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Profit margin calculator

Know what each sale really leaves you

Type what an item costs you and what you sell it for. Margin, markup and profit per item are worked out as you type, after shipping, ad spend, payment fees and discounts, in your own currency.

Profit margin 60.0%Profit per item $18.00

Free, no sign-up, no email. Nothing you type leaves this page.

Your margin

One sale

Profit margin

60.0%

Profit per item

$18.00

Room between cost and price$18.00
Item cost
$12.00
Break-even
$12.00
Price
$30.00

Where the price goes

  • Item cost$12.0040.0%
  • Profit$18.00

Selling at $30.00 with $12.00 in costs leaves $18.00 per item: a 60.0% margin on a 150.0% markup.

Item details

What you pay to make or buy one

Set the price by

The list price before any discount

Costs of each saleLeave at 0 for gross margin
Markup
150.0%
Break-even price
$12.00

Selling at $30.00 with $12.00 in costs leaves $18.00 per item: a 60.0% margin on a 150.0% markup.

Price ladder

What each markup leaves after every cost

The same item at seven prices, from one under cost to a 300% markup. Shipping, ad spend, fees and the discount stay as you set them, so you can see where the margin turns healthy and where it turns into a loss.

Price, profit and margin at each markup on a cost of $12.00
MarkupPriceProfitMargin
20% under cost$9.60-$2.40-25.0%
25%$15.00$3.0020.0%
50%$18.00$6.0033.3%
100%$24.00$12.0050.0%
150%$30.00$18.0060.0%
200%$36.00$24.0066.7%
300%$48.00$36.0075.0%
Your price$30.00$18.0060.0%

How it is worked out

Margin is what you keep, markup is what you add

Both start from the same gap between cost and price. Every example is the same soy candle, 12 dollars to make and 30 to sell, drawn by the same code as the calculator. Each card names the costs it counts, so the profit shrinks as more costs come in.

  • PriceWhat the buyer pays
  • CostsItem, shipping, ads, fees
  • ×100As a percent

Counts: every cost you enter in the calculator above

One line gives the margin

Take every cost of the sale from what the buyer pays, then divide by what the buyer pays. With only the item cost it is the gross margin; with shipping, ad spend and fees it is the margin you really keep.

Soy candle$30.00

  • Markup 150%: profit ÷ cost
  • Margin 60%: profit ÷ price

Counts: item cost $12.00

Margin and markup are not the same number

Markup is measured on the cost, margin on the price. On a 12 dollar candle sold for 30, the markup is 150% but the margin is 60%, so the markup always reads higher.

  • Full price$14.00 profit, 46.7% margin
  • 20% off$8.00 profit, 33.3% margin

Counts: item cost $12.00 and shipping $4.00

A discount comes out of the margin

Every cost stays the same when the price drops, so the whole discount comes off your profit. A 20% sale can cut the margin by far more than 20%.

  • Item cost$12.0040.0%
  • Shipping$4.0013.3%
  • Ad spend$5.0016.7%
  • Payment fees$1.173.9%
  • Profit$7.8326.1%

$30.00 sale: 60.0% gross margin, 26.1% after every cost

Counts: item cost $12.00, shipping $4.00, ad spend $5.00 and payment fees

The costs that hide in a sale

Shipping, the ad spend it took to win the order and the payment fee are paid on every sale. Leave them out and the margin looks better than it is.

On Tanqory

Keep more of every price you set

Margin leaks through fees, extra apps and hours spent on busywork. Tanqory closes those leaks, and its AI takes the writing work off the team.

  1. 0%

    Tanqory transaction fee

    Your provider's own rate, not marked up

    No transaction fee on any plan

    Connect your own Stripe, PayPal or Braintree account and pay a 0% Tanqory transaction fee on every plan. You pay your provider's own rate, never marked up, so the payment fee in your margin is the only one. See payments

  2. Write the product page for our new soy candle

    Draft ready for you to review

    Hand-poured soy candleAmber glass, cotton wick, poured in small batches.
    • Title and descriptionDrafted
    • Launch emailDrafted
    • Your reviewWaiting

    AI credits used: none

    Product copy written for you

    AI writes the product description and the email that goes with a new price, from what you tell it. Everyday writing like this uses no AI credits, so the hours go back to the business at no extra cost. See the AI assistant

  3. orders.csvSample data

    OrderItemPriceCostMargin
    #1042Soy candle$30.00$12.0060.0%
    #1043Linen spray$18.00$7.5058.3%
    #1044Gift set$54.00$26.0051.9%
    #1045Wax melts$9.00$4.2053.3%

    Your sales in a spreadsheet

    Export products, orders and analytics as CSV from the admin, put your costs beside them and see the margin of every product you sell. See analytics

  4. A printmaker presses a carved wooden block onto a length of fabric
    • Invoices
    • Finance
    • Marketing email
    • Automation

    Fewer apps eating the margin

    Invoices, finance, marketing email, subscriptions and automation come with the plan, so monthly app bills do not sit on top of every sale. See what each plan includes

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Questions about profit margin

How is profit margin worked out?

Profit margin = (price paid - every cost of the sale) ÷ price paid × 100. The calculator takes the item cost, shipping, ad spend per order and the payment fee from what the buyer pays after any discount, then divides by that amount.

What is the difference between margin and markup?

Markup is the profit as a share of the cost; margin is the profit as a share of the price. An item that costs 10 and sells for 25 has a 150% markup and a 60% margin. Markup tells you how you set the price; margin tells you what you keep.

What is a good profit margin?

It depends on what you sell and how you sell it. Handmade and digital goods often carry high gross margins, while resold electronics and groceries run on thin ones. Compare with businesses like yours, and judge the margin after shipping, ad spend and fees, since that is what pays the rent.

Does it include shipping and ad spend?

Yes, when you add them under the costs of each sale. Leave them at 0 to see the gross margin on the item alone. Ad spend per order is your marketing spend divided by the orders it brought in.

Why does a discount cut my margin so much?

Your costs stay the same when the price drops, so the whole discount comes out of the profit. On a 30 item with 15 of costs, a 20% discount takes 6 off a 15 profit, and the margin falls from 50% to 37.5%.

How do I find the price for the margin I want?

Choose Target margin under Set the price by, then type the margin you want. The calculator works out the list price that leaves that margin after the discount, the payment fee and every other cost you entered.

Does it work for any currency?

Yes. Pick your currency and amounts are shown in its format and rounded to its smallest unit, for example cents for US dollars and euros, pence for pounds and whole yen for Japanese yen. The starting currency comes from your browser's region.

Is what I type stored anywhere?

No. The calculation runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent to Tanqory.

Set the price, then keep the margin

Describe what you sell and Tanqory drafts the store for you. Keep your own payment provider with a 0% transaction fee, and let AI write the product pages.