Tendlio needs to know what your products cost you before it can show your profit, the money sitting in your stock, and your Inventory Score. You can add real cost prices, set an average margin that Tendlio uses to estimate the costs you haven’t added, or do both.
You will learn #
- How Tendlio finds the cost of each product
- The three ways to add real cost prices
- How to set an average margin, and a different margin for some categories
- How to see which costs are estimates
- What the other costs on the same card are for
Before you begin #
- Decide how you’ll start. If you know what most of your products cost, add real costs. If you don’t, set an average margin. From your next analysis, Tendlio uses it for your profit figures and your Inventory Score, and each real cost you add later replaces the estimate for that product.
- To add real costs, switch on WooCommerce’s cost field. Tendlio reads each product’s cost from WooCommerce’s Cost of goods field, on the product’s General tab. WooCommerce hides that field until you switch on Cost of Goods Sold under WooCommerce → Settings → Advanced → Features. While the switch is off, the Costs & profit card in Tendlio says so and links to it.
How Tendlio finds a product’s cost #
For each product, Tendlio uses the first of these that it has:
- The real cost, from the product’s Cost of goods field. If a variation has no cost of its own, Tendlio uses the cost set on the product it belongs to.
- An estimate from a category margin, if you’ve set a margin for the product’s category.
- An estimate from your average margin.
An estimate takes the margin off the product’s price: at a 50% margin, a product that sells for 40 gets an estimated cost of 20. So a product without a price can’t get an estimate. When Tendlio has no cost for a product, it leaves that product out of your profit and stock value figures.
Add real cost prices #
There are three ways to add a real cost:
- On the product in WooCommerce: type it in Cost of goods on the General tab. For a product with variations, give each variation its own cost here: it’s the only way for variations, because the other two skip them.
- In Products & insights, one product at a time: hover a row and click Add cost in the Cost / Margin column. If the column isn’t on screen, add it: it’s in Columns, under Money.
- From a CSV file: under the table on Products & insights, open Import costs from a CSV and upload a file with two columns, sku and cost.
How to use the Products table walks through the last two.
A cost you add in Products & insights shows in that table straight away. A cost you type in WooCommerce shows in Tendlio after your next analysis. Either way, your Inventory Score takes in new costs at the next analysis.
Tip: When a supplier changes a price, update that product’s cost the same day. With the old cost in place, Tendlio can’t warn you that you’re now selling the product below cost.
Set an average margin #
Your gross margin is the share of the selling price that’s left after the product’s cost: a product that sells for 100 and costs you 50 has a 50% margin.
- In your WordPress admin, open Tendlio → Settings. The General tab opens.
- In Costs & profit, in Average gross margin % (turns on the Inventory Score), type your average gross margin, from 1 to 95. If the card suggests a margin worked out from your own costs, you can click Use this to fill it in.
- Click Save settings. When the message says Saved. Re-scan to apply it to your scores., click Re-scan now, or let your weekly analysis pick up the change.
Your average margin covers every product that has a price and no cost, unless you’ve given the product’s category a margin of its own. A real cost always wins over it and replaces the estimate for that product.
The card suggests a margin once about 30 of your products are priced above their cost: the suggestion is the average margin of those products. Before that, from the first one on, the card says how many there are so far.
If you leave the average margin empty #
The field stays empty until someone saves a margin, here or during setup. After that, you can change the margin, but you can’t empty the field again.
While there’s no average margin, your answer under Cost tracking on the same card decides what happens to the products that have neither a cost nor a category margin:
- If you answered Yes, I’ve set cost prices on my products in WooCommerce, Tendlio estimates their costs at a 50% margin for as long as too few of your products have a real cost. Once enough of them do, Tendlio stops estimating, and the products still without a cost drop out of your profit and stock value figures.
- If you answered No, I haven’t entered a cost on every product yet, Tendlio doesn’t estimate their costs. Your Inventory Score shows a dash until enough of your products have a cost, real or estimated from a category margin.
Products in a category with a margin of its own keep their estimates, whichever answer you chose.
So if some of your products will go without a cost for a while, set an average margin anyway. It keeps them in your figures, and real costs still win wherever you’ve added them.
Set a different margin for some categories #
When one margin doesn’t describe your whole catalog, give some categories a margin of their own. If you make 20% on electronics and 60% on accessories, any one average is wrong for both.
- In Costs & profit, under the average margin, open Set a different margin for some categories.
- In the Gross margin % column, type a margin next to each category that needs its own. Leave the others empty. If your store has more than 500 categories, the list shows the first 500 by name and says how many it leaves out.
- Click Save settings, then re-scan.
A category’s margin covers its products, and the products in its sub-categories, unless a sub-category has a margin of its own. For the products it covers, a category’s margin takes the place of your average margin, and a real cost still beats both. To remove a category’s margin, clear its field and save.
See which costs are estimates #
- In the Cost / Margin column on Products & insights, a * after a cost means Tendlio estimated it. Hover over the * to see which margin it came from: your average margin, or the margin you set for a category, which it names.
- est. next to a money figure means that figure rests on an estimated cost.
- Under the Inventory Score breakdown on Products & insights, a note says how many of your products use an estimated cost. If you answered Yes and Tendlio is filling in costs on its own, the note says instead what share of your products has a real cost.
Add your other costs for net profit #
Under Other costs (net profit), on the same card:
- Transaction fee is your payment processor’s cut, as a percentage, for example 2.9.
- Avg shipping cost / order is what shipping one order costs you, at your own courier’s rate. WooCommerce records what your customers paid for shipping, not what it cost you, so only you can fill this in.
The Marketing & profit report, which shows while Experimental features are on, takes both off your gross profit to work out your net profit. Your shipping cost also goes into the free-shipping threshold that your to-do list can suggest. Leave either one at 0 to leave it out of net profit. With no shipping cost, the free-shipping suggestion works from what your customers paid for shipping instead.
Why costs work this way #
The Inventory Score waits for costs #
Most of the Inventory Score is about the money in your stock, and a product without a cost has no stock value to count. When too few of your products have a cost, the score shows a dash instead of judging your stock from a small part of it. An average margin is enough for the costs, because it gives a cost to every product that has a price. The score can still wait for stock quantities or orders: What the Inventory Score measures explains when.
Estimates are marked #
An estimated cost is a margin taken off the price, so the margin and profit Tendlio shows for that product repeat that margin and say nothing about the product itself. The marks show you which figures to trust less until you add the real cost.
Additional resources #
- How to use the Products table: adding costs one at a time, or from a CSV file.
- What the Inventory Score measures: what the score does with your costs.
- How to track your net profit, CAC and ROAS: where the transaction fee and shipping cost go.
- What your to-do list can catch: the cards about missing costs, and about products priced below cost.
- Selling below cost without noticing
Frequently asked questions #
Do I need a cost price on every product? #
No. Set an average margin, and Tendlio estimates the cost of every product that has a price and no cost of its own. Real costs you add later replace the estimates one product at a time.
Why doesn't my product have a Cost of goods field? #
WooCommerce hides it until you switch on Cost of Goods Sold under WooCommerce → Settings → Advanced → Features.
I changed my average margin. Why didn't my Inventory Score change? #
The score takes in a new margin at your next analysis. Click Re-scan now after you save, or wait for the weekly analysis.
Where do I enter shipping and payment fees? #
Under Other costs (net profit) on the same card: Transaction fee and Avg shipping cost / order. The Marketing & profit report uses them for net profit.