/General Questions
Question
First sale after 6 weeks! But my profit margin is terrible... is this normal?
Posted by •10/18/2025
I finally got my first sale yesterday after 6 weeks of trying and I'm excited but also confused about my numbers.
Here's the breakdown:
Product: Portable phone charger
Sale price: $29.99
Product cost from supplier: $8.50
Shipping cost: $4.20
Ad spend to get this sale: ~$45 (rough estimate based on daily spend)
PayPal/Stripe fees: $1.20
So my "profit" on this sale was: $29.99 - $8.50 - $4.20 - $45 - $1.20 = -$28.91
I LOST money on my first sale lol.
I know people say you lose money at first while testing but is this normal? Like how long until you actually make profit? Do I need to scale up to make the ad costs worth it?
I'm spending about $35/day on ads right now and getting 1-2 sales every few days at this rate. At this pace I'm losing like $25-30 per sale which feels unsustainable.
Am I doing something wrong or is this just the testing phase and eventually the numbers get better? I don't understand how people make this profitable.
Here's the breakdown:
Product: Portable phone charger
Sale price: $29.99
Product cost from supplier: $8.50
Shipping cost: $4.20
Ad spend to get this sale: ~$45 (rough estimate based on daily spend)
PayPal/Stripe fees: $1.20
So my "profit" on this sale was: $29.99 - $8.50 - $4.20 - $45 - $1.20 = -$28.91
I LOST money on my first sale lol.
I know people say you lose money at first while testing but is this normal? Like how long until you actually make profit? Do I need to scale up to make the ad costs worth it?
I'm spending about $35/day on ads right now and getting 1-2 sales every few days at this rate. At this pace I'm losing like $25-30 per sale which feels unsustainable.
Am I doing something wrong or is this just the testing phase and eventually the numbers get better? I don't understand how people make this profitable.
3 Replies
•10/18/2025
Wow okay this is really helpful. I just checked my Shopify analytics and my conversion rate is 0.6%... that's terrible right?
And yeah you're right about the margins, I was trying to keep the price competitive but I'm basically leaving no room for ads. This makes so much sense now.
Going to work on fixing my conversion rate first before I waste more money on ads. Thanks for the reality check!
And yeah you're right about the margins, I was trying to keep the price competitive but I'm basically leaving no room for ads. This makes so much sense now.
Going to work on fixing my conversion rate first before I waste more money on ads. Thanks for the reality check!
•10/18/2025
also your product margins are too tight. $29.99 product with $12.70 in costs (product + shipping) = only $17.29 gross profit before ads.
you need at LEAST 3x margins on product cost. so if product + shipping is $12.70, you should be selling for $38-45 minimum.
portable chargers are super competitive too, everyone and their mom is selling those. might be tough to get profitable even with a perfect store
you need at LEAST 3x margins on product cost. so if product + shipping is $12.70, you should be selling for $38-45 minimum.
portable chargers are super competitive too, everyone and their mom is selling those. might be tough to get profitable even with a perfect store
•10/18/2025
Congrats on the first sale! But yeah, your numbers are pretty bad right now. Let me explain what's happening:
Your real problem: Cost per acquisition (CPA) is $45 for a $30 product.
That's never going to be profitable no matter how much you scale. Here's the math you need to understand:
To be profitable, your CPA needs to be less than 30% of your product price (ideally 20%). For a $30 product, that means your CPA should be $6-9 max.
You're at $45 CPA, which is 150% of your product price. That's not "testing phase bad" - that's "something is fundamentally broken" bad.
Why is your CPA so high?
CPA = Ad Spend ÷ Number of Sales
If you're spending $35/day and getting 1 sale every 2 days, that's $70 per sale. Even worse than you estimated.
High CPA is caused by two things:
Bad ads (low CTR, wrong audience, weak creative)
Bad conversion rate (people click but don't buy)
You said you're getting sales, so your ads are probably okay. The issue is likely your conversion rate is TRASH.
Here's what you need to do:
Calculate your actual conversion rate:
Look at your Shopify analytics
Visitors ÷ Sales = Conversion Rate
If it's under 1.5%, your store is the problem. You're wasting ad spend sending traffic to a store that can't convert.
Things that kill conversion rate:
Slow loading speed (especially mobile)
Sketchy looking design (free theme with default settings)
No trust signals (reviews, badges, guarantee)
Bad product photos or descriptions
Complicated checkout
Hidden shipping costs
Long shipping times prominently displayed
Fix your store to get your conversion rate to 2-3%, and suddenly your CPA drops from $45 to $15-20. THEN you can be profitable.
Don't scale a broken funnel - you'll just lose money faster.
Your real problem: Cost per acquisition (CPA) is $45 for a $30 product.
That's never going to be profitable no matter how much you scale. Here's the math you need to understand:
To be profitable, your CPA needs to be less than 30% of your product price (ideally 20%). For a $30 product, that means your CPA should be $6-9 max.
You're at $45 CPA, which is 150% of your product price. That's not "testing phase bad" - that's "something is fundamentally broken" bad.
Why is your CPA so high?
CPA = Ad Spend ÷ Number of Sales
If you're spending $35/day and getting 1 sale every 2 days, that's $70 per sale. Even worse than you estimated.
High CPA is caused by two things:
Bad ads (low CTR, wrong audience, weak creative)
Bad conversion rate (people click but don't buy)
You said you're getting sales, so your ads are probably okay. The issue is likely your conversion rate is TRASH.
Here's what you need to do:
Calculate your actual conversion rate:
Look at your Shopify analytics
Visitors ÷ Sales = Conversion Rate
If it's under 1.5%, your store is the problem. You're wasting ad spend sending traffic to a store that can't convert.
Things that kill conversion rate:
Slow loading speed (especially mobile)
Sketchy looking design (free theme with default settings)
No trust signals (reviews, badges, guarantee)
Bad product photos or descriptions
Complicated checkout
Hidden shipping costs
Long shipping times prominently displayed
Fix your store to get your conversion rate to 2-3%, and suddenly your CPA drops from $45 to $15-20. THEN you can be profitable.
Don't scale a broken funnel - you'll just lose money faster.