SellersCalc

Ad math

PPC Profit Calculator

ROAS says the campaign looks good; this says whether each paid order actually puts money in the bank.

PPC profit per sale = price − product costs − ad spend per sale. A $55 product carrying $22 of product and fulfillment costs and $15 of ad spend per order nets $18 — a 32.7% margin after ads. This is the number ROAS hides: the same $15 ad cost is a healthy 3.7× ROAS, yet on a $30 product with the same costs it would mean selling at a loss. Ad spend per sale is simply total spend ÷ orders (your CPA). Enter your three numbers to see the true per-order profit and post-ad margin.

PPC Profit Calculator — your numbers

Profit per sale

$18.00

Margin after ads

32.7%

Estimate only. Results reflect exactly the numbers you enter — verify against your own accounting before making pricing decisions.

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Worked examples

Healthy paid unit economics

Selling price $55.00
Product & fulfillment cost $22.00
Ad spend per sale $15.00
Profit per sale $18.00
Margin after ads 32.7%

$18 per order and a 32.7% post-ad margin — room left for overhead and returns.

Thin margin under ad pressure

Selling price $35.00
Product & fulfillment cost $14.00
Ad spend per sale $12.00
Profit per sale $9.00
Margin after ads 25.7%

$9 per order at 25.7% — one CPC increase away from working for free.

Frequently asked questions

What should I include in product & fulfillment cost?

Every per-order cost except advertising: landed product cost, packaging, pick-and-pack or FBA fees, outbound shipping you subsidize, payment or marketplace fees, and a returns allowance. Leaving any of these out inflates the profit this calculator reports — the classic way stores "profitably" advertise their way into a cash crunch.

How do I find my ad spend per sale?

Divide total ad spend by total paid-attributed orders over the same period — that is your CPA. Use a 30-day window to smooth daily noise, and use blended numbers (all spend ÷ all new orders) as a cross-check, since platform attribution tends to under-count spend per genuinely incremental sale.

My ROAS looks great but PPC profit per sale is tiny — how?

ROAS measures revenue against ad spend and ignores product costs entirely. A 4× ROAS means ads take 25% of revenue — fine at a 45% pre-ad margin (20 points left), brutal at a 30% margin (5 points left). Two stores with identical ROAS can sit on opposite sides of profitability. This calculator is the tiebreaker.

Is a small profit per paid sale ever acceptable?

Deliberately, yes: brands with strong repeat purchase or subscription attach can run first orders near break-even because reorders arrive without ad cost. The discipline is knowing your actual repeat rate and payback window — "we make it up on LTV" without retention data is how thin margins become permanent losses.

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Part of the Advertising & ROAS collection.