How to add cost per item in Shopify

One product, many products, or the whole catalog · 4-minute read

Cost per item is what one unit of a product costs you. Shopify keeps it on each variant but never asks for it, so many stores leave it blank. Without it, Shopify can't show your profit, and you can't tell when a discount sells something below cost. Here are three ways to fill it in, from one product to your whole catalog.

Option 1: One product

1. In Shopify admin, go to Products and open the product.
2. If it has variants (sizes, colours), open each variant; cost is stored per variant.
3. In the Pricing section, enter Cost per item. Shopify shows the profit and margin next to it, which is a quick sanity check.
4. Click Save.

Option 2: Many products with the bulk editor

1. In Products, tick the products you want to update.
2. Choose Bulk edit.
3. If you don't see a cost column, add Cost per item from the columns menu.
4. Type each cost into the spreadsheet-style grid and click Save.

This is the fastest way for a few dozen products, because you see every variant in one grid.

Option 3: The whole catalog with a CSV import

1. Go to Products → Export and export all products as CSV.
2. Open the file in a spreadsheet. Each variant is a row; fill in the Cost per item column.
3. Save it as CSV, then go to Products → Import, choose the file and tick Overwrite products with matching handles.

The import updates every column in the file, not just cost. Keep an untouched copy of the export as a backup, and try a file with two or three products first.

Which cost should I enter?

Use what you pay per unit to buy or make the product, including inbound shipping or duties if you pay them per unit. Leave out per-order costs like packaging and payment fees; those vary by order. If your costs change, update the field, because Shopify's reports use the cost recorded at the time of each sale.

Already have orders from before you added costs?

Shopify's own profit reports won't show profit for sales made before a cost was entered. Lossline's loss report reads the cost from your current Products export, so it can still check older orders once the costs are filled in.