Understanding price and profit
Read the calculation for drafts and listings and check why the result changes.
On this page
Before comparing two numbers
Open the product or draft whose price you want to understand and check the variation. The cost of another color or pack can differ even when the main title looks similar. Then check the currency and, if shown, the date when the Amazon data was retrieved.
The breakdown brings together Sale price, Total cost, Costs and taxes and Net profit. Total cost may include the converted purchase price and an additional item included in the settings; the Costs and taxes section includes the fees considered and configured VAT. Review these components first, then compare the result.
A price you see in a new Amazon session does not automatically replace the one used in Qublo’s breakdown.
Read the calculation items
This guide concerns drafts and listings. For a sale already received, use Understanding an order’s profit, which considers the data for that sale.
In the product calculation, profit is the selling price minus total purchase cost, the eBay fees considered and the amount of the configured VAT percentage.
- Purchase cost: check the product, variation and currency.
- Shipping: check any cost included in the settings.
- Fees: depend on the eBay information available for the product.
- VAT: is calculated using the configured percentage.
If purchase and sale use different currencies, the configured exchange rate also enters the calculation.
Distinguish return on cost from margin
The Percentage set in pricing rules is based on purchase cost. Sales margin is based on the selling price instead.
An example of the percentage ratios alone, with net profit already calculated: with a cost of 20 euros and profit of 3 euros, return on cost is 15%. If the selling price is 30 euros, the same profit represents 10% of revenue.
A manually edited price, an imposed price ending or a product-specific rule can produce a result different from the band’s general target.
Check unexpected profit
- Open the product and check the store, marketplace and currencies.
- Check the cost used in the breakdown, for the same Amazon product and variation.
- Verify the eBay account type, category and fees.
- Check VAT, shipping and the store’s profit rules.
- Check whether the product has a personalized price or profit.
An unavailable calculation value requires checking the data: it does not mean the fee is zero. If the calculation still differs from what you expected, open a ticket with the product and the items that do not match.
A complete example of the displayed profit
Consider an illustrative example in the same currency: selling price 30 euros, total cost 20 euros, total fees considered 3 euros and configured VAT of 5%. The 3 euros in fees is hypothetical, not an eBay rate.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Sale | 30.00 euros |
| Total cost | 20.00 euros |
| Fees considered | 3.00 euros |
| Configured VAT: 30 × 5% | 1.50 euros |
| Profit: 30 − 20 − 3 − 1.50 | 5.50 euros |
In this example, return on cost is 27.50%, while sales margin is approximately 18.33%. The 5% value illustrates how the field works and does not indicate the rate to use for your business.
Read the exchange rate and additional costs
If source cost and selling price are in different currencies, Qublo uses the configured exchange rate. For example, 20 units of the source currency at an illustrative rate of 0.90 become 18 in the selling currency. If an additional configured cost of 2 is included, total cost becomes 20.
Compare total cost in the selling currency, rather than 20 in one currency with 20 in another. Monetary components are rounded to cents: a hand calculation may show small differences if you round at a different stage.
An externally incurred cost that appears neither in product cost nor in the settings cannot be reconstructed from the product title alone. If your comparison includes other expenses, keep them separate from the items actually displayed by Qublo.
Understand which rule takes precedence
A product can use the store’s general band, a dedicated profit, dedicated bands or a manually set price. Product details are the place to check which rule is actually applied.
Dedicated bands remain item-level rules and can continue to be used when the supplier cost changes. Saving a new individual price or profit can replace them; changing only quantity, availability or VAT preserves them according to the editor workflow. This is why a store-level change may not by itself explain the result for an already personalized item.
Before extending an update to manual prices, check at least one representative case. The store confirmation makes the replacement of included personalizations explicit.
If profit is hidden or cannot be calculated
When the Amazon product is unavailable, the editor may hide cost, sale price and profit until the variation becomes purchasable again. If purchase cost is missing, a manual price alone does not complete profit: source data is still required.
An unavailable fee schedule instead requires checking the marketplace, account type, plan or category. Read the message beside the calculation. Zero and a value that cannot be calculated do not mean the same thing.
After correcting the data, reopen the breakdown and repeat the comparison using the same items. If a difference remains, include the formula you used, the breakdown values and any personalization in the ticket: these are more useful than an expected percentage alone.