Dropshipping glossary
The metrics behind Product Score's numbers, in plain English, with formulas and worked examples.
Break-even CAC
The most you can spend on ads to acquire one customer before an order stops making money.
Has formulaBreak-even ROAS
The return on ad spend at which ads exactly pay for themselves; below it, every sale loses money.
Has formulaCold demand
A product with fewer than 100 lifetime orders on AliExpress: not yet proven, so its score is capped at 40.
Contribution margin
What an order contributes after product, shipping, fees and returns, before advertising; it equals the break-even CAC.
Has formulaCustomer acquisition cost (CAC)
What you spend on advertising, on average, to win one paying customer.
Has formulaDropshipping blocker
A product that is heavy, bulky, fragile or otherwise hard to ship profitably from China; its score is capped at 55.
Impulse trigger
What makes a shopper buy on the spot: a low enough price, an instant visual payoff and no need to compare.
Landed cost
Everything it costs to get one unit to your customer's door: product price plus shipping and any duties.
Has formulaMarkup
How many times the supplier price you charge at retail.
Has formulaOpportunity Score
Product Score's 0–100 rating of how promising an AliExpress product is to dropship, combining demand, product signals, competition, risk and safety gates.
Has formulaProduct saturation
How crowded a product is: many near-identical listings and sellers competing for the same buyers.
Safety gates
Hard caps on the Opportunity Score for products with a disqualifying problem, so strong signals elsewhere can't hide it.
Target-margin CAC
The highest customer acquisition cost that still leaves the net margin you want on each order.
Has formulaSee these metrics on real products
Product Score shows the Opportunity Score, safety gates and break-even CAC for every AliExpress product it scores. Free plan, no card needed.