Profit Reality Score
A 0-100 score that measures your store’s real profitability — after refunds, COGS, payment fees, and shipping, not just revenue.
Quick Answer
The Profit Reality Score is a 0-100 number that measures how healthy your Shopify store's profitability is after every real cost — refunds, COGS, payment fees, and shipping. It starts at 100, drops when your refund rate exceeds 2% or your COGS ratio exceeds 30%, and adds back up to 20 points for a strong profit margin. If you haven't set per-product costs in Shopify, it shows N/A because profitability can't be assessed without cost data. A score of 70+ is healthy, 40-69 needs attention, below 40 is critical.
Why the score exists
Shopify’s dashboard shows revenue. It does not show what you keep after refunds eat into sales, after payment processors take their cut, after you pay for the product, and after shipping. A store can look busy and still be losing money on every order.
The Profit Reality Score collapses all of that into one number so you can tell, at a glance, whether your store is actually profitable — and roughly how far from healthy you are.
The exact formula
The score starts at 100 and adjusts based on three factors:
- Start at 100.
- Subtract for high refunds:
max(0, (refundRate% − 2) × 5). Refunds under 2% don't penalize you; above 2%, each point of refund rate costs 5 score points. - Subtract for high COGS:
max(0, (cogsRatio − 0.30) × 80). If your cost of goods is more than 30% of revenue, the excess drags the score down sharply. - Add back for margin:
min(20, profitMargin% × 0.4), capped at 20 points. A strong profit margin can recover up to 20 points. - Clamp to 0-100.
Worked example: A store with a 5% refund rate, 40% COGS ratio, and 15% profit margin would score: 100 − (5−2)×5 − (0.40−0.30)×80 + min(20, 15×0.4) = 100 − 15 − 8 + 6 = 83 (healthy).
What each range means
Your profit margin is strong relative to your costs. Refund rate and COGS are under control. Keep doing what you're doing, and watch for drift month to month.
You're profitable but leaking margin somewhere — usually refunds, COGS, or payment fees. A single cost category is likely dragging the score down. Find it and fix it.
After every deduction, little to nothing is left. This often means COGS is too high, refunds are eating revenue, or pricing doesn't cover real costs. Act before a bad month wipes you out.
Why it shows N/A without COGS
If you haven’t set per-product costs in Shopify, the score returns N/A— not zero. Without cost data, profit looks artificially high (COGS reads as $0), which would falsely floor the score near 100. We’d rather show no score than a misleading one.
To fix it: add cost data in Shopify Admin → Products → Edit → Cost at item, then re-export your orders CSV.
What the score does not do
It measures profitability health, not growth. A high score means you keep a healthy share of revenue — it says nothing about how much revenue you have. A small, efficient store can score higher than a large, leaky one.
It also uses estimated payment fees (Shopify Payments’ 2.9% + $0.30 for US stores). If you use a different processor, your real fees differ. The score is a directional health check, not an audited financial statement.
Get your score
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