Profit BidProfit Bid

When free shipping kills POAS

Merchants use free shipping to lift conversion rate — but ads optimize on order value, not the $8–$15 you subsidize per shipment. POAS exposes the leak.

7 min read

Live profit view

See POAS vs revenue-only reporting

Profit Bid connects store costs to ad spend so you bid on margin — not vanity ROAS.

Where margin leaks on free-shipping orders

  • COGS48%
  • Shipping subsidy22%
  • Fees & packaging12%
  • Gross profit18%

On subsidized orders, shipping can consume more profit than product margin.

Track POAS automatically from your store — upload profit conversions and scale winners with A/C/X labels.

The shipping subsidy formula

Gross profit for POAS = product revenue − COGS − payment fees − max(0, actual shipping cost − shipping revenue from customer).

A $90 order with $12 subsidized shipping and 45% margin can show 250% ROAS but sub-80% POAS.

Fixes that preserve conversion

You do not always remove free shipping — you align ads with economics.

  • Raise free-shipping threshold where POAS data supports it.
  • Exclude ultra-heavy SKUs from broad Shopping/PMax.
  • Use geographic bid modifiers where zones destroy margin.
  • Bundle shipping-friendly SKUs in creative and landing pages.

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about this topic — tap to read answers.

Flat-rate shipping?

Use actual carrier cost by weight/zone when possible. Flat-rate averages hide outliers that ads scale hardest.

Does Profit Bid calculate this automatically?

Yes — configure shipping rules once. POAS updates per order with the subsidy applied.

Pricing

Apply this guide — pick your plan

Select a plan and continue to secure checkout — POAS conversion upload included on every tier.

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