not a margin one. What they include, what they leave out, and how to turn one into a return rate you can act on.

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Shopify1 Sep 20269 min read

Shopify Analytics and a P&L are two different documents

One measures the shop, the other measures the business. What each is genuinely good at, and why using either for the other's job goes wrong.

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Shopify1 Sep 20269 min read

Which Shopify reports your accountant actually wants

Most of what gets sent is a screenshot of a dashboard. The four exports that answer their questions, and the two things they will not do for you.

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Shopify1 Sep 20269 min read

One cost field, no history: the corrections you cannot make

Shopify snapshots unit cost at the moment of sale, which is good. What it cannot do is let you inspect that history, correct it late, or cost a sale that shipped without one.

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Shopify1 Sep 20268 min read

Tax reports and VAT: what belongs to you and what never did

The tax reports answer a filing question. A P&L needs a different one: how much of what you collected was never revenue in the first place.

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Comparisons1 Sep 20269 min read

TrueProfit and BeProfit compared, on the axis that decides it

Two of the best known Shopify profit trackers, priced by order volume in different ways. What each is built for, and which store each one suits.

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Comparisons1 Sep 20269 min read

BeProfit and Lifetimely: two tools answering different questions

One is a multi-platform profit tracker, the other an LTV and cohort specialist. Comparing them on price alone misses what each is actually for.

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Comparisons1 Sep 20269 min read

Switching profit trackers without losing your history

Moving from TrueProfit or any tracker means re-entering costs and re-establishing history. The order to do it in, and what does not transfer.

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Profit1 Sep 20269 min read

Moving off the spreadsheet without losing what it taught you

The sheet is where most stores learn their own economics. What to keep from it, the four errors it almost certainly has, and when to stop maintaining it.

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Profit1 Sep 20269 min read

A profit tracker and accounting software are not substitutes

One answers what yesterday earned, the other what the year owes. Where each is authoritative, why their monthly numbers differ, and what happens with only one.

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Packaging1 Sep 20268 min read

Packaging rules for small shops: there is no exemption to find

Small sellers keep looking for the threshold that lets them out. Simplified reporting exists; relief from the obligation does not. What that costs per parcel.

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Packaging1 Sep 20268 min read

Mono-material packaging: cheaper to buy, cheaper to declare

Mixed materials cost more in fees, more in handling and more in reporting. What switching to one material is worth, and where it does not work.

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Packaging1 Sep 20268 min read

Packaging fees across borders: where the waste is, not where you are

Fees follow the market where packaging becomes waste, which means a warehouse in one country and customers in three creates obligations in all of them.

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Profit1 Sep 202610 min read

Where the margin went, across 137.947 orders

Fourteen months of an example store's order book, priced by the real engine: what €15,7M of ticket value left behind, line by line, and which stage took most.

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Margins1 Sep 20269 min read

Fourteen months of returns: when they arrive, and what they cost

9.357 refunds across an example store's order book. The lag curve, why a young month always flatters itself, and what the delay does to a monthly review.

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Costs1 Sep 20269 min read

Small baskets pay more: the fee rate against order size

Across 137.947 orders, the blended payment fee rate falls from 3,45% on baskets under €40 to 2,64% above €150. The fixed fee is the whole reason.

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Profit1 Sep 20268 min read

Which weekday actually earns: 137.947 orders, sorted

Saturday takes 31% more revenue per trading day than Monday on an example store's order book. What that does to campaigns, staffing and daily reading.

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Marketing1 Sep 20269 min read

Discounted orders are bigger orders: what the data actually shows

Across 137.947 orders, discounted baskets are larger than undiscounted ones. Why that is not evidence discounts work, and what it does show.

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Profit31 Aug 202613 min read

Making sales but no money in the bank? Follow the euros

Orders keep coming and the account keeps shrinking. Where the money goes between a Shopify dashboard and your bank, euro by euro, and the habit that ends the mystery.

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Profit31 Aug 202612 min read

Does Shopify show profit? Partly, and the part misleads

Shopify shows gross profit for products that have a cost, and quietly drops the rest. What its numbers can and cannot tell you, the four gaps, and how to close them.

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Profit31 Aug 202612 min read

Is my Shopify store profitable? The three-check audit

Three checks decide it: does your best seller pay, does the month clear its fixed costs, and does the trend hold? The audit, with real numbers at every step.

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Profit31 Aug 202611 min read

Where is profit in the Shopify admin? A map of what's there

The four places people look for profit in the admin, what each one really holds, why no profit page exists, and the shortest honest path to the missing number.

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Profit31 Aug 202611 min read

Shopify profit after ad spend: the number the ROAS hides

Every platform reports a return; none reports your profit. The blended method that cannot double-count, the MER floor your margin sets, and one honest subtraction.

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Profit31 Aug 202611 min read

High revenue, no profit: the four growth taxes

The store grew and the bottom line did not follow. Why scale amplifies weak unit economics, the four taxes growth quietly levies, and the afternoon diagnosis.

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Comparisons31 Aug 202612 min read

The best Shopify profit tracking apps, compared

Seven profit trackers for Shopify, compared on what they cost at 500, 5.000 and 50.000 orders a month, how deep each P&L goes and how each fits an EU store. Prices dated.

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Comparisons31 Aug 202610 min read

TrueProfit alternatives: flat pricing and a P&L that holds still

Why stores outgrow per-order pricing, what TrueProfit does well, and how nouz and the other alternatives compare on price, cost history and EU fit. Prices dated.

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Comparisons31 Aug 202610 min read

BeProfit alternatives: Shopify depth instead of multi-channel breadth

BeProfit is the multi-channel dashboard. For Shopify-only and multi-store Shopify sellers, how nouz and the other alternatives compare on price, scope and cost history.

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Comparisons31 Aug 202610 min read

Lifetimely alternatives: cohort LTV in contribution terms, inside the daily P&L

Lifetimely by AMP leads with cohorts and LTV. nouz computes the same cohort curves in revenue and contribution terms on a 34-line P&L. How they compare, prices dated.

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Packaging27 Aug 202610 min read

Packaging EPR: what it actually costs you per parcel

EPR is charged on the weight of packaging you place on a market, by material. Here is the arithmetic per parcel, and where the cost lands on a P&L.

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Packaging24 Aug 20267 min read

What PPWR actually costs an ecommerce seller

PPWR started applying on 12 August 2026. Here is what changed for a Shopify merchant in money: where you register, and which line each fee lands on.

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Packaging21 Aug 20266 min read

VerpackG, LUCID and what German packaging rules cost per order

Germany charges you in three places: LUCID, a dual system contract and the Datenmeldung. Only one of them scales with orders. Here is what it costs.

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Shopify20 Aug 20267 min read

What Shopify's COGS report leaves out

Shopify's profit reports stop at net sales minus a static cost field. Here is what that field does to your history, and what sits below gross profit.

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Costs19 Aug 20266 min read

Which day does a refund belong to

Book a refund to the order date and last month never stops changing. Book it to the refund date and the past stays fixed. Why nouz does the second.

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Margins18 Aug 20269 min read

CM1, CM2 and CM3: the three margins ecommerce operators steer on

One profit number tells you whether the month worked. Three margins tell you why. What each one holds, and the decision it belongs to.

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Costs14 Aug 20267 min read

What a return really costs, and why it is not the refund

The refund is the visible part and rarely the expensive one. A returned order costs you four things, and three of them no refund gives back.

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Shopify11 Aug 20268 min read

What Shopify Analytics does not tell you about profit

Shopify measures the money coming in with real precision. Four of the costs that decide your profit have no field in it at all.

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Marketing4 Aug 20267 min read

MER, POAS or ROAS: which number should you steer on

Platform ROAS is the most reported and least reliable number in ecommerce. Two blended alternatives are harder to game and easier to trust.

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