Shopify profit calculator: fees, VAT and what's actually left
Shopify's processing fee looks small — until you add the fixed per-transaction amount, VAT on the order, your postage and packaging, and the ads that brought the customer. Here's the honest per-order maths.
Published 29 July 2026 · Rates last checked 18 August 2026 · Worked examples computed by the live calculation engine
The problem
Store owners tend to think in monthly revenue, not per-order profit. But every order carries processing (a percentage plus a fixed amount — brutal on cheap items), fulfilment costs and VAT in both directions. If you don't know your per-order number, scaling ad spend just scales the loss.
A worked example
A £59.99 product on the Grow plan with Shopify Payments; the customer pays £3.99 shipping, the courier charges you £4.50; product cost £26.00; VAT-registered seller:
- Processing fees
- £1.34
- VAT set aside on the order
- £10.66
- True profit
- £26.16
- Real margin
- 49.1%
Processing is charged on the full £63.98 the customer paid — product and shipping together.
The formula
profit = (product revenue + shipping charged) ex VAT
− product cost (ex VAT)
− courier cost − packaging (ex VAT)
− processing % of gross order − fixed fee per order
− advertising per order (if any)Assumptions in this example
- Shopify Payments on the Grow plan, UK-issued card, GBP order — no international surcharge or conversion fee.
- VAT-registered seller; the engine treats VAT as cashflow, not revenue (see the VAT guide).
- No advertising cost included — add your real cost-per-order in the calculator's advanced costs.
Frequently asked
- How much does Shopify take per sale?
- With Shopify Payments in the UK, the online card rate depends on your plan — higher on Basic, lower on Grow and Advanced — plus a fixed pence amount per transaction. Using a third-party gateway adds an extra transaction fee on top of your gateway's own charges.
- Does Shopify charge fees on shipping?
- Yes. Payment processing applies to the whole order the customer pays for — product and shipping together.
- What about international orders?
- Cards issued outside the UK carry a surcharge, and if the order is in another currency there's a conversion fee on top (calculated on the gross order amount since April 2026). Both are in Munavo's rate card.
- Is Shopify cheaper than eBay?
- Per transaction, usually yes — but you bring your own traffic. The honest comparison is profit per order after your advertising cost, which is exactly why the calculator has an advertising field.
Every rate used on this page is public: see the Rate Centre for the exact cards and verification dates, and how we keep the numbers honest.
Run your own numbers
Free, no account needed — the same engine as every example above.
Open the calculator