CostPilot Pro setup: from install to your first profit snapshot

Step 1 — Install from the Shopify App Store

Find CostPilot Pro on the Shopify App Store and click Install; Shopify then adds the app to your admin. The listing page carries the current plan details — including the free plan's monthly order limit — so it's worth a read before you commit.

Step 2 — Approve read-only access

Shopify shows its standard authorization screen. CostPilot Pro requests read-only access to order and payout data through the Shopify Admin API — it cannot edit orders, change products, or touch your store's settings.

Two things worth knowing before you click approve:

• You're granting a scope, not handing over your store. The authorization screen lists what the app can read. If it ever asks for more than read access to that data, stop and contact us before approving — something would be wrong, and we'd want to know.
• You can revoke it at any time. Access is managed in your Shopify admin, and uninstalling the app ends it immediately.

How the app handles what it reads is in How CostPilot Pro handles your store's data.

Step 3 — Read your first profit snapshot

Right after authorization, CostPilot Pro builds a first profit view from what your store already reports: your revenue, Shopify's own fees, and the cost sources it can already reach. What is pulled automatically depends on your store's setup and what the app supports.

Read the snapshot as a starting point, not a verdict. Where a cost is missing, the view shows the gap instead of guessing at it — so you know exactly which lines still need input.

That order is deliberate: snapshot first, data entry later. You see a real number built from data your store already has, instead of finishing a spreadsheet project before you see anything.

See how CostPilot Pro calculates profit — the formula behind the snapshot is public, and every input traces back to a source.

Step 4 — Add costs, and watch the number sharpen

Each cost you add pulls the per-order figure closer to reality. The lines that matter most:

• Cost of goods sold (COGS) — what you pay your supplier per unit. Without it, every order looks more profitable than it is.
• Shipping — what the carrier charges you, net of any shipping the customer pays.
• Advertising — ad spend allocated across the orders in the same period.

For each item, whether it is pulled automatically or entered by hand depends on the app's current support for that source — the App Store listing keeps the up-to-date list. Refunds are counted too: the money returned, plus the cost of goods that don't come back sellable.

You don't need to finish in one sitting. Add a SKU's COGS when the supplier invoice arrives; update shipping when the carrier rate changes. The snapshot stays usable the whole time — each input simply makes it truer.

Put the number to work

Once per-order profit stops being a guess, it starts answering questions: does this price hold up after every cost? Which product quietly carries the store — and which one is being funded by it?

Pricing is the natural first move: How to price with real costs, on Seller Tales walks through setting and checking prices against the cost lines above.

Stuck on a step?

The whole setup works on the free plan — snapshot, cost entry, and ongoing tracking, up to the plan's monthly order limit; the current limit is listed on the App Store page.

If a step blocks you — the authorization screen, a cost that won't save, a number that looks wrong — contact support and tell us which one.