Dropshipping Calculator for India: Profit After RTO and Ads

This free dropshipping calculator shows the real profit of a cash-on-delivery store in India. Enter what you pay the supplier, your selling price, orders, cancellations, RTO rate and ad cost per order. You get net profit, return on ad and product spend, and the highest RTO rate your product can take before it starts losing money.

How the calculator works out your profit

Every number comes from six simple steps, so you can check the result by hand:

1. Shipped orders = orders received minus orders cancelled before dispatch.
2. RTO orders = shipped orders × RTO rate, rounded up to a whole order.
3. Delivered orders = shipped orders minus RTO orders.
4. Revenue = delivered orders × selling price.
5. Costs = delivered orders × purchase price, plus RTO orders × purchase price, plus orders received × ad cost per order.
6. Net profit = revenue minus costs. Return on spend = net profit divided by total costs.

Each RTO order is counted as a loss of its purchase price. That is a simple, slightly cautious way to cover two-way shipping, damaged parcels and stock you cannot resell. Ad cost is counted on every order received, because you paid for the click whether or not the parcel was delivered.

Worked example

These are the numbers the calculator opens with:

Input or result	Value
Purchase price	₹500
Selling price	₹1,000
Orders received	100
Cancelled before dispatch	5
RTO rate	20% (19 of 95 shipped orders)
Ad cost per order	₹100
Delivered orders	76
Revenue	₹76,000
Product cost + RTO cost + ads	₹38,000 + ₹9,500 + ₹10,000
Net profit	₹18,500 (32% return on spend)
Break-even RTO	38%

Notice how much the 19 returned parcels cost: ₹9,500 of stock plus the ₹1,900 of ads that brought them in. Push the RTO slider up and the profit falls fast. Above 38% this product loses money.

What RTO rate should you plan for?

There is no single safe number. RTO depends on your product category, price, how many orders are cash on delivery, and the regions you ship to. Instead of chasing an industry average, use the break-even RTO the calculator shows. It is the highest return rate your product can absorb with your price and ad cost. If your real RTO is close to it, fix that before you spend more on ads.

How to lower RTO and keep more profit

• Confirm COD orders by call or WhatsApp before you ship, so fake and impulse orders are filtered out before you pay to send them.
• Nudge prepaid payment with a small discount or free shipping on UPI and card orders.
• Check the address and PIN code at checkout, and do not ship to PIN codes your courier serves badly.
• Show the product honestly with real photos, size charts and delivery dates, so buyers are not surprised at the door.
• Watch ad cost per order as closely as RTO. In the example above, ads cost more than the returned stock.

Who this calculator is for

It suits anyone selling physical products with cash on delivery in India: Shopify and WooCommerce dropshippers, stores sourcing from AliExpress or Indian suppliers, and sellers testing a new product with Meta or Google ads. It also works for your own stock: enter your landed cost as the purchase price. If you are planning the website itself, the WordPress website cost calculator shows what the store will cost to run.

Frequently Asked Questions