A channel with a higher item price may still be less profitable after its fees, shipping and advertising. The Channel Comparison Calculator puts several entered channel offers against a common product cost and packaging assumption so the comparison follows contribution instead of revenue alone.
Keep the shared cost foundation steady
Set product cost PKR 600 and packaging PKR 50. For a hypothetical direct channel, enter price PKR 1,000, percentage fee 5%, fixed fee zero, shipping PKR 100 and advertising PKR 100.
The direct channel fee is PKR 50. Subtracting shared product and packaging cost, shipping, advertising and the fee leaves PKR 100 contribution. This covers the entered costs for one order in that row.
Add a second channel with its own selling costs
For a hypothetical marketplace, use price PKR 1,200, percentage fee 10%, fixed fee zero, shipping PKR 150 and advertising PKR 100. The percentage fee is PKR 120, leaving PKR 180 contribution.
Under these assumptions, the marketplace row earns PKR 80 more per order and is the higher contribution option. The labels and rates are illustrative; they do not describe the actual cost of any named platform.
Do not make the comparison look fair by hiding a cost
If one channel needs acquisition spend and another uses an existing customer list, enter their respective costs deliberately. Do not copy the same advertising number solely to make the rows symmetrical. Conversely, avoid assigning all shared overhead to only one row without explaining the allocation.
Use an equivalent offer where possible. Different quantities, product quality or included accessories can make the common product cost inappropriate. The tool compares what you enter, not whether two commercial offers are genuinely equivalent.
Contribution is one factor in channel selection
Stock availability, delivery success, settlement timing, service workload and demand can affect the practical choice. None is inferred from the best contribution label. COD RTO Expected Profit Calculator and Inventory Cash Gap Calculator can inspect two of those entered assumptions separately.
A zero price has no meaningful percentage margin denominator, even if the tool can still show the money outcome. Review negative contribution rows before chasing volume. For a multi SKU sales mix within a channel, SKU Profit Batch Calculator calculates totals and a revenue weighted margin. Save the common cost basis when exporting comparisons so future revisions remain interpretable.