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Understand Your Dashboard Metrics

This article explains each metric on your ProfitTree dashboard, how the numbers are calculated, and why ProfitTree metrics may differ from Etsy’s built-in reports.

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Understand Your Dashboard Metrics

Every metric on your ProfitTree dashboard exists to help you understand the real performance of your Etsy shop. All values are calculated using Etsy ledger data combined with your product costs, giving you a clear and transparent view of profit.

All dashboard metrics reflect the date range you have selected.

Net Sales

Net Sales represent the total revenue collected after adjustments.

Net Sales include:

  • Gross Sales

  • Shipping collected

  • Discounts

  • Refunds

Important notes:

  • Refunds are recorded on the original sale date, not the refund date.

  • Refunds include refunded sales tax or VAT credits returned by Etsy.

  • Shipping refunds and gift-wrap refunds are included here.

Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)

COGS represents the total cost to produce or fulfill the products you sold.

COGS comes from:

  • Costs you enter in COGS Management

  • Automatically imported costs from Printify or Printful

If you update your COGS, those changes are reflected in dashboard metrics.

Operating Expenses

Operating Expenses include all selling-related costs paid to Etsy:

  • Transaction fees

  • Processing fees

  • Listing fees

  • Shipping labels paid by you

  • Etsy advertising fees

Due to Etsy API limitations, ProfitTree uses weighted averages for some expenses when exact per-order breakdowns are not available.

Transaction Fees

Etsy’s standard 6.5% selling fee applied to:

  • Item price after discounts

  • Shipping charged to the customer

  • Gift wrapping

Credits from cancellations or refunds are reflected here.

Processing Fees

Payment processing fees charged by Etsy based on:

  • Item price

  • Shipping collected

  • Gift wrapping

  • Sales tax or VAT

Refund-related credits are reflected here.

Listing Fees

Includes:

  • $0.20 USD listing fees

  • Auto-renew fees

  • Multi-quantity listing fees

  • Listing credits from Etsy Plus

Credits for full cancellations appear here.

Shipping Cost (Paid by You)

Includes:

  • Purchased shipping labels

  • Overpayment credits

  • Underpayment adjustments

  • Unused label refunds

Ad Cost

Includes:

  • Etsy onsite ads

  • Etsy offsite ads

  • Offsite ad fee credits from refunds

  • Etsy Plus ad credits

ProfitTree shows ads based on ledger-billed amounts, not estimated spend.

Operating Profit

Operating Profit shows your estimated profit before marketing strategy decisions or indirect expenses.

Formula:

Operating Profit = Net Sales – COGS – Operating Expenses

Compare Periods Graph

This graph allows you to:

  • Compare metrics across time periods

  • Toggle comparisons against the previous period

  • Analyze trends for any dashboard metric

Performance Metrics

% Profit

Your profit margin for the selected period.

Formula:

% Profit = Operating Profit / Net Sales × 100

ROI (Return on Investment)

Shows how much profit you earned relative to your costs.

Formula:

ROI = Operating Profit / (COGS + Operating Expenses) × 100

Units Sold

Total quantity of items sold during the selected period.

Orders Metrics

  • Orders: Total number of orders

  • Average Order Value: Average revenue per order

  • Average Shipping Cost: Average shipping cost per order

Shipping Metrics

  • Shipping Collected: What customers paid for shipping

  • Shipping Cost: What you paid for shipping labels

  • Balance: Shipping Collected minus Shipping Cost

Advertising Metrics

  • Etsy Ad Spend: Total billed ad cost

  • ROAS (Return on Ad Spend):
    ROAS = Net Sales / Total Ad Spend

ProfitTree displays historical average ROAS for your shop.

Breakeven ROAS

Breakeven ROAS shows the minimum ROAS required to avoid losing money on ads.

This metric depends on accurate COGS being entered.

Summary

Your ProfitTree dashboard brings together revenue, costs, profit, and performance metrics into one clear view. Each value is calculated using transparent formulas and real Etsy ledger data so you can understand exactly how your shop is performing.

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