Break-even ROAS calculator

What break-even ROAS means

ROAS, return on ad spend, is the revenue your ads bring in divided by what you spend on them. A ROAS of 3 means every 1 spent on ads brings in 3 in sales. Break-even ROAS is the lowest ROAS at which a sale doesn't lose money: below it, the ads cost more than the profit the sale leaves.

This calculator works it out from your own numbers: selling price, product cost, shipping, the payment provider's fee and any other cost per order. It also shows your break-even cost per acquisition (CPA), the most you can spend on ads for one sale, and, if you enter a target margin, the ROAS you need to keep that margin after ads.

How it's calculated

The payment fee is the selling price multiplied by the fee percentage. Profit before ads is the selling price minus the product cost, shipping, payment fee and other costs. Break-even ROAS is the selling price divided by the profit before ads, and the break-even CPA equals the profit before ads.

For a target margin, the ad budget per sale is the profit before ads minus the margin you want to keep (as a share of the price); the target ROAS is the price divided by that budget. If there's no profit left before ads, no ROAS can break even, and the calculator tells you.

How to use it

Enter the selling price and your costs, then compare the break-even ROAS with the ROAS your ad platform reports. If your campaigns run below break-even, each sale loses money, however good the revenue looks. Everything runs in your browser, and nothing you type is sent to Findora's server.

Why it matters

Ad platforms report revenue, not profit. A campaign with a ROAS of 2.5 can be healthy for a product with wide margins and ruinous for one with thin margins. Knowing each product's break-even point lets you set sensible targets, cut losing campaigns sooner and price new products with room for advertising.