Last updated:
Quick answer
Export your orders, list your product costs, shipping, platform fees and ad spend, and have the AI calculate profit per order and per product with the math shown. Check two orders by hand, then keep the sheet it builds and update it monthly.
Free PDF
Get this setup as a PDF
Confirm your email and we'll open a print-ready copy of this setup you can save as a PDF. You also get the free starter pack and one setup a week. Unsubscribe anytime.
Already a subscriber? Unlock it on this device
At a glance
All outcome figures are estimates from cited sources, not independent verification by us.
- What it is allowed to do
- Read-only
Only reads, researches, or summarizes. It never drafts outbound content or changes anything.
- Time saved (estimate)
- About 1 to 2 hours saved each month.
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Tools needed
- Claude, ChatGPT
- Typical cost
- File analysis may need a paid plan. Prices: Not stated in sources.
Reviewed Nov 2, 2026
Basis (estimate): Estimate only: based on the steps above, not timed.
What does this setup do?
Upload your order export and your costs, and get the real profit on each order and product after product cost, shipping, platform fees and ad spend.
Who is it for?
Online sellers who know their revenue but not what they actually keep on each order.
How do you set it up?
Tools
- Claude or ChatGPT with file upload
- Your order export (CSV)
- A list of product costs, shipping costs, fees and ad spend
Steps
- Export last month's orders as CSV. Remove customer names and addresses.
- Write down your costs: product cost per item, average shipping, platform and payment fees as you are charged them, and total ad spend.
- Upload the file and paste the costs into the prompt below. Anthropic says you can upload CSV files for analysis and have Claude create Excel files with working formulas.
- Check two orders by hand against the result before trusting it.
- Look at the products with the lowest profit per order first; those are your pricing or ad decisions.
- Keep the spreadsheet it builds and drop in each month's export.
Example output
Illustrative. Your results will differ.
- Order #1182: $48 revenue - $14 product - $7 shipping - $2.20 fees - $6 ads = $18.80
- Lowest profit: Mini candle, $1.90 per order
- Highest: Gift set, $22.40 per order
Where to paste this prompt
Claude → Project knowledge & custom instructions
Copy-paste prompt
Adapt bracketed fields to your situation.
I uploaded last month's orders. Calculate true profit per order and per product. Use only my file and these costs:
Product cost per item: [LIST]
Shipping cost: [PER ORDER OR AVERAGE]
Platform and payment fees: [EXACTLY AS I AM CHARGED]
Ad spend for the month: [TOTAL]
1. Confirm the columns you used and how you matched products to costs.
2. Profit per order = revenue - product cost - shipping - fees - (ad spend / number of orders). Show it for 3 sample orders.
3. Table by product: orders, revenue, total profit, profit per order, sorted lowest first.
4. Build it as an Excel file with formulas I can reuse.
If a cost is missing, say so instead of guessing.Newsletter
Get the free starter pack
Free starter pack with five beginner copy-paste prompts after you confirm, plus one researched setup in your inbox each week. Unsubscribe anytime.
What usually goes wrong?
Where agents tend to stall on this job. More patterns in Where AI gets stuck.
- Leaving out payment fees, which makes every order look better than it is.
- Mixing up revenue with and without tax.
- Trusting totals without checking two orders by hand.
Which chat tools work with this prompt?
Paste the prompt into any of these assistants (free or paid tiers).
- Claude
- ChatGPT
Common questions
- How do I calculate profit per order?
- Revenue minus product cost, shipping, platform and payment fees, and a share of ad spend. Have the AI show the math so you can check it.
- Can AI do this from my store export?
- Yes. Upload the CSV and give it your costs. Check two orders by hand before relying on it.
- What if I do not know a cost?
- Tell it to flag missing costs instead of guessing, then fill them in.
What tips make it smoother?
- Spreading ad spend evenly is a simple start; split it by product later if you track that.
- Refunds and returns change the picture; add them as a column.
- Re-check fees when your platform changes its pricing.
Where do the claims come from?
Summaries use public sources linked below, not independent verification. How setups are picked.
- Read Anthropic’s write-up (support.claude.com)
Anthropic: Create and edit files with Claude: Excel spreadsheets with working formulas; upload CSV and other files for analysis (read 2026-11-02 from a search result excerpt of the page)
Related setups
- Ask AI questions about your spreadsheet
Upload a spreadsheet export and ask plain-English questions about it, such as which campaign cost the most or which customers paid late, with the working shown so you can check it.
- Track inventory in a spreadsheet with reorder alerts
Build a two-sheet inventory tracker where formulas compute stock on hand and flag reorders, with an optional daily email alert, all from free tools.