➡️ What is Margin Monitor?
Margin Monitor helps you keep an eye on your profit margins as costs change, so you don't have to manually recalculate pricing every time a supplier raises their rates.
You set a margin goal, either a percentage or a fixed dollar amount, and SureStock compares each material's actual margin (between cost to business and cost to customer) against it.
➡️ Setting up Margin Monitor
Go to Settings → Procurement → Margin Monitor.
Set your margin goal as a percentage (%) or fixed dollar amount ($). This is your account default.
There's also a toggle that controls automatic price updates during PO reconciliation, separate from just showing the goal in your catalog.
➡️ How SureStock Calculates Your Price
Margin Monitor supports two pricing methods, and each calculates your selling price differently: a gross margin or a flat ($) markup.
Flat ($) Markup
Cost + Flat $ Amount = Price / 200 + 150 = 350
With the $ option, you set a specific flat dollar amount that gets added on top of your cost.
Example: cost $200.00, flat markup $150.00 → 200.00 + 150.00 = $350.00
Gross Margin (%)
Cost ÷ (1 − Margin %) = Price / 200 ÷ (1 − 0.20) = 200 ÷ 0.80 = 250
With Gross Margin, the percentage is based on the final selling price, not the cost.
Example: cost $200, margin goal 20% → 200 ÷ (1 − 0.20) = 200 ÷ 0.80 = $250
⚠️ Note: The $ option is a flat dollar amount added to cost, it is not the same as a percentage markup. Gross Margin (%) is calculated from the final selling price, while the flat $ option is simply added to the cost, so the two methods produce different selling prices.
➡️ Margin Monitor during PO reconciliation
This is the key behavior to understand:
Toggle off: reconciling a PO does not change your catalog price, even if the new cost puts you below your margin goal.
Toggle on: reconciling a PO that puts a material below its margin goal automatically raises the catalog price to meet the goal.
⚠️ Margin Monitor only ever raises prices, never lowers them, and only for materials currently below their goal.
➡️ Fixing a single material manually
Open the material in your catalog and click Edit material price.
If the actual margin is below target, SureStock shows a recommended price to hit your goal (for example: "raise to $13.33 to hit 10%").
Click the recommendation to apply it, or set your own price.
➡️ Fixing many materials at once
In Catalog, select the materials you want to check (or select the whole page).
Click Other options → Raise to goal.
SureStock raises the price of every selected material that's below its margin goal. Materials already at or above goal, and materials with a $0 cost, are skipped.
This confirmation appears for any selection, even if some selected materials are already at or above their goal: "Raise client prices on [N] selected items to meet their margin goal? Prices are only raised, never lowered." After you confirm, only materials below goal (shown in red) actually change. Materials at or above goal (shown in green) are left untouched.
📌 There's currently no way to filter your catalog to show only materials above or below their margin goal. If none of your selected materials are below goal, you'll see a message that no items need adjustment.
➡️ Best Practices
Set your account-wide goal first, then use Raise to goal periodically to sweep up anything that's slipped below it.
Turn on the PO reconciliation toggle if you want pricing corrected automatically as costs come in, rather than reviewing manually.
Materials priced at $0 won't be picked up automatically; keep an eye on those separately.
➡️ Common Issues
"I reconciled a PO at a higher cost and my catalog price didn't update."
Check whether the PO reconciliation toggle is turned ON in Margin Monitor settings. If it's off, price only updates when you manually fix it or run "Raise to goal."
"I ran Raise to goal and nothing changed."
That means every material you selected was already at or above its margin goal, or priced at $0 (those are always skipped). You'll see a "no items need adjustment" message in that case.
"My price went down instead of up."
That's not something Margin Monitor does. It only raises prices toward the goal, it never lowers them. If a price dropped, check for a manual edit or another sync source (FSM/QBO).
➡️ FAQs
Does Margin Monitor ever lower prices?
No. It only raises prices for materials below their goal, never the other way around.
What happens to materials with a $0 cost?
They're skipped automatically, both by the PO reconciliation toggle and by "Raise to goal."
Can I set a different margin goal per material instead of the account default?
The account-wide goal is the default. If you need to fix pricing on a specific material outside that goal, you can always set the price manually from the material's edit screen.
Is there a way to filter my catalog to see only materials below goal?
Not currently. Selecting materials and running "Raise to goal" is the way to check and fix them in bulk.