Practical guide 3 min read
How to price handmade items, including Etsy fees
Solve for a price that covers your costs, your hourly rate, a profit and marketplace fees, and check what a price you have in mind really pays.
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Tool
Handmade Pricing Calculator
Enter what an item costs to make and the time it takes. The calculator works back through marketplace or card fees to the price that pays your hourly rate plus a profit, and shows exactly what you keep.
Loading Handmade Pricing Calculator…
Runs in your browser. What you enter is saved on this device only.
How to use the Handmade Pricing Calculator
- Enter the materials cost per item, your time and the hourly rate you want.
- Add overhead, packaging and any shipping you charge or pay.
- Choose where you sell to fill in typical fees, and check them against your own statements.
- Pick your profit and a price ending, or switch to “Check a price” to see what a price you have in mind pays you.
How it’s calculated
Your cost is materials + labour (hours × rate) + overhead + packaging + the shipping you pay. The target is that cost plus your profit percentage. Fees are a percentage of the sale (item price plus the shipping you charge) plus fixed amounts per order and per listing, so the price is solved exactly: price = (cost + profit + fixed fees) ÷ (1 − fee percentage) − shipping charged, then rounded up to the ending you pick. Wholesale is cost × 2 and retail is wholesale × 2.
Questions
What’s the formula for pricing handmade items?
A common rule is materials + labour + overhead = cost, cost × 2 = wholesale and wholesale × 2 = retail, which leaves room for shops that buy at wholesale. If you only sell direct, price from your cost plus a profit, then make sure fees don’t eat it; that’s what the main result does.
How are Etsy fees worked out?
The Etsy preset fills in a $0.20 listing fee, a 6.5% transaction fee on the item price plus shipping, and US payment processing of 3% plus $0.25. Fees change and differ by country, and Offsite Ads add 12–15% on the sales they bring, so compare the numbers with your own Etsy payment account and edit them to match.
What hourly rate should I use?
At least what you’d earn doing other work, and never less than your local minimum wage. Time everything: making, photographing, listing, packing and answering messages. If the price that gives feels too high, look at making faster or at your materials rather than working for free.
What does “Check a price” show?
Enter a price you’re considering and it shows the fees, what’s left once costs are paid, and your effective hourly rate: what you really earn for each hour of work.
Are my numbers saved?
On this device only. Each calculator remembers what you last entered, in your browser, so you can pick up where you left off; nothing is sent to our server. Reset puts the starting values back.
Do I need an account?
No. Every craft calculator is free to use without signing in, with no limits.
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