Store break-even
Ecommerce Break-Even Calculator
Turn contribution per order into the monthly order volume and revenue your store needs to cover fixed costs — and optionally hit a target profit.
Orders to break even
135
At $22.30 contribution per order, about 135 orders cover $3,000.00 of monthly fixed costs.
Contribution / order
$22.30
Revenue left after all entered variable costs.
Contribution margin
27.9%
Contribution as a share of revenue per order.
Break-even revenue
$10,800.00
Revenue at the rounded-up break-even order count.
Orders / day
4.5
Break-even orders spread across a 30-day month.
Variable cost / order
$57.70
COGS, fulfilment, fees, ads and other entered variable costs.
Revenue / order
$80.00
Selling price plus customer-paid shipping.
Target profit
225 orders for $2,000.00 monthly profit
That order count covers the fixed costs you entered first, then leaves the target profit. Required revenue at that volume is $18,000.00.
Store break-even starts with contribution per order
Fixed costs cannot be divided by revenue. They have to be divided by the money each order leaves after variable costs. That leftover is contribution per order.
Worked ecommerce break-even example
In the worked example, an $80.00 order has $57.70 of entered variable costs, leaving $22.30 contribution — a 27.9% contribution margin. With $3,000 of monthly fixed costs, the business needs 135 orders, or about 4.5 orders per day over a 30-day month.
Because the calculator rounds order volume up to a whole order, break-even revenue is $10,800.00 rather than a fractional-order theoretical value.
What counts as a fixed cost?
Fixed costs are expenses that do not rise directly with one additional order: salaries, software subscriptions, rent, retainers and base platform plans. COGS, fulfilment, transaction fees and per-order ad cost belong in the variable-cost side.
Why more sales can fail to fix a loss
If contribution per order is zero or negative, each extra order adds no money toward overhead. In that case there is no finite break-even order count; price or variable costs have to change first.
Need to inspect one order before modelling the whole month? Start with the Ecommerce Profit Calculator.
Related guides
- Ecommerce Break-Even PointTurn contribution per order into the order volume and revenue needed to cover monthly overhead.
Methodology
How the Ecommerce Break-Even Calculator calculates
Costs included
- Monthly fixed costs entered by you
- Selling price and customer-paid shipping
- COGS and seller-paid fulfilment
- Percentage and fixed transaction fees
- Advertising cost / CPA per order
- Other per-order variable costs
- Optional target monthly profit
Costs excluded
- Taxes unless entered as a cost
- Changing CPA or conversion rate at scale
- Inventory constraints
- Customer lifetime value and repeat purchases
Assumptions
- The same average order economics repeat across the modelled month
- Break-even orders are rounded up to a whole order
- A 30-day month is used only for the daily-order display
- Target profit is added after fixed costs are covered
Calculations run locally in your browser. No figures are transmitted, logged or stored, and the page works with the network disconnected once loaded.
Formula and copy last reviewed 2026-08-25. Read how every calculator on this site is built and checked in the methodology.
This tool is informational. It is not accounting, tax, investment or financial advice, and it does not replace your own books.
Frequently asked questions
Should ad spend be fixed or variable?
If you can express paid acquisition as an average CPA per order, it belongs in variable cost here. A fixed monthly agency retainer belongs in fixed monthly costs.
Why does the calculator round orders up?
You cannot sell a fraction of an order. Rounding up makes the displayed break-even point operational rather than purely theoretical.
What if contribution per order is negative?
There is no finite store break-even volume. Every additional order increases the loss before fixed costs, so price or variable costs need to improve first.