How to price your handmade products (quick answer)
Add your material cost and labour cost together to get what one item really costs you to make. Then apply a markup to set your selling price (see the formula below).
Most handmade sellers use a markup of 100% to 200%, which leaves a profit margin of about 50% to 67%. The calculator above does the work for you and shows your profit and margin as you type.
How to use the calculator
The three inputs
- Material cost: everything you use to make one item, including packaging and labels. Use the cost per item, not the price of the whole pack.
- Labour cost: your time, for one item. Pick an hourly rate you would be happy to earn and multiply by how long one item takes. If you work in batches, divide the batch's time by how many items it makes.
- Markup: the percentage you add on top of your cost. Tap a preset for where you sell, or type your own.
Reading the results
- Suggested selling price: what to charge per item at that markup.
- Materials & labour: your total cost to make one item.
- Your profit: what you keep per item after costs.
- Profit margin: your profit as a share of the selling price.
Markup and margin by where you sell
Where you sell changes how much to mark up. Selling direct lets you keep more; selling wholesale means leaving room for the shop to mark the item up again.
| Where you sell | Typical markup | Profit margin |
|---|---|---|
| Online shop / Etsy | 100–200% | 50–67% |
| Craft fairs / markets | 150–250% | 60–71% |
| Wholesale to shops | 50–100% | 33–50% |
| Boutique / consignment | 200–300% | 67–75% |
The formula explained
Two quick calculations sit behind the result:
Selling price = (material cost + labour cost) × (1 + markup %)
Profit margin = (selling price − total cost) ÷ selling price
Markup and margin are not the same number. A 100% markup (doubling your cost) is a 50% margin. That difference trips up a lot of sellers, so the calculator shows both.
A real example
Say you make soap in batches. A batch of 20 bars uses $40 of oils, lye, fragrance, and packaging, so materials are $40 ÷ 20 = $2.00 per bar. The batch takes about an hour and you value your time at $20/hour, so labour is $20 ÷ 20 = $1.00 per bar. Dividing the batch cost across every bar gives your true per-item cost. You sell on Etsy, so you pick a 150% markup.
- Total cost: $2.00 + $1.00 = $3.00 per bar
- Selling price: $3.00 × 2.5 = $7.50
- Your profit: $4.50 per bar
- Profit margin: 60%
Common pricing mistakes
- Not paying yourself for labour. Your time is a real cost. Leave it out and your "profit" is really just unpaid wages.
- Using the pack price instead of the per-item cost. Divide the cost of a pack by how many items it makes.
- Copying a competitor's price. You do not know their costs. Price from your own numbers, then reality-check against the market.
- Forgetting overhead. Stall fees, online listing fees, and equipment add up. Build a little extra into your markup to cover them.
Who is this calculator for?
Anyone selling something they make by hand: soap and candle makers, jewellers, bakers, potters, woodworkers, and crafters selling on Etsy, at markets, or wholesale to shops. If you make it and sell it, this gets you to a price that pays you fairly.
When to move beyond a calculator
A calculator prices one product at a time. Once you are selling regularly, the bigger question is whether the whole business is profitable across every sale, every supply run, and every fee. That is where Argo Books comes in: it tracks your income and expenses, shows your real profit month to month, and helps you send invoices and stay ready for tax time. It is free to start.