Keep Shopify costs right and read your margins

Before you start

Customer PDFs, emails and portal pages do not show these internal costs. POS never shows vendor costs, regardless of the setting.

Enable Shopify cost publishing

1. 1

   Step 1: Open the Shopify costing card

   Go to Settings›Purchasing & accounting›Purchase orders & costing›Costing. Find the Shopify card.

   Tick Keep Cost per item updated for stocked products. The explanation states that only final costs publish.

2. 2

   Step 2: Choose how to handle Shopify edits

   Under When the cost was changed in Shopify (it appears once the box is ticked), choose Flag it and stop publishing that item or Overwrite it with the OrderPilot figure. Flagged items appear under Purchase orders → Needs cost review.

   Save the settings. Flag pauses publishing after a conflicting Shopify edit; Overwrite lets OrderPilot replace that edited value.

   A new stocked variant starts at its PO unit cost whether ongoing publishing is on or off.

   Shopify receives one weighted average across locations. It receives that average even when your store uses FIFO or LIFO for sales, because Cost per item holds one figure.

   

Work through Needs cost review

1. 1

   Step 1: Open the review tab

   Open Purchase Orders and choose Needs cost review. It appears only when there are qualifying POs and you have View costs.

   Choose All, Missing costs, Provisional costs or Cost sync failed. Read each row's Costs reason before opening it.

2. 2

   Step 2: Resolve missing or estimated costs

   For missing vendor costs, edit planned lines before receipt or use receipt cost corrections afterward.

   For provisional costs, review the outstanding invoice and edit the charge to Final.

   The list has no general Resolve button. Correct the underlying PO or receipt record.

3. 3

   Step 3: Retry failed or paused publishing

   Find Retry now in the Costs column and click it after resolving the cause. The result reads Cost sync queued or Cost sync failed.

   A paused PO caused by a Shopify edit may be outside Needs cost review. Look for Retry now in the ordinary PO list.

   

Review an order's cost and margin

1. 1

   Step 1: Turn on the private cost view

   In the Costing section's Charges card, turn on Show cost on the order page and save.

   It starts off because staff open orders in front of customers. View costs is still required even after the setting is enabled.

2. 2

   Step 2: Open Cost of this order

   On the order's masked Cost row, click Review. Cost of this order opens with Item, Qty, Unit cost and Total.

   Each line shows final, estimated or no recorded cost. The footer gives Total cost, Products subtotal and Margin, or identifies items not costed.

   Use the individual line's Pricing dialog when you need to compare the landed cost with the planned figure.

   

Check a template's cost history

1. 1

   Step 1: Review the Pricing card

   Open the template and find Base cost, Margin and Current cost. Base cost is the model cost before options.

   Current cost identifies its state, costing method and quantity on hand. Template margin compares base price with base cost; options add their own figures.

   Editing Base cost needs Manage the catalog and Enter costs and charges.

2. 2

   Step 2: Open Cost history

   Click Cost history. The top shows the current cost with its state and costing method, then On hand and Shopify cost. Base cost appears when the template has one, and Range on hand appears when the units on hand landed at different costs.

   Received deliveries lists the newest 25 deliveries with their PO, configuration, quantities, vendor cost, charges and landed cost.

Screen reference

What happens next

Finalized cost information can publish to Shopify. Receipt corrections update relevant stock and linked-order figures without changing costs already drawn by past sales.

The profit report uses the landed-cost information. Check incomplete or estimated lines before interpreting its result as settled profit.

If something goes wrong