Profit & Loss
What is this page?
The Profit & Loss (P&L) page is your complete financial statement for your TikTok Shop. It organizes every dollar flowing in and out of your business into a structured tree -- Revenue at the top, then Expenses, and finally your Profit at the bottom. You can view this breakdown by day, week, month, quarter, or year to spot trends and understand exactly where your money goes.
Think of it as a financial report card: Revenue tells you how much came in, Expenses tell you how much went out, and Profit tells you what you kept.
Understanding the P&L Structure
The P&L page presents metrics in a hierarchical tree structure. Each parent row is the sum of its children. The tree flows from top to bottom:
GMV (with TikTok Co-funding)
- GMV
- Platform Subsidy
Revenue
- Gross Sales
- Discounts (subtracted)
= Net Sales
Cost of Goods
- COGS
= Gross Profit (Net Sales - COGS)
Operating Expenses
- Net Shipping
- Shipping Revenue
- Shipping Fees
- FBT Fees
- Fees & Taxes
- Referral Fee
- Platform Commission
- Co-funded Promotion Fee
- Other Fees
- Affiliate Expenses
- Sales Commission
- Ads Commission
- Sample Costs
- Refunds & Returns
- Manual Adjustments
- Manual Income (adds to profit)
- Manual Expenses (subtracts from profit)
- FBS Manual Shipping
= Operating Profit
Below the Line
+ Platform Subsidy
- Ad Spend
- Gross Ad Spend
- Ad Credits
= Net Profit
Performance
- Margin
- ROI
- Unique Orders
- Units
Key Metrics on This Page
Revenue
Gross Sales
- What it shows: Total product sales at the original listed price before any discounts.
- Formula: Sum of (Original Price x Quantity) across all orders
- Important: This uses the full original price. If you sold a $25 item with a $5 discount, Gross Sales records $25 for that item. The $5 discount is tracked separately in the Discounts row.
Shipping Revenue
- What it shows: The total amount customers paid for shipping on their orders.
- Important: This is what customers were charged for shipping, not what it actually cost you to ship. The difference between what the customer paid and your actual shipping cost is reflected in the Net Shipping expense row below.
Discounts
- What it shows: Total seller-initiated discounts applied to orders.
- Important: Only includes discounts funded by you (the seller). TikTok platform discounts from co-funded promotions are not included here -- TikTok's contribution appears as Platform Subsidy, and your share of co-funded campaigns appears under Platform Fees as Co-funded Promotion Fee.
Net Sales
- What it shows: Your actual revenue after seller discounts.
- Formula: Gross Sales - Discounts
- Example: $5,000 Gross Sales - $800 Discounts = $4,200 Net Sales. Shipping revenue is tracked separately in the Net Shipping section.
Cost of Goods
Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)
- What it shows: The total cost of the inventory you sold during this period.
- Important: Based on the unit costs you set in Inventory. COGS now supports product-level defaults -- you can set a default unit cost per product, and new SKUs under that product will inherit the cost automatically. See Setting Up Cost of Goods (COGS).
- Edge case -- cancelled orders: If an order was cancelled after the product shipped and the customer did not return the product, the COGS for that order is still counted. This is correct because the product left your inventory and the cost is real, even though the sale was reversed.
Gross Profit
- What it shows: Revenue minus the cost of goods -- how much you keep before any fees or expenses.
- Formula: Net Sales - COGS
- Example: $4,400 Net Sales - $1,800 COGS = $2,600 Gross Profit
Operating Expenses
All expenses below are subtracted from Gross Profit to calculate Operating Profit.
Net Shipping
- What it shows: The net shipping impact -- the difference between what you earned from shipping and what it actually cost. This is an expandable parent row.
- Expandable breakdown:
- Shipping Revenue -- what customers paid for shipping
- Shipping Fees -- actual shipping costs charged by TikTok
- FBT Fees -- Fulfilled by TikTok warehouse and fulfillment fees ($0 if you handle fulfillment yourself)
- Important: The net value can be positive or negative:
- Positive: Customers paid more for shipping than the actual cost. Shipping is generating income.
- Negative: You subsidized shipping (e.g., free shipping promotions). This reduces your profit.
- Example: If a customer paid $5.99 for shipping but TikTok's actual shipping cost was $3.50, the net shipping impact is +$2.49.
Fees & Taxes
- What it shows: TikTok marketplace fees that are charged on each order.
- Expandable breakdown:
- Referral Fee -- TikTok's base marketplace commission on each sale
- Co-funded Promotion Fee -- Your share of the cost when participating in TikTok co-funded promotions. This is separate from Platform Subsidy (which is TikTok's share that benefits you).
- Other Fees -- Additional platform charges including payment processing fees and other marketplace fees
- Important: When detailed fee breakdown data is available (from settled orders), you can expand this row to see each component. For very recent orders that have not yet settled, only the total estimate is shown.
Affiliate Expenses
- What it shows: Commissions paid to TikTok Shop affiliates and partners who promoted your products.
- Expandable breakdown:
- Sales Commission -- Paid to creators/influencers who promote your products
- Ads Commission -- Paid to affiliate network partners
- Important: These commissions are a cost of having affiliates promote your products. The more affiliate-driven sales you have, the higher this expense will be.
Sample Costs
- What it shows: The total cost of sending free products to influencers as samples.
- Formula: Sample COGS + Sample Shipping + Sample Fees
- Important: Sample orders are products you send to influencers at no charge. They do not generate revenue, so their costs (product cost, shipping, and any platform fees) are tracked here as a marketing expense. This helps you measure the true cost of your influencer marketing program.
Refunds & Returns
- What it shows: The total financial impact of refunds, returns, and cancelled orders.
- Formula: Product Refund Value + Other Refund Costs + Cancelled Orders Value
- Breakdown:
- Product Refund Value -- The sale price of refunded items (not including tax)
- Other Refund Costs -- Shipping fee refunds and other costs associated with refunds
- Cancelled Orders Value -- The payment value of cancelled orders
- Important about dates: Refund amounts are attributed to the date the refund was processed (completion date), not the original order date or the date the customer filed the request. Cancelled orders are attributed to the date the order was cancelled, not the date it was placed. This date attribution can cause differences when comparing to TikTok Seller Center on a day-by-day basis. See My Numbers Don't Match TikTok.
Manual Adjustments
- What it shows: Any income or expenses you have manually added through the Manual Adjustments page.
- Expandable breakdown:
- Manual Income -- Adds to your profit (e.g., income from other sources, rebates)
- Manual Expenses -- Reduces your profit (e.g., packaging costs, software fees)
- FBS Manual Shipping -- Shipping costs you manually entered for FBS (Fulfilled by Seller) orders
- Allocation modes: Adjustments support three allocation methods -- Fixed Amount for predictable costs, Formula for costs that combine a base fee with a percentage of revenue, and Per Order for costs that scale with your daily order count (e.g., $2/order for pick-and-pack labor). See Creating Manual Adjustments for details.
- Important: These adjustments let you account for costs and income that TikTok does not track, giving you a more complete picture of your business finances.
Profit
Operating Profit
- What it shows: Your profit from core operations after all fees and expenses.
- Formula: Gross Profit + Manual Income - Net Shipping - Fees & Taxes - Affiliate Expenses - Sample Costs - Refunds & Returns - Manual Expenses - FBS Manual Shipping
- Important: This is the core measure of whether your shop's operations are profitable before external factors like TikTok subsidies or advertising. If you use per-order variable cost adjustments (e.g., $2/order for fulfillment labor), those costs scale automatically with your daily order volume and are included in this figure.
Platform Subsidy
- What it shows: Money contributed by TikTok through co-funded promotions.
- Important: This is income, not an expense. TikTok pays this to offset promotional discounts and shipping costs that benefit your customers. This is why Net Profit can exceed Operating Profit. Do not confuse this with Co-funded Promotion Fee (your cost to participate); Platform Subsidy is TikTok's contribution that helps you.
Ad Spend
- What it shows: Your net advertising expenditure on TikTok Ads.
- Expandable breakdown:
- Gross Ad Spend -- total amount spent on TikTok Ads
- Ad Credits -- any promotional credits from TikTok that offset your ad costs
- Important: Only appears if you have connected TikTok Ads to your Dashboardly account in Settings. If not connected, this row will show $0.
Net Profit
- What it shows: Your final bottom-line profit.
- Formula: Operating Profit + Platform Subsidy - Ad Spend
- Example: $800 Operating Profit + $150 Platform Subsidy - $100 Ad Spend = $850 Net Profit
Performance Metrics
The P&L also includes key performance ratios as line items:
- Margin -- (Gross Profit / Net Sales) x 100%
- ROI -- (Operating Profit / COGS) x 100%
- Unique Orders -- total number of orders in the period
- Units -- total items sold in the period
These appear at the bottom of the P&L tree and help you quickly assess profitability trends alongside the financial data.
GMV (Gross Merchandise Value)
- What it shows: The total amount customers effectively paid at checkout, including TikTok's subsidy contributions.
- Formula: GMV Base (Sub Total + Shipping Fee) + Platform Subsidy
- Important: GMV is different from Gross Sales in two ways: (1) GMV uses the post-discount sub-total (what the customer actually paid for the product), while Gross Sales uses the original pre-discount price; (2) GMV includes TikTok's platform subsidy contributions. GMV also includes cancelled orders, matching how TikTok Seller Center calculates this metric.
Features
Time Period Grouping
Switch between Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly views using the dropdown selector. Each column in the table represents one period.
Date Range Picker
Select any custom date range. The P&L will display columns for each period within that range based on your grouping selection.
P&L Chart Toggle
Toggle "Show P&L Chart" to display a visual chart overlaying revenue, expenses, and profit trends over time. This makes it easy to spot whether your margins are improving or declining.
GMV Percentage Toggle
Toggle "% of GMV" to see every row expressed as a percentage of GMV. This helps you understand what proportion of total customer spend goes to each expense category. For example, if Platform Fees show as 8% of GMV, that means TikTok charges about $0.08 in fees for every $1.00 of customer spending.
Search
Use the search bar to quickly find specific line items in the P&L tree.
Expandable Rows
Parent rows (like "Fees & Taxes") can be expanded to see their children (Referral Fee, Platform Commission, Co-funded Promo Fee, Other Fees). Click the arrow next to any parent row to expand or collapse it. Expandable sections include: GMV, Net Shipping, Fees & Taxes, Affiliate Expenses, Samples, Refunds & Returns, and Ad Spend.
Export CSV
Download the full P&L statement as a CSV file. The export includes all line items (parents and children), all date columns, and a total column. If "% of GMV" is enabled, those values are included too.
P&L Chart Summary
When the chart is visible, four summary statistics appear above it:
- Total P&L -- your net profit or loss for the entire selected period
- Avg P&L -- average profit or loss per period (per day, week, etc.)
- Profitable -- how many periods were profitable (with percentage)
- Loss Periods -- how many periods had a loss
Warning Banners
Two contextual banners may appear:
- COGS Not Configured (yellow) -- shows when your Cost of Goods Sold is $0, reminding you to set unit costs in Inventory for accurate Margin and ROI.
- TikTok Co-funding (blue) -- shows when Platform Subsidy is active, explaining why Net Profit exceeds Operating Profit.
Common Questions
Why is my Net Profit higher than my Operating Profit?
This is normal when you participate in TikTok co-funded promotions. The Platform Subsidy (TikTok's contribution) is added after Operating Profit, increasing your Net Profit. See Profit Metrics for more details.
Why do some expense columns show positive numbers?
Net Shipping can be positive when customers paid more for shipping than TikTok charged you. In this case, shipping is actually generating income, not costing you money. This is the net effect -- if you charged $5.99 for shipping but TikTok only charged $3.50, you keep the $2.49 difference.
Why do the numbers change after a few days?
New orders start with estimated fees (Tier 3 data). Fees are estimated using your shop's historical average fee rate, so they are usually close to the final amount. As TikTok settles the transactions (typically within 7-14 days), exact amounts replace the estimates. Revenue figures are accurate from the start -- only fees and cost allocations refine over time. See Understanding Your Data Quality for more details.
Why does my P&L not match TikTok Seller Center exactly?
Small differences are normal for several reasons:
- Date attribution: Dashboardly attributes refunds to the date they were processed (completion date), while TikTok may use a different date. Cancelled orders are attributed to the cancellation date, not the order date.
- Settlement timing: Some transactions may fall in different periods due to settlement timing.
- Additional data: Dashboardly includes COGS, manual adjustments, FBS shipping, and sample costs that TikTok does not track.
- Cancellation handling: TikTok may combine refund and cancellation values into a single number, while Dashboardly separates them for clarity.
For a detailed breakdown of why differences occur and how to reconcile them, see My Numbers Don't Match TikTok.
What is the difference between Gross Sales and GMV?
Gross Sales = Original product prices before discounts (your pre-discount revenue).
GMV = Post-discount product prices + shipping fees + Platform Subsidy (what customers effectively paid, including TikTok's contributions). GMV is always higher because it includes TikTok's subsidy and uses different price points. GMV also includes cancelled orders, while Gross Sales does not.
What is FBS Manual Shipping?
If you fulfill orders yourself (FBS -- Fulfilled by Seller) and enter your shipping costs manually in Dashboardly, those costs appear here. This is separate from TikTok-managed shipping costs, which appear in the Net Shipping row.
How do I add costs that TikTok does not track?
Use Manual Adjustments to add any income or expenses that are not automatically tracked by TikTok. Common examples include packaging materials, software subscriptions, warehouse rent, or income from other sales channels. These will appear on the P&L under Manual Adjustments.