Upstack Costs

Configure handling costs, fulfillment costs, per-order costs, fixed costs, and OPEX in Upstack Data to calculate accurate contribution margin and profitability metrics.

Upstack Costs is an internal data source where you configure your business costs for accurate margin and profitability calculations. Unlike other sources that pull data from external platforms, Upstack Costs uses values you configure directly in the Upstack dashboard.

What Upstack Costs Provides

Upstack Costs powers metrics in the Orders category, including:

• Handling Costs — Per-unit costs for picking, packing, and processing
• Fulfillment Costs — Shipping and delivery costs
• Transaction Costs — Payment gateway fees
• Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) — Product costs (auto-pulled from Shopify, overridable)
• Fixed Costs & OPEX — Monthly operating expenses

These costs feed into contribution margin calculations (CM1, CM2, CM3, CM4) and profitability metrics.

How It Works

1. Navigate to Cost Settings

   In your Upstack dashboard, go to Settings → Cost Management.

2. Configure variable costs

   Set up variable costs:

   • Handling fee — Fixed amount charged on every unit sold (e.g., $2.50)
   • Shipping cost — Fixed amount or percentage of order value
   • Gateway/transaction fees — Percentage of order value (e.g., 2.9% + $0.30)
3. Configure COGS

   Choose how COGS are calculated:

   • From Shopify — Auto-pulled from product cost data in Shopify (default)
   • Fixed percentage — Set a default percentage of net revenue (e.g., “10% of net revenue”)
   • Custom per-product — Override COGS for specific products
4. Configure fixed costs

   Add monthly operating expenses:

   • Agency fees — Monthly retainer or percentage of ad spend
   • Software costs — Monthly SaaS subscriptions
   • Other OPEX — Any other fixed monthly costs

Cost Data Sources

Cost Type	Default Source	Override Options
COGS	Shopify product cost field	Fixed %, custom per-product
Handling	Upstack Cost Settings	Per-order amount
Shipping (fulfillment)	Upstack Cost Settings	Fixed or % of order
Gateway fees	Upstack Cost Settings	% of order + fixed fee
Agency fees	Upstack Cost Settings	Monthly amount or % of spend
OPEX	Upstack Cost Settings	Monthly amount

COGS Configuration

Cost of Goods Sold is the only cost type with multiple data source options:

Option 1: Auto-pull from Shopify (Recommended)

If your Shopify products have cost data populated, Upstack automatically pulls this for accurate per-product COGS calculations.

To populate product costs in Shopify, go to Products → [Product] → Pricing → Cost per item.

Option 2: Default percentage

Set a blanket COGS percentage that applies to all products:

COGS = Net Revenue × (COGS Percentage / 100)

For example, if you set “10% of net revenue” and an order has $100 net revenue, COGS =$10.

Option 3: Override per product

For products where Shopify data is missing or inaccurate, set custom COGS values in Upstack’s product cost overrides.

Contribution Margin Calculations

Upstack uses your configured costs to calculate contribution margins at four levels:

Margin Level	Formula
CM1	Net Revenue − COGS
CM2	CM1 − Fulfillment Costs (handling + shipping)
CM3	CM2 − Transaction Costs (gateway fees)
CM4	CM3 − Marketing Costs (ad spend + agency fees)

Higher contribution margin levels subtract more costs, giving you increasingly accurate views of true profitability.

Related Metrics

Metrics powered by Upstack Costs:

Category	Metrics
COGS	COGS, COGS per Order, COGS Rate
Fulfillment	Handling Cost, Shipping Cost, Total Fulfillment
Transaction	Gateway Cost, Transaction Cost
Contribution Margin	CM1, CM2, CM3, CM4, Marketing Cost, Agency Fees, OPEX
Product Margin	Gross Profit, Gross Profit %

Best Practices

Start with accurate COGS

Contribution margin calculations are only as good as your COGS data. Populate product costs in Shopify first, then use Upstack overrides for exceptions.

Review costs monthly

Fulfillment rates, gateway fees, and agency retainers can change. Set a monthly reminder to review and update your cost configuration.

Use realistic estimates

If you don’t have exact costs, use conservative estimates. It’s better to slightly overestimate costs than to show inflated margins.

Segment by customer type

Upstack calculates separate contribution margins for new vs. returning customers. This helps you understand acquisition profitability vs. retention profitability.

Related

COGS Metrics

Cost of goods sold metrics and formulas.

Contribution Margin

CM1 through CM4 metrics and calculations.

Fulfillment Costs

Handling and shipping cost metrics.

Shopify Source

How Upstack pulls COGS data from Shopify products.