How many units do I need to sell to reach my break-even point?
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Use one period for the fixed costs, usually a month, and per-unit figures for the rest.
Display only. Your figures are read in the currency you pick — nothing is converted and no exchange rate is applied.
Rent, salaries, software, insurance: what you pay whether or not anything sells.
What one unit actually sells for, after the codes and sales you usually run.
Goods, packaging, shipping you absorb and payment fees for one sale.
Enter your fixed costs for a period, the price you sell one unit at, and what one unit costs you to make and send. There is no break-even point until all three are in.
- Fixed costs for a periodNeeded
- Price per unitNeeded
- Variable cost per unitNeeded
- A profit goal for the same periodOptional
Working out whether an ad campaign pays for itself is a different question. The break-even ROAS calculator gives the return a campaign has to clear at your margin, and the markup calculator sets a price from your unit cost.
No benchmark is used: every figure comes from the numbers you enter. The currency is a label only and nothing is converted. The worked examples further down stay in US dollars.
Nothing you type is sent anywhere. There is no account, no install and no store connection.
Fixed costs, unit costs and the contribution each sale makes
The break-even point is the number of units you have to sell before sales have paid for every fixed cost, so a candle studio with 3,000 dollars of monthly overheads that sells candles at 32 dollars and spends 12 making and shipping each one breaks even on its 150th candle, at 4,800 dollars of sales.
No benchmark and no published figure is used here: the answer comes only from your costs and your price. Setting that price in the first place? The markup calculator works it out from a unit cost and the margin you want.
Three figures from your own books, plus an optional profit goal. Sorting each cost into the right bucket matters more than getting it to the cent.
- Fixed costs
- Everything the shop pays in the period whether it sells one unit or a thousand: rent, salaries, software subscriptions, insurance, the retainer for your bookkeeper. Ad spend you have already committed for the month belongs here too.
- Variable cost per unit
- What one more sale costs you: the goods or materials, packaging, pick and pack, the shipping you absorb and the payment fee. If a cost rises with every order, it goes in this box rather than with the overheads.
- Contribution per unit
- What is left of the price once the unit has paid for itself. This is the slice of every sale that goes toward rent and wages, and after the break-even point, toward profit. Shown as a share of price it is the contribution margin.
- Break-even units and revenue
- The first whole unit at which contribution has covered all fixed costs, and the sales that unit count brings in. Below it the period loses money; above it every sale adds its full contribution to profit.
- Target profit
- Optional. A profit goal for the same period. The calculator adds it to the fixed costs it has to cover and reports how many units it takes and how far past break-even that sits.
Nudgesmart is available on the Shopify App Store. Browse the template library or see what it costs.
Break-even points for six small shops
Six invented shops priced in US dollars. The table is generated by the code behind the calculator above, so the two can never disagree, and unit counts round up because half a candle cannot be sold.
| Scenario | Fixed costs | Price / unit cost | Contribution | Break-even units | Break-even sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candle studio, one month of rent and software | $3,000.00 | $32.00 / $12.00 | $20.00 | 150 | $4,800.00 |
| Print-on-demand tees, with a profit goal | $1,800.00 | $28.00 / $19.50 | $8.50 | 212389 for a $1,500.00 profit | $5,936.00 |
| Coffee roaster, quarterly overheads | $24,000.00 | $18.00 / $7.25 | $10.75 | 2,233 | $40,194.00 |
| Free-shipping sock bundle, shipping absorbed | $900.00 | $12.00 / $12.60 | -$0.60 | Never | — |
| Leather goods, small batch, profit goal | $6,500.00 | $145.00 / $58.00 | $87.00 | 75121 for a $4,000.00 profit | $10,875.00 |
| Digital pattern shop, almost no unit cost | $450.00 | $9.00 / $0.90 | $8.10 | 56 | $504.00 |
Why the real break-even point drifts from this one
Mixed carts break the single-price picture
A shop that sells many products at different margins has no one price per unit. Use your average selling price and average unit cost for the period, and treat the answer as a guide rather than a count to hit exactly.
Discounts lower the price you actually get
Enter what a unit really sells for after typical codes and sales, not the list price. A 20 percent code on a thin contribution can double the units needed to break even.
Returns take the sale back but not every cost
A returned order refunds the price while shipping both ways and handling are usually gone for good. If returns are common in your category, add their cost into the variable cost per unit.
Fixed costs step up as you grow
Rent, staff and software are fixed only within a range. Doubling volume can mean a bigger unit or a second hire, which moves the break-even point with it.
It is a count, not a date
The answer says how many units, not when you will sell them. Whether 150 candles is a slow week or a whole quarter depends on the traffic and the conversion rate your store has.
Break-even point questions
How do I calculate my break-even point?
Enter your fixed costs for a period, the price of one unit and the variable cost of one unit, and the calculator returns the units and the sales that cover those fixed costs. With 3,000 dollars of overheads, a 32 dollar price and a 12 dollar unit cost, that is 150 units and 4,800 dollars of sales.
What if my price is lower than my unit cost?
Then no number of sales ever breaks even, and the calculator says so instead of printing a huge unit count. Every sale loses money before overheads are counted, so the fix is a higher price, a cheaper unit or a smaller shipping subsidy, never more volume.
Is this the same as break-even ROAS?
No. Break-even ROAS is the return an ad campaign must earn to cover the cost of its own sales at your margin. The break-even point here covers the whole shop: every fixed cost in the period, paid for unit by unit. The two answer different questions and both are free on this site.
Should shipping go in fixed or variable costs?
Variable, when you pay it per order. A free-shipping offer means the carrier cost of each order sits inside the unit cost, which is why free shipping can quietly push a product below break-even.
How does a target profit change the answer?
The calculator adds your profit goal to the fixed costs and works out how many units it takes to cover both. In the second worked example a 1,500 dollar goal on a thin t-shirt margin needs close to twice the units that breaking even does.
Is it better to raise the price or cut the unit cost?
Both widen the contribution each sale makes, so both pull the break-even point down. Nudging the candle from 32 to 36 dollars lifts contribution from 20 to 24 and the break-even count falls from 150 candles to 125. A cheaper wholesale wick or jar works the same way, provided buyers do not notice the downgrade.
Does this need access to my store?
No. The sums happen inside this browser tab using only what you key in. Nothing leaves your device and there is nothing to sign up for.
Covering the overheads is the floor. The orders above it are the business.
Nudgesmart turns more of the visitors already on the store into orders, with 13 campaign types from a countdown timer to a spin wheel.
