Marketplace ROAS Calculator
Separate actual advertising efficiency from the ROAS required to cover the order's modeled costs.
Quick answer
Marketplace ROAS Calculator helps estimate the result from your inputs in the browser. Use the output as a planning number, then compare it with your records, provider terms, or official guidance before making a final decision.
Use a consistent attribution window and statement-derived fee inputs. The result excludes overhead, labor, returns, tax, attribution error, and customer lifetime value unless you model them separately.
Calculator
Results update as you type
Order contribution after ads
The modeled order remains above zero after the costs entered. Overhead, returns, attribution error, and omitted charges still need separate scenarios.
Breakdown
ROAS example
Actual ROAS divides revenue by attributed ad spend. Break-even ROAS instead divides revenue by contribution before ads. They are different metrics and should not be substituted.
Formula
The math behind the result
Actual ROAS = seller revenue ÷ attributed ad spend
Break-even ROAS = seller revenue ÷ contribution before ads
Max CPA = contribution before ads
How it works
A clean flow from input to answer
- 1Enter seller revenue and the separate amount subject to percentage fees.
- 2Add product, shipping, platform, payment, fixed, and attributed advertising costs from the same order definition.
- 3Compare actual ROAS with break-even ROAS; the campaign is above modeled order break-even only when actual ROAS is higher.
FAQ
Common questions
What is the difference between actual and break-even ROAS?
Actual ROAS describes observed revenue per attributed ad dollar. Break-even ROAS is the minimum ratio required when contribution before ads is the maximum affordable acquisition cost.
What happens when contribution before ads is zero or negative?
No finite ROAS can make the modeled first order profitable through advertising alone, because there is no positive amount available for acquisition.
What is max CPA?
It is contribution before advertising under the entered assumptions. Spending exactly that amount leaves zero order contribution before overhead and omitted costs.
Why separate fee base from seller revenue?
Marketplace-remitted tax, buyer shipping, handling, and other amounts can affect percentage fees without all becoming seller revenue.
Does this include repeat purchases?
No. Add lifetime value only through a separate cohort model based on observed repeat contribution and retention costs.
Connect advertising efficiency to contribution profit
Return on ad spend divides attributed revenue by advertising cost, but revenue is not profit. The calculator first accounts for product, fulfillment, platform, payment, and shipping costs so the maximum acquisition cost reflects what is genuinely available before advertising.
If an order creates $30 of contribution before ads, paying more than $30 to acquire it loses money on the first purchase. The corresponding break-even ROAS depends on order revenue. A target should sit above break-even to leave room for overhead, attribution error, and returns.
Use a consistent attribution window and compare platform reports with store orders. View-through claims, duplicate credit across channels, cancellations, and branded searches can inflate apparent performance. Cohort or incrementality analysis is stronger than accepting every dashboard conversion at face value.
Lifetime value can justify a first-order loss only when repeat behavior is measured and cash flow can support it. Separate new and returning customers, include retention costs, and use conservative repeat margins. Do not scale merely because headline ROAS exceeds an arbitrary industry benchmark.