Calculation Preferences is where you tell TrueProfit how to calculate your store's numbers: how taxes, refunds, returned inventory, and chargebacks are treated, which order statuses to count, and the default date range for your reports. Set it once, and every Dashboard, report, the mobile app, and your email reports follow the same rules.
Who can change this: Only the store Owner or an Admin. These settings affect every reported number for the whole store, so other roles can't edit them.
1. In the left navigation, scroll to Store Settings.
2. Click Calculation Preferences.
The page opens with three sections, top to bottom: Profit calculation rules, Recording date, and Default settings. Change what you need, then click Save at the bottom right. Nothing is applied until you save.
Section 1: Profit calculation rules
These rules change how TrueProfit builds your profit numbers on the Dashboard. Each is a checkbox that is unticked by default.
1. Exclude Taxes Collected metric from Net Profit formula
What it is: Taxes Collected is the sales tax (or VAT) you charge your buyer on each order. This number is pulled directly from Shopify Analytics. TrueProfit doesn't calculate it.
What happens by default:
The buyer pays you the tax → TrueProfit adds it to your Revenue. But that money isn't really yours. You'll need to send it to the government later. So TrueProfit also subtracts it from your Net Profit. The two cancel out, and the tax doesn't change your profit number.
Formula:
☐ Unticked (default): Net Profit = Revenue + Tips + Gift Card Sales − Total Cost − Taxes Collected
☑ Ticked: Net Profit = Revenue + Tips + Gift Card Sales − Total Cost
Ticking just removes − Taxes Collected from the formula. Nothing else changes.
Example: Order = $100 product + $10 tax. Product cost = $40.
- ☐ Unticked → Net Profit $60 (110 − 40 − 10)
- ☑ Ticked → Net Profit $70 (110 − 40)
The difference is exactly $10 (the Taxes Collected amount).
Leave it UNTICKED (default) if:
You collect tax from buyers AND you pay that tax to the government. The default keeps your Net Profit honest by removing tax money that isn't really yours.
TICK it if:
You don't actually pay this collected tax to the government. For example, you sell only tax-free items, or your sales are under the legal limit where you don't need to register and pay tax.
2. Exclude item's COGS from refunded orders
What it is: COGS Return is the cost of the items in a refunded order, credited back to you on the assumption those items return to your inventory and can be resold. This setting controls the inventory cost only, never the cash refund.
When you refund a customer, two things happen:
1. You give the cash back. This always happens; the setting doesn't affect it.
2. The item might come back to your shelf, or it might be gone for good (damaged, kept by the customer, perishable).
What happens by default: TrueProfit assumes the item returns in sellable condition, so it credits the item's cost back (the COGS Return). The refund nets to roughly zero impact on Net Profit.
Formula:
☐ Unticked (default): Total COGS = Product COGS − COGS Return
☑ Ticked: Total COGS = Product COGS
Ticking just removes − COGS Return from the formula.
Example: T-shirt sold for $100, your cost $40, customer fully refunded:
☐ Unticked (default) → Net Profit $0 (cost credited back, shirt assumed back in stock)
☑ Ticked → Net Profit −$40 (cost stays, shirt assumed gone)
The $100 cash refund happens either way. The difference is whether the $40 of inventory cost is treated as recovered or lost.
Ask yourself: When you refund a customer, does the item usually come back to your inventory in resellable condition?
Leave it UNTICKED (default) if: you have a strict "must return for refund" policy and items typically come back sellable, common for apparel, electronics, and other physical goods.
TICK it if any of these apply:
You refund without asking for the item back (common for low-value items where return shipping costs more than the product).
You sell perishables: food, fresh flowers, anything that expires before resale.
You sell hygiene-sensitive items: opened cosmetics, intimate apparel.
You sell digital products, services, or subscriptions, no physical inventory to return.
Customers do return items, but they often arrive damaged or unsellable.
3. Exclude zero-revenue orders
What it is: A zero-revenue order is one where the customer paid $0, a free sample, or a 100%-off coupon order.
By default (unticked): TrueProfit counts $0 orders normally on your Dashboard.
When you tick it, the following changes apply to $0 orders only:
Their COGS (product cost) is no longer counted on the Dashboard.
Their shipping cost and transaction fees are still shown on the Dashboard.
They are not counted in the Order Count metric.
In the Orders Report, every order, including $0 ones, still shows its full cost breakdown, order by order.
Section 2: Recording date
Some events happen after the original order: a refund, a lost chargeback, a substituted item. This section controls which date each event is recorded on.
Why it matters: if an event is recorded on its own date, past reports stay frozen. If it's recorded on the original order date, TrueProfit reaches back and recalculates the past period that order belongs to.
Each row is a choice between two dates.
Refunds: Refund date (default) or Order date
What a refund is: money you give back to a customer after they've already paid, usually because they returned a product or you compensated them for a problem.
Example: A customer buys a $50 shirt on Monday. On Friday they return it and you send their $50 back. That $50 is the refund.
This setting controls which date the refund counts on: the day Shopify processed it, or the day the original order was placed.
Refund date (default): the refund counts on the day it was processed. Past reports stay unchanged. This matches Shopify.
Order date: the refund is moved back to the original order's date, and TrueProfit restates that past period.
1. The value of these Dashboard metrics changes (they move into the order's month): Returns, Revenue, COGS Return, Net Profit, Net Profit Margin, ROAS, and POAS.
Of these, the two you can compare to Shopify will no longer match: Returns and Revenue. Shopify always counts a refund on the day it was processed, so once TrueProfit counts it on the order date, the two systems put the refund in different months.
2. Your past reports get recalculated: moving the refund into an earlier month restates that month, so numbers you already saw for it will change.
Example: An order is placed in March for $100 and refunded $30 in April.
Refund date (default): March keeps its full $100; April shows the −$30.
Order date: the −$30 moves to March, so March restates to a net $70 and April becomes $0 for this order.
2. Chargeback Loss and Fee: Resolution date (default) or Order date
A chargeback happens when a customer disputes a charge with their bank instead of asking you for a refund, for example when they claim they didn't recognize the purchase. If you lose that dispute, it costs you in two separate ways.
What Chargeback Loss is: the order money the bank forcibly pulls back out of your account when you lose the dispute. You lose the sale and the money is taken from you directly.
Example: A customer pays $200 for an order. Months later they dispute it with their bank. The bank sides with them, so it pulls the $200 back out of your account. That $200 is the Chargeback Loss.
What the Dispute Fee is: a flat penalty your payment provider (Shopify Payments) charges for handling the dispute. You pay it on top of losing the order money.
Example: For that same disputed order, Shopify Payments also charges you a $15 dispute fee. So your total hit is $200 (loss) plus $15 (fee), which is $215.
TrueProfit deducts both amounts directly from your Net Profit. This row controls which date those two deductions are recorded on.
Resolution date (default): the loss and fee count on the day the dispute was finalized (the day you lost it). Past reports stay unchanged.
Order date: both are moved back to the original order's date, and that past period is restated.
If you choose Order date, this will happen:
1. The value of these Dashboard metrics changes: Chargeback Loss, Dispute Fee, Net Profit, and Net Profit Margin. Your Revenue, Gross Profit, and unit counts do not change.
Of these, Chargeback Loss and Dispute Fee can be checked against your Shopify Payments payouts, and their timing will no longer match, because Shopify Payments records them on the resolution date while TrueProfit now records them on the order date.
2. Your past reports get recalculated: moving the loss and fee into an earlier month restates that month.
Example: An order is placed in March. The dispute is lost and finalized in June, with a $100 loss plus a $15 fee ($115 total).
Resolution date (default): the −$115 is deducted in June.
Order date: the −$115 moves to March, so March restates to absorb the loss and June becomes $0 for this order.
3. Substitution: Substitution date (default) or Order date
What a substitution is: An edit to an order before it's fulfilled, such as swapping one item for another, changing a quantity, or adding/removing a product.
Your customer changes their mind before the order ships and wants a different item, so you swap the original item on the order for the new one. This is an edit to the order, not a return.
Nothing is sent back and no money is returned, because the order hasn't shipped yet. That is what makes a substitution different from a refund or a return, which can only happen after an order is fulfilled.
Example: A customer orders a size M shirt for $100. Before you ship it, they ask for size L ($120) instead, so you swap M for L on the order. No item is returned and no money is refunded, because the order was never fulfilled.
One thing to know: when you swap the items, TrueProfit records the old item coming off and the new item going on. That can briefly show up like a return in your numbers, even though your customer never actually returned anything. The Order date option below cleans this up.
This row controls which date these edits are recorded on:
Substitution date (default): the swap is recorded on the day you edited the order. Past reports stay unchanged, but the item coming off shows up as a reversal that can inflate your return numbers on that day. This matches Shopify.
Order date: TrueProfit folds the final order value onto the original order's date and removes the reversal the swap creates, then restates that past period.
If you choose Order date, this will happen:
1. The value of these Dashboard metrics changes: Revenue, Units Sold, Refund/Returns, Net Profit, ROAS, and Net Profit Margin.
Of these, the ones you can compare to Shopify will no longer match: Revenue, Units Sold, and Refund/Returns. Shopify keeps both the removed item and the new item on the day you edited the order, while TrueProfit moves the final value to the order date and removes the reversal.
2. Your past reports get recalculated: consolidating the edit onto the order's month restates that month.
Example: An order is placed in March for item A at $100. In April, before fulfillment, the customer swaps A for item B worth $120.
Substitution date (default): April shows a +$120 change and a −$100 reversal, which can inflate April's return numbers.
Order date: March restates to $120, and April shows no swap activity and no reversal.
Section 3: Default settings
Default settings applies to your Dashboard, all reports, the mobile app, and email notifications.
Payment status
When TrueProfit syncs your orders from Shopify, it counts all order payment statuses by default (paid, pending, partially paid, refunded, partially refunded, authorized, voided, unpaid).
To narrow this, click the Payment status dropdown and select only the statuses you want to include. Selected statuses appear as removable tags, click the ✕ on a tag to remove it.
This filter affects all order data across your Dashboard, Orders Report, mobile app, and email reports.
2. Default date range
Sets the date range every report opens on. Choose one of: Today, Yesterday, Last 7 Days, Last 30 Days, This Month. You can still change the range inside any report — this only sets the default view.
3. Save your changes
Click Save at the bottom right. You'll see a confirmation once it's applied.
If you changed a Recording date to Order date (Refunds, Chargeback, or Substitute), saving will recalculate the affected past reports — this can take a moment.
FAQ
Do these settings apply to just me or the whole store?
The whole store. Calculation Preferences are per-store, not per-user, everyone on the store sees numbers calculated the same way.
2. Why can't I see this page?
Only the store Owner or an Admin can open Calculation Preferences. If you have another role, ask your Owner/Admin to change it.
3. I changed the setting; why did last month's numbers change?
You most likely set a Recording date to Order date. That moves refunds/chargebacks back to the original order date and recalculates the past period they belong to.
4. Why doesn't my Revenue match Shopify anymore?
If you set Refunds to Order date, TrueProfit and Shopify now date refunds differently. This is expected.
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