How to Add Cost Changes Over Time (Price Changes)

When your supplier changes a price, record it as a price change instead of typing over the old cost. Each order then uses the cost that was valid on the day it was placed, so the profit of past months stays as it was.

Where

In the sidebar, open Product Costs, then expand a product.

Who

Stores whose purchase prices change over time.

Time

About 2 minutes per product.

Updates

After Save & Apply, the orders of the product are recalculated in the background. Takes minutes.

How Orders Pick a Period#

A price change splits a product's cost into periods. Every period has a start date, an end date and its own cost. The last period is Ongoing: it has no end date and applies to every new order.

Profitario looks at the day an order was placed, in your store's time zone, and uses the period that contains that day. Start and end dates count as whole days, and both are included:

The next period starts on the day after the end date, at 00:00. There is no gap and no overlap: every order belongs to exactly one period.

Add Price Change starts the new period today and ends the previous one yesterday. The new cost therefore also applies to orders placed earlier today, not only to orders after the moment you save. To keep today on the old cost, change the new period's start date to tomorrow.

Example

You buy the Ceramic Pour-Over Coffee Set. Your supplier raised the unit cost twice. Handling stays $1.10 in every period. Five orders of 2 units each, and the period each one falls into:

The order from December 20, 2024 gets no cost from this product: it lies before the first start date. The order from 10:00 pm on March 31 still gets $12.40: the end date covers the whole day, in your store's time zone. Handling adds 2 × $1.10 = $2.20 to each costed order.

Open the Price Change Editor#

In the sidebar, open Product Costs.

1. 1Expand the productClick the arrow in front of the product. A toolbar opens under it.
2. 2Step through the periodsThe arrows move between the product's periods, and the label shows which one you see, for example Since Jun 2026. The rows below show the costs of that period.
3. 3Open the editorClick Add Price Change. When the product already has price changes, the button reads Edit Price Changes.
4. 4See the historyView costs timeline shows the cost as a stepped line over time.

Enter the Price Changes#

The editor has three steps: Dates, Costs and Review. For a product with one variant and no quantity breaks it has two: Prices and Review, and you type the unit cost straight into each period. If you use cost zones, the menu at the top of the editor picks the zone the periods belong to (Default applies everywhere else). See How to Add Country-Specific Costs (Cost Zones).

1. 1

   Step 1 of 3

   Set the dates#

   

   1. 1Applies fromThe day a period's price starts, at 00:00 in your store's time zone. Change it with the date picker.
   2. 2UntilFilled in automatically: 23:59 on the day before the next period starts. When a change moves it, the old end shows crossed out next to it.
   3. 3Allowed daysThe date picker only offers days after the previous period's start and before the next period's start, so every period keeps at least one day. A note under the calendar names the limit.
   4. 4OngoingThe last period has no end and covers all new orders.
   5. 5Add a periodAdd Price Change adds a period that starts today, marked New, with the previous cost. The previous period then ends yesterday.

   The top right of the editor shows your store's time zone, for example Store time · Sao Paulo (UTC−3). Rows you change are marked Modified, new ones New. Next becomes available once something changed.

   The cost column shows each period's unit cost: an input for products with one variant, otherwise Avg Cost averaged over the variants (set the costs in step 2). The trash icon removes a period; the neighbouring periods close the gap. Click Next when the dates are right.

2. 2

   Step 2 of 3

   Enter the costs#

   

   1. 1A periodOne row per period. Click it to expand it.
   2. 2All variants at onceThe product row fills Unit Cost and Handling for every variant in this period.
   3. 3One variantA variant row overrides the product row for that variant only.
   4. 4Qty breaksEvery period has its own switch for quantity-based costs. See How to Add Quantity-Based Costs (Quantity Breaks).
   5. 5Other periodsExpand them to check or change their costs.
3. 3

   Step 3 of 3

   Review and save#

   

   1. ASummaryEvery period with its start (00:00) and end (23:59), its unit cost and the number of Orders placed in it. Cost now is the product cost those orders have today, After saving what they get with your changes (red if higher, green if lower, Unchanged otherwise). Product cost change at the bottom adds it up. Units cancelled before shipping are left out, the same as in your reports. A badge marks periods that are New, Modified or Deleted.
   2. BChartOrders per day on top, and below it the cost per unit including handling over time. A step in the line is a price change.
   3. CSave & ApplySaves all periods at once. Nothing is saved before this. :::

What Happens Next#

• Profitario recalculates the orders that contain the product, so each order picks up the cost of its period. Large stores take a few minutes.
• To check an order, open it under Orders and click the product line. Effective shows the period whose cost the order uses.

1. ACost of the lineThe unit cost the order uses, times the quantity.
2. BEffectiveThe start and end of the period the cost comes from. present means the period is ongoing.

Change a Cost Later#

The current cost. Type it in the Unit Cost or Handling field of the product table and click Apply. This changes only the ongoing period; the earlier periods stay as they are. Without price changes, the cost you type applies to all orders, past and future (see How to Add Product Costs).

A past period or the dates. Click Edit Price Changes, change the dates in step 1 or the costs in step 2, and save. The orders of the changed periods are recalculated.

Common questions