How ProfitCheck Works

1. Enter your product costs

Start by entering what you paid for the product. You can also include shipping, transaction costs and other expenses associated with the sale.

2. Enter your selling price

Enter the price you expect to receive from the sale. ProfitCheck then uses your selling price together with the costs and fees you entered.

3. Account for platform fees

ProfitCheck includes editable estimates for common selling platforms such as eBay, Etsy and Shopify. Fees can vary depending on your account, location, payment method and current platform pricing, so the estimates should be checked against the fees that actually apply to you.

4. Calculate estimated profit

ProfitCheck estimates the amount remaining after the costs and percentage-based fees you entered.

The result is an estimate rather than a guarantee of the final amount you will receive from a sale.

5. Understand your margin and ROI

ProfitCheck also shows profit margin and return on investment (ROI). These measures provide different ways of looking at the same sale.

• Profit: the estimated amount remaining after entered costs and fees.
• Profit margin: estimated profit expressed as a percentage of the selling price.
• ROI: estimated profit compared with the costs invested in the product and sale.

6. Find your break-even price

The break-even price estimates the selling price required to cover the costs and percentage-based platform fees entered into the calculator.

At the estimated break-even price, the calculation produces approximately zero profit before any costs that have not been entered.

7. Work backwards from a target margin

You can also enter a target profit margin. ProfitCheck works backwards from that target to estimate the selling price required to achieve it, based on the costs and fees you entered.

This can be useful when comparing products, setting listing prices or deciding whether a potential purchase is worth considering.