Profit Leak
Money vanishing from your P&L that you never see coming. Shipping subsidies you didn't track. Payment fees on refunds that don't come back. Apps you stopped using but forgot to cancel. Returns you processed without restocking fees. Small drips that add up to a flood.
Example
$50K/mo store does an audit and finds: $400 lost on shipping, $350 eaten by refund payment fees, $250 on unused apps, $200 in untracked return processing. That's $1,200/mo or $14,400/year walking out the door silently.
Why It Matters
Profit leaks are the reason a store can hit $100K in revenue and still feel broke. They're small, invisible, and compound — and because they don't show up as a single expense, most merchants never go looking for them.
Pro Tip
Spend 20 minutes listing every cost your store incurred last month — including the ones that don't appear in Shopify's dashboard. Refund fees, app charges, shipping overages, return labor. The total will surprise you.
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