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Profit & costs

Profit by channel

Ad channels (/channels) shows contribution profit per channel: revenue minus product cost and platform fees, then minus ad spend. A channel is only profitable when that number is positive.

Beyond ROAS

A 3x ROAS sounds healthy. But if your gross margin is 40% and platform fees are 3%, you need a ROAS above 2.7x just to break even before counting ad spend. The Ad channels view (/channels) shows the contribution profit column so you can see which channels are actually making money.

The formula: contribution profit = (revenue x gross margin%) - (revenue x fee%) - ad spend. A positive number means the channel paid for itself and contributed to covering fixed costs. A negative number means it is burning more than it earns after product cost.

Break-even ROAS per channel

Vibel also shows the break-even ROAS for each channel. This is the minimum ROAS where ad spend equals the contribution margin left after product cost and fees. The formula is 100 / (grossMarginPct - feePct). Your current ROAS needs to beat this number for a channel to be profitable.

Set your costs for exact numbers

The blended margin figure Vibel uses when you have not entered costs is a DTC default. For accurate contribution profit numbers, enter your product costs in Settings > Costs and cost groups. Once costs are set, every channel row reflects your real economics.

Good to know

  • Coach (/coach) surfaces unprofitable channels as high-priority actions automatically. You do not have to check the channels view to find them.
  • The break-even ROAS shown on /channels is also what drives the KILL/SCALE verdicts on the Product testing board for dropshipping stores.
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Operating costs & cost groupsMargin by SKU (Products calculator)Free calculatorsBreak-even ROAS calculator
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