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Scenario for this page: Arctic Fox blue hair dye, a product in the demo store’s Vault with a $6.91 buy cost. Find it in the demo store under Vault (search “Arctic Fox”), and look up B07QMZ5JKX in the Profit calculator.
Say you stand in a store, holding a blue hair dye. Is it worth buying? Open the Profit calculator. You get the answer in a few seconds. Now say you want to watch it for a week before you buy. Save it to your Vault. SourceDock keeps its price fresh and can tell you when it changes. That is the whole difference. The calculator answers “right now, for this one”. The Vault keeps a list and watches it for you.

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Use the Profit calculator for a quick check

The Profit calculator works on one product at a time. You find it in two places:
  • The Chrome extension’s Profit tab, right on an Amazon product page.
  • The phone app’s Profit calculator. Paste a link, Scan a barcode, or take a Photo of the box.
Type what you would pay. It shows Amazon’s fees, your profit, your ROI, and Max cost, the most you can pay and still meet your goals. It goes in your Vault only if you save it.

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Use the Vault for products you might buy

The Vault is your list. Use it when you want to:
  • watch a product’s price and profit over days,
  • get an alert when the price or profit changes,
  • see your best products by profit or ROI,
  • record a purchase when you buy.
You can save to the Vault from the extension, the Gate Scanner, or Scout.

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One set of math

The calculator and the Vault work out profit the same way, with the same settings. Your costs and goals live in one place: Account > Features > Profit calculator, or the extension’s Settings. Change one, and every place uses the new number. Next to them, Used in: names Vault, Extension, and AlphaChaser. So both work out a product’s profit the same way, from the same costs. The demo store’s hair dye has a $6.91 cost in its Vault.
A Vault row for the ARCTIC FOX hair color, B07QMZ5JKX, with a B grade badge, 6 offers, 300+ a month, and a cost of $6.91.

Arctic Fox hair dye: its Vault row. Notice the Cost, $6.91.

Look it up in the Profit calculator, or open its Amazon page with the extension. Your cost already says 6.91. Its hover says From your Vault. Type to change it.
Quick info for the hair dye: Approved, Sales rank #34,389, about 280 a month, Max cost $6.42, Your cost 6.91, Sale price 19.86, Profit $4.51, Margin 22.7%, ROI 65.3%, Break-even $14.55, and the FBA and FBM switch.

Arctic Fox hair dye: Quick info in the Profit calculator. Notice Your cost is 6.91, from the Vault.

A Vault product also brings its own Prep Cost, Shipping Cost, and Tax Cost into the extension, if you set them in Edit Prospect.

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How the math feeds each part

  • Vault: each row’s Profit and ROI, and the most you can pay on Price History, use your settings and goals.
  • AlphaChaser: grades your Vault products and Scout finds with the same costs and sale price. With a buy cost, it shows your ROI. Without one, it shows Buy at or under, from your goals.
  • Chrome extension: its Profit tab is the calculator. The phone app’s calculator is the same panel.

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Why two numbers can differ

  • Time. The extension and the calculator ask Amazon for today’s price when you open a product. The Vault’s numbers come from its last check, made before they are 6 hours old. A price that moved in between shows up in one place first.
  • One product’s own sale price. In Edit Prospect, Sale price used for profit can use another price for that product. The Vault and AlphaChaser use that pick. The extension and the calculator don’t.
  • A typed price. A sale price you type in the calculator is used only there.