Free tools / Break-even
Break-even calculator.
How many do you have to sell before you make anything? Then two questions most calculators leave out: how many for the profit you actually want, and how far sales could fall from your forecast before you are losing money.
No sign-up. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
The idea
Each unit you sell leaves something behind after its own cost: the contribution. Break-even is the number of contributions it takes to pay the fixed costs. Everything after that is profit.
break-even units = fixed costs ÷ contribution per unit
Fixed or variable?
Ask what happens to the cost if you sell nothing next month. If you still pay it, it is fixed. If it disappears, it is variable. Some costs are both: a warehouse is fixed until you outgrow it. Put those where they sit at the volume you are planning for.
Margin of safety
The gap between what you expect to sell and what you must sell, as a share of what you expect. A margin of safety of 40% means sales can fall by two fifths before you lose money. A thin one means the plan only works if everything goes right.
What moves it most
Price, nearly always. A small rise in price goes straight into contribution, while the same percentage cut in variable cost helps less, and fixed costs help least. Try it: raise the price by a little and watch the units fall.
Questions
What if I sell many products?
Work with the average: total variable costs over total units, and the same for price. Or use the contribution ratio, which is contribution as a share of price, and work in revenue instead of units: fixed costs divided by that ratio.
Does this include tax?
Use prices and costs before sales tax or VAT. Profit here is before tax on profits.
What if the variable cost is higher than the price?
Then every sale loses money and there is no break-even: more sales make the loss bigger. The calculator says so instead of showing a negative number.
Is my data sent anywhere?
No. The sums are done in your browser.
Break-even analysis is not part of the product. That is why this tool stands alone.
Want the variable cost to be a number you trust?
OrbisVendor keeps product cost in one place behind its own permission, so margin on a quote is measured against what the goods really cost.
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