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Walks a single order through every hidden cost, COGS, fulfillment, payment fees, returns, to show a 4x ROAS campaign turning profit negative, the sharpest illustration we found of why the purchase column is not the same as the bank account.
Why Your E-commerce ROAS Is Lying to You and What to Track Instead
From Ask Luca
- A worked example shows a 100 euro order attributed at 4x ROAS ending up marginally negative once COGS, fulfillment, payment fees, and a 25% return allocation are applied.
- Cites iOS 14.5 as having cut Meta's conversion visibility to roughly 30% of pre 2021 levels, with platform attribution over claiming by 20 to 40%.
- Recommends tracking CM3, MER, CAC payback period, and LTV to CAC ratio instead of platform ROAS alone.
