How this is calculated
Your costs fall into two buckets. Fixed costs are dollars you pay no matter what you charge: the item, shipping, packaging, and flat per-order fees. Percentage costs grow with the price: the marketplace fee, payment processing, and percentage-based ads like eBay promoted listings.
The break-even price is where the price minus all the percentage fees exactly covers the fixed costs:
break-even price = fixed costs ÷ (1 − fee %)
To leave a profit margin on top, subtract the margin too:
target price = fixed costs ÷ (1 − fee % − target margin %)
The break-even pricing guide walks through why this works and the common mistakes, like pricing off markup instead of margin.
Worked example
Anything under $17.82 loses money. A 20% margin needs $23.19, not the $18.48 you'd get by adding 20% to costs.
That last line is the most common pricing mistake I see. Adding 20% to $15.40 gives $18.48, which feels like a 20% margin. But eBay takes 13.6% of $18.48 too, and you end up with about $0.57 profit, a 3% margin. Always divide, don't multiply.
Platform presets
The presets are starting points for common cases. Change the numbers for your exact category:
- eBay: 13.6% final value fee plus $0.40 per order for most categories without a Store. Books and media are 15.3%.
- Amazon and Walmart, self-shipped: 15% referral fee for most categories, 8% for electronics. Use the FBA or WFS calculator if they fulfill it.
- Etsy: 6.5% transaction fee plus 3% + $0.25 payment processing in the US, and a $0.20 listing fee.
- Shopify: no marketplace fee, just card processing, around 2.9% + $0.30 on the Basic plan with Shopify Payments. Your monthly plan is a fixed cost across all orders.
Questions people ask
What's the difference between break-even price and target-margin price?
Break-even is the price where profit is exactly $0: every dollar goes to fees and costs. The target-margin price leaves a set percentage of the sale as profit, so it's always higher.
Why can't I just add my costs up and add 20%?
Because the marketplace fee is a percentage of the final price, not of your cost. When you raise the price, the fee goes up too. Dividing by (1 minus fee percent minus margin percent) accounts for that. Adding 20% to cost gives you a 20% markup, which works out to a much smaller margin once fees come out.
What if the calculator says Not possible?
Your fee percentage plus target margin adds up to 100% or more, so no price can hit it. Lower the target margin or check the fee percentage.
Should packaging be separate from item cost?
If you track it, yes. Poly mailers, boxes, tape, inserts, and labels are real per-order costs and they're the easiest ones to forget.
Rates last checked October 2026. Read how we check our numbers.