Setpilot splits every cost your business incurs into four top-level categories. This structure maps directly onto the P&L waterfall (CM1 → CM4) so you always know which profit level a cost affects.
The four categories
Category | Examples | Affects |
Product Costs | Unit cost (COGS), packaging, per-unit fulfilment | CM1 |
Order Processing | Shipping, payment fees, transaction fees, per-order fulfilment | CM2 |
Marketing | Facebook/Meta, Google Ads, Axon, manual campaigns, agency fees | CM3 |
Other | Apps, SaaS, salaries, rent, one-off costs | CM4 |
Where to configure each category
All cost setup lives under Costs Setup in the main navigation. Each category has its own page with a specific configuration model:
Product Costs — per variant, with time-windowed history (see Setting up product costs (COGS)).
Shipping — by country and shipping rate (see Shipping costs).
Payments — by country and payment method (see Payment processing costs).
Order processing — catch-all for other per-order variable costs (see Order processing costs).
Marketing — auto-synced from connected ad platforms + manual entries (see Marketing costs).
Other — fixed or recurring overheads (see Other costs).
Fixed vs variable costs
Every cost in Setpilot is either:
Variable — scales with orders or revenue. Examples: COGS, shipping per order, payment fees (2.9% + $0.30), ad spend.
Fixed — a flat amount per period regardless of sales. Examples: $99/month SaaS subscription, $5,000/month salary, $2,000 quarterly rent.
Fixed costs are allocated evenly across the period they cover, so they land on the days that fall within their date range.
Time-windowed costs
Every cost has a start date and an optional end date. This is critical for historical accuracy — if your COGS changed from $8 to $10 last quarter, Setpilot uses the correct cost for each order depending on when it was placed.
Always set the correct effective from date when adding a cost so your historical P&L stays accurate.
Recommended setup order
Product Costs first. Without COGS, CM1 is meaningless.
Shipping and Payments next. These two together usually make up 80% of order processing costs.
Connect ad platforms. Marketing spend auto-syncs once connectors are in place.
Add Other costs last. SaaS, apps, salaries — anything you pay monthly that is not tied to a specific order.