Costs and profit
"Profit share" is only as honest as the costs behind it. Every figure in a commission's breakdown records where it came from, and a cost ShareCrew cannot find is never treated as zero.
What the rate is a share of
Settings → Profit share → Share of applies to the whole program, and is frozen onto each commission so a later change does not rewrite history.
| Share of | Basis |
|---|---|
| Profit (default) | What the order earned you after product, shipping, packaging and payment costs. Needs your costs. |
| Revenue | The order's product total after discounts, without tax and shipping. For stores with no cost data. |
| Fixed amount | The same amount for every attributed order (Fixed amount per order). |
A share is never negative: an order that lost money pays the creator 0, and the row stays so they can see it counted.
The profit formula
profit = revenue + shipping charged
− product cost − shipping cost − packaging − payment fee − other costsRevenue is the eligible lines after every discount, the creator's own code included, without tax. Products and categories under Excluded products and Excluded categories never earn, and gift orders are never revenue. Fee lines count as revenue only with Count order fees as revenue.
Where product costs come from
For each line, the first source that has a cost wins. The order is yours to change: drag the rows under Cost source order (Up and Down buttons work too).
| Default order | Source | Shown as |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | WooCommerce's own order-line cost (COGS), frozen on the order when it was placed | Measured |
| 2 | The product's own cost (COGS), read now — for stores that turned COGS on after the order | Measured |
| 3 | A custom cost meta key — Custom cost meta key, default _wc_cog_cost | Measured |
| 4 | A per-category margin you state | Assumed |
| 5 | The Default margin, if you set one | Assumed |
WooCommerce's cost of goods field is a production feature from WooCommerce 10.3. A commission with any assumed figure is marked estimated for you. Creators see neither label.
When a cost is unknown
If no source has a cost for a line, When a cost is unknown decides:
- Hold the commission (default) — the commission goes on hold at zero with the product named. Add the cost, then Recompute it on the Commissions screen.
- Assume the default margin — the line is costed at your Default margin and the commission marked estimated. This works only if a default margin is set; leaving it blank means no fallback.
Why not zero? A profit share computed on missing costs is a revenue share with a worse name, and it overpays on exactly the orders that lost you money. The Costs card lists the products without a cost, each linked to its edit screen.
Shipping, packaging and payment fees
- Shipping cost is what a parcel costs you, not what the customer paid: a cost per shipping method, plus an optional amount per item, and a Default shipping cost for any method without a row.
- Packaging: Packaging cost per order plus Packaging cost per item.
- Payment fee: the fee Stripe or PayPal recorded on the order, when it is in the order's currency; otherwise your estimate for that gateway. The starting estimate for every gateway is 1.5% of the order total plus 0.25 in your currency, roughly a European card rate — set your own.
Developers can supply real figures through the
sharecrew_line_cost, sharecrew_order_shipping_cost,
sharecrew_order_payment_fee and
sharecrew_order_other_costs filters — the last one is
for costs like a free gift added to every order.
Limits
- Maximum share of revenue (default 20%): a commission above this share of the order's revenue plus shipping charged is held for review, as a guard against a mistyped cost. With tier rates well above 20%, high-margin orders can reach it; raise it with the tiers.
- Minimum basis (default 0): an order whose basis is below it earns nothing.
Which rate applies
The first that is set: a rate override on the creator, then their tier's rate, then the Program rate. Overrides per product or category (Settings → Profit share → Exceptions) apply line by line, and the row shows the blended rate.
What creators see
A creator sees each order's value, the rate and their share — never your costs or your profit. Show creators the profit basis of each order (off by default) adds the basis figure, for an open-book program. The line-level breakdown is yours only.