Blog
Writing on Shopify profitability, ad attribution, and the numbers behind an ecommerce business.
- The 20-Minute Shopify Profit Audit
Eight checks, twenty minutes, no software. Do these before you spend another dollar on ads and you will know more about your store than most owners know about theirs.
Playbooks6 min read - Why is my best-selling product not my most profitable?
Revenue and profit rank products differently. The item that sells most often carries the most discount, the most returns and the heaviest shipping — and Shopify sorts by revenue.
Answers4 min read - Why does Shopify say I made more than my bank did?
Shopify reports what customers were charged. Your bank receives what is left after fees, refunds and chargebacks, days later. Here is every step of the gap.
Answers4 min read - Your Shopify Dashboard Is Lying To You About Profit
Shopify shows you what customers paid. It does not show you what you kept. Here is the full subtraction, done on a real $100 order.
Profit5 min read - Why is my Facebook ROAS different from Shopify?
Meta counts sales Shopify never credits to it — views without clicks, longer windows, and customers other channels also claim. Here is why the two never match.
Answers4 min read - Am I losing money on shipping?
Almost certainly, and it rarely shows up as a line anywhere. What customers pay you and what carriers bill you are two separate numbers that nothing puts side by side.
Answers3 min read - Meta Says 40 Sales. Shopify Says 12. Here's Who's Right.
Your ad platforms and your store will never agree, and it is not a bug. Here are the six reasons they differ, and the one number to actually run the business on.
Attribution6 min read - How do I work out my real profit per order on Shopify?
Shopify shows what customers paid, not what you kept. Here is the full subtraction on one order, with the three costs stores most often miss.
Answers4 min read - Your ROAS Is Counting Customers You Didn't Pay For
A Facebook click ID on a URL is not proof that Facebook sold anything. Here is how free customers end up on your ad report, and how to get them off it.
Attribution6 min read - Why did my profit drop when my sales went up?
Growth changes the mix. More discounting, a heavier product, a costlier customer and refunds that have not landed yet can all move profit down while revenue moves up.
Answers3 min read - What is a good ROAS for a Shopify store?
There is no universal number. Your break-even ROAS is 1 divided by your contribution margin, and anything below it loses money. Work yours out in two minutes.
Answers3 min read - Stop Optimising ROAS. It's A Ratio, And Ratios Don't Pay Rent.
The easiest way to get a brilliant ROAS is to stop growing. Here is the number to optimise instead, and how to find your own break-even in two minutes.
Profit5 min read - Why is so much of my Shopify traffic showing as direct?
Almost nobody types your URL. Direct is where analytics files a visit it could not identify — and a growing share of it now arrives from AI assistants.
Answers4 min read - Do my discount codes actually make money?
A discount comes out of contribution, not revenue. On a typical margin a 20 percent code takes about half of what the order was going to leave you.
Answers3 min read - Direct Is Not A Traffic Source. It's Where Your Analytics Gave Up.
Nobody types your URL. Direct is the bin for visits your analytics could not identify, and a growing share of it now comes from AI chat.
Attribution6 min read - Why did my refund rate suddenly go up?
Usually nothing changed. Refunds arrive weeks after the orders that caused them, so growth hides your real rate and a flat month reveals it.
Answers3 min read - Your Refunds Arrive Two Weeks Late. That's Why Your Best Month Is Fiction.
Refunds land long after the orders that caused them. That single lag makes recent months look better than they are, and makes growth look like quality.
Profit5 min read