Practical guides on profit, margin, GST and ad spend — written for New Zealand and Australian store owners, not American ones.
Working out what you actually made, and whether your advertising is paying for itself.
Sold $10,000 but banked $8,400? Here's exactly what Shopify deducts, why the timing is offset, and how to reconcile payouts properly.
Read guide →Your bestseller might be your worst performer. How to work out true per-product profit once shipping, ad spend and returns are included.
Read guide →Gross, contribution and net margin explained with formulas — plus the markup vs margin confusion that quietly underprices thousands of stores.
Read guide →The break-even ROAS calculation most stores never do, plus the warning signs that you're buying revenue instead of profit.
Read guide →Meta says 4x, Google says 5x, and your bank disagrees. Why platform ROAS over-counts, and how blended ROAS and MER fix it.
Read guide →The four things that need to be true before Meta ads work, why margin decides more than creative, and what a realistic first test budget looks like.
Read guide →The admin side — thresholds, set-asides, structure and paying yourself. General information, not advice.
NZ registration starts at $60,000 turnover, Australia at $75,000. Here's how the thresholds work for Shopify stores, and what happens when you cross one.
Read guide →Shopify shows revenue. Your bank shows something smaller. Here's every cost that sits between the two, and how to work out what you actually made.
Read guide →A simple set-aside method for Shopify owners in New Zealand and Australia, so GST and income tax bills stop being a surprise.
Read guide →Drawings, shareholder salary or dividends — what each means, when you can afford to pay yourself, and how much to take without starving the business.
Read guide →Whether you legally need one, how many accounts to run, and a simple structure that makes GST and tax time straightforward.
Read guide →The real differences in tax, liability, cost and credibility — and the revenue point where switching usually starts to make sense.
Read guide →What Shopify store owners in New Zealand and Australia can claim, what they can't, and the mixed-use costs that need apportioning.
Read guide →Why your second profitable year hits harder than your first, how instalments are calculated, and how to avoid the double-bill trap.
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