Free seller calculator
Free Card-Show Profit and ROI Calculator
Estimate event profit and ROI without ignoring inventory cost, travel, fees, labor, or sales that happen after the show through attributable customer relationships.
Show economics
Card-show profit calculator
Use actual show costs, not just table sales, to see the return you need from the weekend.
- Total cost
- $2,650
- Gross sales
- $4,200
- Return on cost
- 58.5%
This is an operating estimate, not accounting or tax advice. Add labor and payment-processing costs if they materially affect your show.
What the calculator includes
Enter sales after discounts and refunds rather than adding the sticker prices of what left the case. Include later orders only when a source tag, customer record, or documented conversation reasonably connects them to the show. Keep that amount separate so the attribution can be reviewed.
Cost inputs should include:
- table, admission, electricity, organizer, and service fees;
- travel, hotel, parking, tolls, and event shipping;
- the recorded acquisition cost of items sold;
- payment processing and other transaction-based fees;
- packaging, insurance, shipping subsidies, and supplies consumed;
- event-specific promotions or credits; and
- owner and staff time for travel, setup, selling, breakdown, reconciliation, and post-show fulfillment.
The tool provides an operating estimate, not tax or accounting advice. Use the same cost definitions for every event and consult qualified professionals for reporting decisions.
Understand the result
Net revenue is the collected revenue used in the estimate after the adjustments the tool requests. Contribution is what remains after inventory and variable selling costs. Event profit subtracts the booth, travel, labor, and other event investment. ROI compares that profit with the investment required to attend.
A positive result can still be a weak use of time when another channel produces more profit per hour or ties up less capital. A negative event-day result can improve in the extended window when genuine show-origin orders arrive. Keep both views so later orders do not disguise poor booth performance.
Read the complete card-show ROI guide for the formulas, an illustrative worked example, and a repeatable scorecard.
Do not confuse inventory value with cost
Use recorded cost basis for products sold, not current asking price. Unsold inventory that returns in sellable condition is not automatically a show loss, though loss, theft, or damage should be recorded through the business's normal process.
Bundles and trades require a consistent allocation method. If item-level acquisition cost is missing, mark the estimate as incomplete instead of silently treating cost as zero. Revenue with no cost basis can make the least disciplined show look like the most profitable one.
The unsold inventory playbook explains how to reconcile products before they return to the storefront.
Give labor an explicit value
Calculate one view before owner labor and another after all labor. The cash view helps short-term planning. The economic view makes events comparable when they consume different amounts of travel, setup, selling, and cleanup time.
Record the hourly value used. Include the hours spent publishing show inventory and fulfilling attributed orders if those sales are part of the extended result. Do not count the revenue after the show while excluding the work required to produce it.
Use customer capture as a second score
Profit tells whether the event created a return on the investment measured. It does not explain whether the show created an audience the seller can reach again. Track qualified conversations, completed contacts, explicit marketing opt-ins, accounts, first purchases, and repeat buyers alongside the financial result.
Do not assign a speculative dollar value to every email address. Record actual later orders and customer behavior. Use the capture goal calculator before the event and the vendor checklist to preserve source data.
Improve the next show
Compare events using one scorecard: contribution margin, event profit, ROI, profit per labor hour, qualified contacts, cost per new customer, post-show orders, refunds, and inventory discrepancies. Add short notes about audience fit, booth location, and operational failures.
The SBA's break-even guidance explains the relationship among fixed cost, price, and variable cost. Before the next show, use expected contribution per sale to estimate how much activity is required to cover the event investment. Then compare the forecast with the reconciled result.
Frequently asked questions
Should I count cash sales differently?
Record every legitimate sale and its product cost consistently, regardless of payment method. Reconcile cash, receipts, discounts, and inventory rather than using the cash drawer total as profit.
Should post-show sales count?
Count them in a separate extended-window result when durable source evidence connects them to the event. State the attribution window and method.
What if I do not know item cost?
Research the source record or use the business's documented allocation method. Mark the result incomplete if cost cannot be supported. Do not use zero by default.
Is ROI the same as profit margin?
No. Margin compares profit with revenue. ROI compares profit with the investment used to generate it. Both can be useful and answer different questions.