A 100% markup is only a 50% margin
Markup and margin quote the same profit against two different bases. Markup is profit as a share of cost; margin is profit as a share of selling price, so the margin is always the smaller number. Convert between them with margin = markup ÷ (1 + markup) and markup = margin ÷ (1 − margin), as decimals: a 100% markup is a 50% margin.
Profit as a share of what the unit cost you. From the pricing sheet or supplier cost sheet: price ÷ cost − 1.
Profit as a share of what the customer pays. The number Shopify product reports and your P&L quote.
Cost plus freight-in plus duty: the unit cost landed at your warehouse, not ex-factory. Sets the dollar view on the right.
A 50.0% markup keeps 33.3% of the selling price. Same price, same profit, two denominators.
Margin = markup ÷ (1 + markup). Computed at load by the same converter this page runs, nothing hardcoded.
Start from the side you already have
A supplier cost sheet or pricing spreadsheet speaks markup: price ÷ cost − 1. A Shopify product report or your P&L speaks margin. Enter either side and the other computes as you type.
Cost plus freight-in plus duty from the supplier invoice and the freight bill, not the ex-factory line. The panel prices the unit at your markup and shows the profit both ways.
Prices are set against cost, reports are read against price. Before the number leaves this page, check which one the meeting, report or brief expects, and send that one.
Same profit, two denominators
Markup divides the profit by the unit cost. Margin divides the same profit by the selling price. Because the selling price is the larger base, margin is always the smaller number, and the gap widens as the markup grows.
Both conversions take the rates as decimals: a 100% markup is 1.00, so margin = 1.00 ÷ 2.00 = 50%. A margin of 100% or more converts to nothing, profit cannot equal or exceed the selling price. The cost side uses the same landed COGS as The Math: cost plus freight-in plus duty.
At a markup of 50.0%, every dollar of cost sells for $1.50. On your unit landed cost of $20.00 that prices the unit at $30.00 and leaves $10.00 of profit.
The same $10.00 measured against the $30.00 selling price is 33.3%: margin = markup ÷ (1 + markup), so 50.0% ÷ 1.50 = 33.3%. The profit never changed; only the denominator did.
These are your live inputs from the calculator above, not a canned example. Change a number up there and this paragraph follows.
Mixing them quietly breaks the price
Pricing runs on markup because cost is what you control. Reporting runs on margin because price is what the customer pays. Every price meeting, discount approval and agency brief crosses that line, and when the words swap unnoticed, the unit economics inherit the error.
The cost sheet speaks markup
Supplier cost sheets and pricing spreadsheets multiply cost: keystone doubling is a 100% markup. Read that as a 100% margin and the price meeting is working from a number twice as generous as reality. The doubled unit keeps 50% of its selling price, never 100%.
The report speaks margin
Shopify product reports and the P&L divide by price. Treat a 50% markup as the report's 50% margin and everything downstream, discount depth, target CPA, the ROAS floor, is built on margin that does not exist. A 50% markup keeps 33.3% of the price.
The floor is built on margin
Break-even ROAS is one divided by the margin ratio, so a markup handed over wearing the margin's name sets the floor too low, and campaigns can read profitable while losing money on every order. The conversion takes seconds; a wrong floor runs for months.
Honest about what a unit ratio hides
It is the fastest denominator check in the stack. Prices get set in markup because cost is the lever you hold; results get read in margin because price is what the customer pays. Every pricing decision crosses that line at least once, and the converter makes the crossing explicit instead of silent.
It is also the fastest way to catch an impossible number: any quoted margin at or above 100% is a markup wearing the wrong name, and this page refuses it on sight.
Both numbers on this page are unit price ratios: selling price against landed COGS. Neither includes shipping and fulfilment, payment and platform fees, discounts or returns, so a unit can look healthy here and still lose money as an order. When the decision is about orders and customers rather than a unit price, we use contribution margin per order instead: the full cost step-down to what the order actually keeps before marketing.
Inside the product there is no converter to run. Blufire prices everything in contribution margin terms: S2 Unit Economics carries margin by product via the Profitability Cube.
When to run the converter
Convert the intended markup into margin before the price is set. The price meeting should see both numbers side by side, not one wearing the other's name.
The discount comes off the selling price while the pre-sale margin keeps being quoted. Convert at the discounted price before approving depth.
The hard trigger: a quoted margin at or above 100% is impossible while the unit costs anything. Whoever wrote it means markup. Stop and reconvert before anything is priced, briefed or reported off it.
Questions operators ask
No. A 50% markup is a 33.3% margin. Markup measures profit against cost, margin measures the same profit against the selling price, and because the selling price is always the larger base, margin is always the smaller number. The two only meet at zero.
Because the same profit is divided by a bigger number. Margin divides by the selling price, which is cost plus profit, while markup divides by cost alone. The gap widens as prices climb: a 25% markup is a 20% margin, a 100% markup is a 50% margin, and a 150% markup is only a 60% margin.
No, not while the unit costs anything. A 100% margin would mean the entire selling price is profit, which requires a zero cost, and anything above 100% would require a negative cost. That is why this converter refuses margins of 100% or more: a document quoting one almost always means markup.
Either, as long as everyone in the conversation knows which one is on the table. Costing sheets multiply cost, so they naturally speak markup; targets and reports divide by price, so they speak margin. Set the price in whichever your sheet uses, then convert and check what the price keeps in margin terms before it ships.
No. Markup and margin here are unit price ratios: selling price against landed cost. Shipping and fulfilment, payment and platform fees, discounts and returns all come out afterwards, which is why a healthy-looking unit margin can still lose money per order. For that answer, step the full order down with the contribution margin calculator.
Margin by product, not by hand
This page converts one unit price at a time. Blufire prices everything in contribution margin terms: S2 Unit Economics carries margin by product via the Profitability Cube, so the margin you read already sits after the costs that move with the sale, not a two-line napkin ratio.