A user on Shopify Basic is seeking guidance on creating custom financial reports with specific metrics and calculations.
Primary reporting needs:
Track gross sales minus returns to get actual sales
Subtract return shipping, Shopify fees, and taxes
Add back reversed charges for taxes and Shopify fees on returns
For non-returned items only: calculate gross sales minus discounts, plus customer-paid shipping and insurance, minus shipping fees paid to vendors, Shopify fees, and taxes
Additional questions:
Recommendations for the best financial app to track actual profit and loss (P&L)
How to exclude test orders from reporting (these were made in production using credit cards and cannot be deleted)
The discussion remains open with no responses yet. The user appears to need a solution that handles complex calculations involving returns, fees, and multiple revenue/cost components while filtering out test data.
Summarized with AI on November 11.
AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
Gross sales, -Returns, subtotal actual sales. -return shipping, -shopify fees, -taxes, + reversed charges for taxes and Shopify fees on returns, subtotal.
Then excluding all data related to returned items: Gross sales, -Discounts, +client paid shipping, + client bought ship insurance, -Shipping fees paid by brand, - ship insurance paid to vendor, -fees to shopify, -taxes. Subtotal.
Also - I did make test orders in production using credit cards. I can not delete them. How do I exclude them from the reporting?
I’m on Shopify Basic. What is the best financial app to track an actual P&L?
That’s a great question getting clear on your actual profit and loss is super important, especially once real sales start coming in.
Shopify’s basic reports give you a general view like total sales, refunds, and taxes but they don’t always break down every small detail like reversed fees, shipping insurance or refunds the way you’ve listed.
For what you’re describing, you’d need a financial tracking app that connects directly to Shopify and gives full breakdowns — including returns, Shopify fees, taxes, and true profit margins.
A few solid options to check out are BeProfit, Lifetimely, and SimplyCost. These apps automatically calculate your real-time P&L, exclude returns if needed, and show you exactly where your profit is going.
For the test orders, you can’t delete them, but you can exclude them from reports by tagging them (e.g., “test order”) and filtering your reports or your app’s data to hide that tag.
I help store owners set up this kind of tracking — so your reports show only real sales, clean data, and accurate profits. If you’d like, I can guide you on how to set up one of these tools properly or help build a custom Shopify report that does exactly what you need.
Want me to outline a quick setup process you can follow?
Try the analytics app of Mixtable - it is free, and I think it has all the reports you are asking for. It is an online spreadsheet, and you can load the template you need.
You can also delete orders, but it may require the use of their bulk editing app.
Thanks for the detailed question — and you’re absolutely right to want that level of financial visibility. That’s exactly what GoProfit Analytics was designed for.
Instead of stitching information from 4–5 different Shopify reports, our app gives you a single P&L view:
Gross sales → minus returns → minus fees/taxes → minus shipping/insurance → net profit
Regarding test orders:
Shopify doesn’t allow deleting real-payment test orders but you can cancel and archive them to remove them from your active order list.
GoProfit currently can’t exclude individual orders
But we do show each order’s exact profitability breakdown, so you can easily spot and ignore test orders when reviewing data — they’re clearly marked with their financial impact.
If your goal is to stop guessing and actually see profit per day, product, and order — GoProfit will save you hours every month and eliminate spreadsheets.
To get started and set up an accurate P&L report for your store, could you share a few details?
Your Shopify store link (URL)
Which financial tracking app you’re currently using
Any specific costs or fees you want included like shipping, insurance, Shopify fees, or taxes
Once I hav
e that info, I can guide you step by step to set up a clean, accurate P&L report including how to exclude test orders and returns so your data reflects your real profits
Hi, To perform these types of calculations, you can use third-party reporting apps that support calculated fields. They also allow you to filter out test orders easily, If you’re looking for a cost-effective option, you can try Data Export or Report Pundit, the customer support teams will assist in building the exact reports you need.
Use a reporting app, e.g. Better Reports or Report Pundit, to monitor your net sales, returns, fees, taxes, and shipping. Tag or make a note of test orders so you can remove them from your calculations. Should you be required, pull the raw order data and create a report so that you can compare gross sales, deductions and how much you actually ended up with P&L wise.
But we do show each order’s exact profitability breakdown, so you can easily spot and ignore test orders when reviewing data — they’re clearly marked with their financial impact.
Try 
