What is gross sales?

Gross sales is the value of the products you sold in a period before any refunds or coupon discounts are taken off.

How WooCommerce shows it

On Analytics › Revenue, Gross sales is the first money column, followed by Returns, Coupons and Net sales. Like net sales, it leaves out taxes and shipping. The relationship is:

Net sales = gross sales − returns − coupons

So gross sales is the number you'd see if no one used a coupon and nothing came back. Orders with a status listed under Analytics › Settings › Excluded statuses aren't counted.

A worked example

Say a customer buys two $40 shirts with a 10% coupon, and returns one later in the month.

• Gross sales: $80
• Coupons: $8
• Returns: $36 (the refunded shirt at its discounted price)
• Net sales: $80 − $8 − $36 = $36

Across a whole store the gap between gross and net is the cost of your discounts and refunds.

Why it matters

Gross sales on its own flatters you, because it ignores money you gave back. It's useful next to net sales: a widening gap means coupons or refunds are growing faster than sales. If that's what you see, look at returns and your coupon results. The guide to net sales vs gross sales vs total sales explains each column, and the WooCommerce sales reports guide shows where they fit.