Lifetimely: Product Costs Explained

At a glance: There are four ways to set up and manage product costs in Lifetimely. This article covers each method, how priority works when multiple methods are in use, and what happens when you change a cost after the fact.

Lifetimely automatically loads all products from Shopify — there's no manual import needed. Products appear in the Cost & Expenses → Product costs tab, where all product cost data is managed.

🔔 Note: Lifetimely loads products that have sales first, so recently added products with no orders may not appear immediately after install.

Priority order

When multiple cost methods are set for the same product, Lifetimely applies the following priority:

1. Lifetimely product cost (manually set in the app) — highest priority
2. Shopify cost per item (imported automatically from Shopify)
3. Default COGS margin (applied only when no other cost is set) — lowest priority

Option 1: Set cost per item in Shopify

Shopify has a built-in Cost per item field for every product, found in the product pricing section of your Shopify admin. This data is automatically imported into Lifetimely and displayed in the Shopify Cost column on the Product costs page.

If all your products have a cost set in Shopify, you may not need to do anything else. For products without a Shopify cost, use one of the options below.

For more information, see Shopify's guide to cost per item.

Option 2: Set product costs in Lifetimely

You can set costs directly in Lifetimely under Cost & Expenses → Product costs. The Lifetimely cost takes priority over any Shopify cost for the same product.

1. Go to Cost & Expenses in the left sidebar — this opens the Product costs tab by default.
2. Find the product and click the pencil icon under the Lifetimely Product Cost column.
3. Enter the product cost. Optionally set a Start date and/or End date if the cost applies only to a specific period.
4. Click Add, then click the green Save changes button at the bottom of the page to confirm.

🔔 Note: If you leave the start and end dates blank, the cost applies to your full order history — past and future.

Option 3: Import product costs via CSV

For bulk updates, you can import costs using a CSV file. The Shopify product sync must be complete before importing.

1. Go to Cost & Expenses → Product costs.
2. Create a CSV with two required columns: SKU and product_cost. Optionally add a shipping_cost column.
3. Click Import CSV (top right), upload your file, match columns if needed, then click Import data.
4. You'll see a confirmation message when the import is successful. If it fails, an error message will explain why.

→ Importing Product Costs via CSV (detailed guide)

Option 4: Set a default COGS margin

The default COGS margin is a fallback — it applies a fixed percentage to any product that has no other cost set. It does not override Shopify or Lifetimely costs.

1. Go to Cost & Expenses → Default gross margin.
2. Enter the margin percentage you want to apply.
3. Click Save changes.

For example, a 40% default margin on a $100 product would apply a product cost of $60 — but only if that product has no other cost set.

What happens when you change a product cost?

This is one of the most common questions merchants have after updating costs. Here's how it works:

By default, if you enter a cost without setting a start date, Lifetimely applies it to your full order history. This means your historical profit reports will be recalculated to reflect the new cost — which is usually what you want when correcting an error.

If you want a cost change to apply only from a specific date onwards — for example, because your supplier raised prices — set a Start date when entering the cost. This tells Lifetimely to use the new cost only for orders placed on or after that date, leaving older reports unchanged.

The End date field works the same way in reverse: leave it blank to apply the cost indefinitely, or set an end date if the cost is only valid for a limited period (e.g. a seasonal promotion).

⚠️ Important: Always click the green Save changes button at the bottom of the page after making any edits. Changes are not saved until you do.

What if I accidentally uploaded $0 costs or need to clear costs in bulk?

If you've uploaded a CSV with incorrect values — for example, $0 instead of leaving the field blank, or costs that should be removed entirely — you can now clear Lifetimely product costs in bulk directly in the app.

To reset Lifetimely product costs:

1. Go to Cost & Expenses → Product costs.
2. Use the bulk selection to select the products whose Lifetimely costs you want to clear.
3. Choose the option to clear / remove Lifetimely product cost for the selected products.
4. Once cleared, Lifetimely will fall back to the next priority — either your Shopify cost per item, or your default COGS margin if no Shopify cost is set.

⚠️ Important: Clearing a Lifetimely product cost does not delete the Shopify cost per item. It only removes the override value set within Lifetimely, allowing the Shopify cost to take effect again.

💡 Why this matters: A common issue is merchants uploading a CSV with $0 in the product_cost column instead of leaving it blank. A $0 value is treated as a valid cost (not an empty field), so it overrides the Shopify cost and zeroes out your product margins. The bulk reset tool is the fastest way to fix this without manually editing thousands of products.