Sales Report: Understanding How Sales Data Works – SHOPLINE Help Center

Sales Reports rely on specific rules to calculate sales values, returns, and adjustments. This article explains how sales and returns are recorded, why negative sales may appear, and why certain product lines may show as N/A. It also outlines the key metrics and dimensions used across all Sales Reports.

Note: This article explains how sales data is calculated for the Online Store. For POS-related sales data, please refer to "Retail Sales Reports."

How Sales and Returns Are Recorded

This section explains how sales values are calculated, why you might see negative numbers, and why some product lines may show as N/A.

Sales and Returns

The sales reports track the value of products at the time of sale and return.

A customer creating an order signifies a sale. After an order is created, the report will show the order value included in the sales order.

Returns refer to the scenario where a customer has purchased a product but decides not to keep it and return it to you. This includes editing the order to reduce the number of items, editing the order to delete items, canceling orders, or refunding orders, all of which result in a decrease in order value. It's noteworthy that a return is different from a refund; returns deal with order value, whereas refunds handle actual financial transactions. Only when a customer has paid for an order can you issue a refund for it.

The sales report includes sales and returns of archived orders, canceled orders, imported orders, pending orders, and draft orders converted into orders.

Why you May See Negative Sales

In the sales report, sales are shown as a positive value on the day they occur, while refunds, order cancellations, and edits to reduce items are displayed as negative values on that day. Sales are recorded based on the transaction time of each order occurrence. If the returned amount in a day exceeds sales, the total sales for that day will be a negative number. For example, if your store doesn't generate any orders today but a customer refunds an order placed yesterday, you will see a negative sales figure for today.

How Sales Amounts Are Calculated

Sales amounts are displayed specifically for created orders, but the values shown in each report may vary. For instance, if a customer places an order that has not yet been marked as paid, the sales amount will not be reflected as a completed transaction.
When customers purchase gift cards, the sales amount is recorded as gift card sales in the sales report, rather than as regular product sales. This distinction allows you to combine or separate gift card sales amounts in your accounting as needed.

Why Product Lines Show N/A

If you notice product names listed as N/A in your report, it may be due to one of the following reasons:

Refund amount records: Refunds are processed at the order level and cannot be directly attributed to specific products. Therefore, SHOPLINE uses an N/A virtual product line to record the refund amount for an order. If you see an N/A product in your report, check whether the Product Name option is selected. You can also select Refund amount to confirm if the product is a virtual item.
Incomplete product information: Product details such as product name, images, variants, and SKUs in the report are displayed based on the most recent data in your product database. If any product information appears as N/A in the report, it may indicate that the product data has not been fully completed. We recommend ensuring that all product information is filled out when creating or updating product details so it can be correctly displayed in reports.
Custom products: If you edit an order after the customer has completed it and add custom products, related product details (such as images and specifications) will appear as N/A in the report. Similarly, if you have enabled apps that generate items like shipping insurance products or payment fee products, the report will not retrieve the details for these custom products, and their product lines will also display as N/A.

Understanding Sales Report Metrics

The following table lists definitions for common metrics in a sales report:

Metric	Definition
Subtotal	Equals Product price × Quantity of items.
Discounted Amount	The amount deducted after applying a coupon code entered by the customer or any automatic discounts created by you. For calculation of the discounted amount, it is apportioned based on the proportion of the subtotal of a product to the subtotal of all products.
Commodity Tax	Tax calculated based on the order. For calculation of the commodity tax, it is apportioned based on the proportion of the subtotal of a product to the subtotal of all products. If you select All prices include tax in the tax settings, the commodity tax is zero as tax is already included in the Subtotal.
Shipping fees	Shipping fees calculated based on the order. For calculation of the shipping fees, it is apportioned based on the proportion of the subtotal of a product to the subtotal of all products. If the orders are made from a "Free shipping" promotion, the product's shipping fee will be zero.
Tip	Tips calculated based on the order. For calculation of the tips, it is apportioned based on the proportion of the subtotal of a product to the subtotal of all products. If there is no tip on the order, the tip amount for the product will be shown as zero.
Shipping Tax	Tax associated with shipping calculated based on the order. Taxes are imposed on shipping fees when products are sold to certain countries/regions. For calculation of the freight tax, it is apportioned based on the proportion of the subtotal of a product to the subtotal of all products.
Points Deduction	The amount deducted from the total payment when members use points for payment. For calculation of the points deduction amount, it is apportioned based on the proportion of the subtotal of a product to the subtotal of all products.
Rounding Adjustment Amount	In some international markets, stores have the Rounding Rules setting enabled, requiring consideration of rounding standards for order amounts. This metric ensures the accuracy and standardization of numbers.
Duty	Duties calculated based on the order. Duties are imposed when they are sold to certain countries/regions. For calculation of the duties, it is apportioned based on the proportion of the subtotal of a product to the subtotal of all products.
Increased Amount	Recorded when an order is successfully created or when products are added during order editing, representing the total value of all items positively added in an order.
Returned Amount	Recorded when products are reduced, orders are canceled, or products are returned, representing the total value of all items reduced in an order.
Sales	The difference between positive and negative amounts of an order recorded based on the time of order changes. It appears as a positive amount on the day of order placement and a negative amount on the day of order return. This metric applies to orders from all sales channels, including imported orders. Sales = Subtotal - Discounted amount + Shipping + Commodity tax + Tip + Shipping tax - Points deduction + Rounding adjustment amount + Duty - Refund amount. Specifically, when an order undergoes multiple edits after creation (e.g., returns, refunds due to reduced items), resulting in changes in the positive and negative value of the order, Sales = Increased amount - Returned amount.
Total Order Amount	Total order amount = Subtotal - Discounted amount + Commodity tax + Shipping fee + Freight tax + Tip + Tariff - Points deduction amount
Net Sales	Net sales is the actual income earned by the store from selling products after deducting refunds, discounts, shipping fees, etc. from the orders. Net sales = Subtotal - Discount Amount - Points deduction + Rounding Adjustment Amount - Refund Amount
Refund Amount	The actual amount refunded of the order, recorded according to the time of refund success.
Shipping Refund	The shipping fee to be refunded within the refund amount. If you continue to refund the shipping fee by editing the order, it is considered a reverse operation on the order, so the Refundable Shipping is recorded at the order level and not allocated to the products. In the sales report, SHOPLINE uses a virtual product with N/A to record it.
Orders	The total number of orders created in the store, recorded when the order is successfully created. Canceling orders does not reduce the number of orders.
Average order value	Average transaction value = Sales/Orders
Sales quantity	Equal to the number of units sold. After successfully creating an order and editing the order to add products, the product sales quantity will increase accordingly. When editing an order to reduce products, canceling an order, refunding, or returning a product, product sales will be deducted.
Units per transaction	Units per transaction = Sales quantity/Orders
Distribution Costs	Distribution costs = Product cost price × Quantity of items
Gross Profit	Gross profit = Net sales - Distribution costs
Gross Margin	Gross margin = (Net sales - Distribution costs)/Net sales × 100%
Customers	The number of unique customers who have successfully created orders. If a customer creates multiple orders in your store, it is counted as one customer.

Understanding Sales Report Dimensions and Fields

The following table lists definitions for common dimensions terms in a sales report:

Dimension	Explanation
Order ID	The unique identifier of the order.
Order No.	The order number, such as SL001.
Order Status	The latest status of the order, such as shipped, pending, scheduled, etc.
Canceled	The cancellation status of the order, such as canceled or not canceled.
Pay Status	The payment status of the order, such as paid or unpaid.
Refund Status	The refund status of the order, such as refunded or partially refunded.
Shipment Status	The delivery status of the order, such as shipped, scheduled, etc.
Payment Channel	The payment channel for the order, such as Paypal. If a customer pays for an order in multiple installments, separate them with commas. For example, Paypal, Oceanpay.
Payment Method	Payment for orders is relaxed, such as Paypal. If a customer pays for an order in multiple installments, separate them with commas. For example, Paypal, CreditCard.
Sales Category	The sales report is recorded based on the operation flow of the order. To indicate the impact of each order transaction on sales, SHOPLINE records using sales categories. When successfully creating an order, editing an order to add products, or making a payment, the sales category is registered as order. When canceling an order, editing an order to reduce items, or making a refund, the sales category is registered as return.
Sales Type	Sales type indicates the product type of this line of product in this order. When the product is a normal product or a gift card product, the sales product type is Product, the refund is registered as Refunds, and the payment line is registered as Payment.
Product name	The title of the product. If the product name is changed after customers place orders, the new product name will be displayed in the report. If you haven't inserted any picture of the product, the image in this field will be null.
Product ID	The unique identifier of the product.
Product picture	The main product image. If the picture is changed after customers place orders, the new picture will be displayed in the report.
Vendor	The brand vendor of the product. If the product vendor is modified after the customer places the order, the report displays the latest product manufacturer. If you haven't set a vendor for the product, it will be displayed as N/A.
SPU	Standardized product units. If the SPU has been modified since the customer placed the order, the report displays the latest SPU. If you haven't set the SPU for the product, it will be displayed as N/A.
Custom product type	The custom product type you entered for your product. If the custom product type has been modified since the customer placed the order, the report will display the latest custom product type. If you haven't set a custom product type for the product, it will be displayed as N/A.
Multivariant specification	The unique identifier for variants of products.
Multivariant ID	Specifications for variants of products, such as red * L. If the product doesn't have a multivariant specification, this dimension is displayed as N/A.
SKU	The identification code for variants of products. If you modify the SKU after a customer places an order, the report displays the updated SKU. If you haven't set an SKU for the variants, this dimension will be displayed as N/A.
Multivariant image	The image for variants of products. If you haven't uploaded an image for the product, this dimension will be empty. If you modify the image after a customer places an order, the report displays the updated image.
User ID	The customer's unique identifier.
Customer Name	Customer's name.
Email address for the order	The customer's email address.
Customer Type	When creating an order, if the customer is placing an order for the first time, it is identified as a new customer, otherwise, it is a returning customer.
Country/Region	The country or region where the order's shipping address is located.
Province/State	The province or state where the order's shipping address is located.
City	The city where the order shipping address is located.
Post Code	The zip code of the order's shipping address.
Commodity Tax Rate	The commodity tax rate recorded in the final status of the order. If you haven't set the commodity tax rate, it will be displayed as N/A by default. Data is recorded from December 13, 2023.
Freight Tax Rate	The freight tax rate recorded in the final status of the order. If you haven't set the freight tax rate, it will be displayed as N/A by default. Data is recorded from December 13, 2023.
Duty Rate	The duty rate recorded in the final status of the order. If you haven't set the duty rate, it will be displayed as N/A by default. Data is recorded from December 13, 2023.
Referrer site	The referrer site from the referrer source to your online store for customers who place an order. For example, www.facebook.com
Referrer name	The name of the referral source from which customers who placed orders reached your online store, such as Google, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc. For direct sources, if the referral source cannot be determined, the name appears as N/A.
Referrer path	The referrer page path from the referrer source to your store for customers who place orders. For example, if the complete URL link of the customer's referrer source is https://r.search.yahoo.com/abc, then the referrer source path is /abc
Referrer source	Shows how customers arrive at your store. Possible situations include: Social: Customers click on links on social media to come to your store. Direct: Customers enter your store’s URL into their browser. Search: Customers click on your store from a search engine’s results page. Others: Sources that do not meet any of the above conditions. Traffic recommendation sources are sometimes impossible to determine, so it is common for unknown traffic sources to appear.
Referrer URL	Display the URL link where customers arrive at your store. For example, https://r.search.yahoo.com/abc
UTM Content	The utm_content parameter, the media type you set to identify the content of the marketing activity.
UTM Medium	The utm_medium parameter, the media type you set to identify the marketing activity.
UTM Name	The utm_campaign parameter, the name you set for the UTM campaign when you set it up.
UTM Source	The utm_source parameter, the source channel specified for the UTM campaign when you set up the campaign.
UTM Term	The utm_term parameter, the date range you specify for the UTM campaign when you set up the campaign.
Cashier ID	The cashier ID of the products sold. This field only has a value for orders made through the POS sales channel.
Cashier Name	The name of a cashier who sold products. This field only has a value for orders made through the POS sales channel.
Salesperson ID	The salesperson ID of the products sold. This field only has a value for orders made through the POS sales channel.
Salesperson Name	The name of a salesperson who sold products. This field only has a value for orders made through the POS sales channel.
Sales Channel	The sales channel of the order. If the order is created in the admin, the sales channel display will be empty.
POS Store Location	The POS store location where the products were sold offline. This field only has a value for orders made through the POS sales channel.

Accessing and Viewing Sales Reports

To access Sales Reports in your SHOPLINE admin, go to Analytics > Reports, then select any report under Sales.

To learn more about what each report shows and how to interpret them—such as sales by product, variant, country/region, traffic source, discount, payment method, or collection—please refer to the companion article "Sales Reports: Types of Reports and How to Use Them." This dedicated article provides navigation guidance and explains each report in detail.