Print on Demand Profit Calculator

How it is calculated

For one item the tool takes the retail price, subtracts the supplier's base cost and a platform fee that is a percentage of the retail price. The steps are fee = price × fee% ÷ 100, profit = price − base cost − fee and margin = profit ÷ price × 100. Margin is measured against the selling price, not against cost, so it can never exceed 100%. Amounts are in US dollars. The price must be above zero, the base cost cannot be negative and the fee must be between 0 and 100. If costs are higher than the price, profit and margin turn negative instead of an error. The fee is only a percentage: fixed per-order fees, payment processing, shipping you pay, ads and taxes are not included unless you fold them into the base cost.

Common mistakes

• Leaving out costs that are not on the form. Per-order fixed fees, payment processing, shipping paid by you, advertising and returns all reduce real profit, so add them to the base cost before reading the margin.
• Typing the fee as a decimal. For 9.5% enter 9.5, not 0.095, otherwise the fee almost disappears and the profit looks better than it is.
• Confusing margin with markup. Margin is profit divided by the selling price; markup is profit divided by cost. The same shirt has a 36.48% margin but a markup of about 67.5%.
• Entering the price without the shipping a customer pays, or including it twice. Decide whether shipping revenue is in the price, and then count the shipping cost the same way.
• Ignoring discounts. Fees are taken from the price the customer pays, so a promotion lowers profit by more than the discount suggests, since the base cost stays the same.