Break-even ROAS Calculator

Break-even ROAS is the return on ad spend where an order stops losing money and starts making it — not just before ad cost, but after accounting for the share of COD orders that come back unpaid.

How this calculation works (v1.1 model)

Every order placed xe2x80x94 whether it is later delivered or returned xe2x80x94 has product, packaging and forward courier dispatched immediately. A share of orders (your Return/RTO Rate) come back: no revenue is collected on those, the COD fee is never charged, and a return courier cost is added on top. The calculator blends both outcomes into one Blended Contribution Margin per Order Placed xe2x80x94 the amount actually available to pay for ads once RTO is priced in:

True Break-even ROAS is your Selling Price divided by that blended margin xe2x80x94 so raising your return rate directly lowers the blended margin and raises the ROAS you need, exactly as it should. This is measured against Selling Price (not delivered-only revenue) because Meta and TikTok pixels attribute ROAS at checkout, before a return can happen xe2x80x94 so this number lines up with what your ads dashboard reports.

Example

A Rs. 3,500 product with Rs. 1,500 cost, Rs. 100 packaging, Rs. 250 forward courier, Rs. 200 return courier, a 2% COD fee and a 15% return rate has a Contribution Margin Before Ads of about Rs. 1,580, an estimated RTO loss of about Rs. 308 per order placed, and a Blended Contribution Margin of about Rs. 1,036 xe2x80x94 giving a True Break-even ROAS of roughly 3.4x. That is meaningfully higher than looking at delivered orders alone, which is the point: the return rate is now priced into the number itself, not shown as a side note.

Current profitability

Enter your actual Current Ad Spend and Revenue from Ads to see where you stand today. The calculator derives orders placed from revenue xc3xb7 selling price, works out your real cost per order placed, and compares it against the blended margin above. Status is shown as Profitable, Near Break-even (within xc2xb13% net margin of zero), or Loss-making xe2x80x94 so spending more on ads than your revenue can support is always caught, never shown as profitable by mistake.

Assumptions and limitations

• Returned orders are treated as a full write-off of product, packaging and forward courier cost xe2x80x94 adjust Return Courier to 0 if your business resells returned stock.
• Ad platform revenue attribution is assumed to happen at checkout value (Selling Price), which matches standard Meta/TikTok pixel behaviour for COD stores.
• This is a planning model, not an accounting statement xe2x80x94 always reconcile against your actual order and courier reports.

How to use this calculator

• Enter your product economics first xe2x80x94 selling price, cost, packaging, courier.
• Set your real return/RTO rate xe2x80x94 it now directly changes Break-even ROAS, not just a side metric.
• Add current ad spend and revenue from ads to see today’s actual profitability status.

Notes

Rates and fees you enter above are yours to update xe2x80x94 we never hard-code commission or courier rates because they change.