Break-Even ROAS Calculator
Most break-even ROAS calculators use gross margin only. This one subtracts India-specific costs first — payment gateway fees, COD handling, RTO and GST — so the number reflects what you can actually afford to spend on ads.
We don't ask for monthly orders or ad spend here — this result is a per-unit margin ratio, so order volume cancels out of the math and doesn't change the answer.
2.09×
At a 47.7% contribution margin (before ad spend), you need at least a 2.09× return on every rupee of ad spend just to break even. Any ROAS above this is where profit starts.
Break-even ROAS = 1 ÷ contribution margin, where contribution margin is calculated before ad spend — product cost, shipping, COD/gateway fees, GST and marketplace commission, after accounting for cancellations, RTO and returns. This is why order volume and ad spend itself don't appear as inputs: they cancel out of the ratio.
Most global ROAS calculators use gross margin only. We subtract Indian-specific costs — payment gateway fees, COD handling, RTO drag — before computing the ratio, so the number reflects what you can actually afford to spend on ads.
A ₹999 product with realistic COD/RTO drag — the kind of SKU where '4x ROAS' sounds safe but isn't, once India-specific costs are subtracted before ad spend even enters the picture.
Inputs
- Selling price
- ₹999
- Product cost
- ₹500
- COD share
- 70%
- COD RTO rate
- 35%
- Return rate
- 8%
Result
- Contribution margin (before ad spend)
- 15.1%
- Break-even ROAS
- 6.61×
- A 4× ROAS campaign on this product
- Loses money — needs a higher ROAS to break even
What's the difference between ROAS and break-even ROAS?
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) is revenue ÷ ad spend. Break-even ROAS is the minimum ROAS where your ad spend stops being a loss — any ROAS below it means you're losing money on every ad-driven order.
Why isn't my ad spend or order volume an input here?
Because break-even ROAS is a ratio of margin, both cancel out of the math — scaling your order volume up or down doesn't change the ROAS you need to break even.
Does this include GST and marketplace fees?
Yes — GST, marketplace commission, COD/gateway fees, and RTO/return drag are all included in the pre-ad contribution margin before we take the reciprocal.
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