---
title: "Spreadsheet mistakes that misprice offers"
description: "Nine mistakes that turn up in offer spreadsheets, each worked on a sourced order: what the sheet shows, what the order earns, and what prevents the error."
url: https://offersuite.io/articles
updated: 2026-10-13
---

# Spreadsheet mistakes that misprice offers

Nine mistakes that turn up in the spreadsheets brands price their offers in. Each is worked on one order with costs anyone can check: what the sheet shows, what the order earns, what the error does to the decision, and what prevents it. For where a spreadsheet is the right tool, see [Offer Suite vs a spreadsheet](https://offersuite.io/compare/spreadsheets).

## The nine mistakes Each with the sheet's figure beside the order's

- [**1. The blended average that drops an option** A blended order value whose formula stops one row short leaves an option's dollars out of every total, while the shares still add up to 100%.](https://offersuite.io/articles/blended-average-drops-an-option) $76.28 blended order value; the sheet shows $62.45
- [**2. Averaging margin percentages instead of dollars** A blended margin that averages each option's percentage by its share of orders is wrong. Margin has to be weighted by revenue: sum the dollars, divide once.](https://offersuite.io/articles/averaging-margin-percentages) 48.3% blended margin; the sheet shows 47.0%
- [**3. Refunds counted twice in an offer's margin** A refund reserve taken off revenue and then summed again inside total cost understates margin by the whole reserve. The worst hit are high-return categories.](https://offersuite.io/articles/refunds-counted-twice) $39.16 margin per order; the sheet shows $16.00
- [**4. Break-even renewals that ignore churn** Dividing a subscription's first-order loss by one renewal's margin assumes every subscriber renews. With churn the count is higher, or the loss never returns.](https://offersuite.io/articles/break-even-renewals-ignore-churn) 9 renewals to pay back the first order; the sheet shows 5 renewals
- [**5. A hard-coded total in a margin sheet** One typed number in a chain of formulas stays behind when the tab is copied or a price changes, and the sheet sets one offer's costs against another's revenue.](https://offersuite.io/articles/hard-coded-total) $56.57 margin per order; the sheet shows −$2.86
- [**6. Dead references in copy-pasted offer tabs** Copying a tab for the next offer leaves formulas pointing at rows that are gone. The errors that show are the mild case; the ones guarded into zeros get used.](https://offersuite.io/articles/dead-references-in-copied-tabs) $25.42 average first-order margin; the sheet shows $6.94
- [**7. Margin computed on a price that includes VAT** Where shelf prices include VAT or GST, margin worked out on the shelf price counts the tax as money kept. The tax comes almost entirely out of the real margin.](https://offersuite.io/articles/margin-on-a-price-that-includes-vat) 18.6% margin; the sheet shows 30.8%
- [**8. Row labels that don't match their formulas** A row's label is typed text and its formulas are whatever was copied. A tier that says three units and costs two shows margin the offer never had.](https://offersuite.io/articles/row-labels-that-do-not-match-their-formulas) 50.6% margin on the three-pack; the sheet shows 61.5%
- [**9. A sign error in a free trial's first order** A free trial's first order earns zero. A sheet that books it as minus the price charges the trial for the product twice, and a trial that pays back is rejected.](https://offersuite.io/articles/sign-error-in-a-free-trial) −$24.79 first-order margin; the sheet shows −$64.79

## Explainers How a cost behaves, worked on one order

- [**Why your 3-pack costs almost the same to ship** A shipping label is priced in whole-pound steps and a warehouse charges little for an extra item, so a three-pack ships for barely more than one unit.](https://offersuite.io/articles/why-a-3-pack-costs-almost-the-same-to-ship) $10.50 label on a three-pack; the sheet shows $27.87