Documentation

Cost Settings

Configure product costs and custom business expenses to enable accurate profit calculations, margin tracking, and true ROAS reporting in your TrueTracked dashboard.

Product Costs

Product costs are synced from your Shopify store's "Cost per item" field. TrueTracked uses these costs to calculate profit margins on every order.

Syncing Products

1. Go to Settings > Cost Settings
2. The Product Costs tab shows all synced products
3. Click Sync Now to pull the latest products from Shopify
4. The sync runs in the background — large catalogs may take a few minutes

Products are displayed with their image, title, SKU, Shopify price, cost, and calculated margin.

Overriding Costs

If your actual product cost differs from what's in Shopify (e.g., you have negotiated supplier pricing, or Shopify's cost field isn't set), you can override the cost per item:

1. Find the product in the list (use search to filter)
2. Click the edit icon on the product row
3. Enter your actual Cost Per Item
4. The margin preview updates in real-time as you type
5. Click Save

Overridden costs are marked with an "Override" badge. Future Shopify syncs will not overwrite manual overrides — your custom cost is preserved until you clear it.

Custom Expenses

Track additional business expenses beyond product costs and ad spend. These are factored into your profit calculations for a complete picture of business profitability.

Adding an Expense

1. Go to Settings > Cost Settings
2. Switch to the Custom Expenses tab
3. Click Add Expense
4. Fill in the form:
   • Title: A descriptive name (e.g., "Shopify Subscription", "Warehouse Rent")
   • Category: Choose from predefined categories (Software, Shipping, Marketing, Operations, etc.)
   • Amount: The expense amount in your organization's currency
   • Type: One-time or Monthly recurring
   • Start Date: When the expense begins
   • End Date: When the expense ends (leave blank for ongoing)
   • Platform: Optionally link the expense to a specific ad platform
   • Notes: Any additional context
5. Click Save

Expense Types

How Costs Affect Reporting

With costs configured, your TrueTracked dashboard provides:

• Gross Profit: Revenue minus product costs (COGS)
• Net Profit: Gross profit minus ad spend and custom expenses
• True ROAS: Revenue divided by total costs (ad spend + expenses), giving you a more accurate return metric
• Margin %: Profit as a percentage of revenue, shown per product and in aggregate

Troubleshooting

• Products not showing: Click "Sync Now" to trigger a fresh sync. Ensure your Shopify integration is active in Integrations.
• Cost shows $0.00: The "Cost per item" field isn't set in Shopify for that product. Either set it in Shopify and re-sync, or use the override feature in TrueTracked.
• Margins look wrong: Check that product costs reflect your actual landed cost (including shipping to warehouse, import duties, etc.), not just the supplier price.
• Expenses not reflected in dashboard: Verify the expense dates overlap with the date range you're viewing. Monthly expenses are prorated for partial months.

FAQ