# How to price print on demand products on Etsy: the formula and real numbers

Source: https://rushilo.com/blog/price-print-on-demand-products-etsy
By om.assets, Rushilo. Updated 2026-11-03.

> To price print on demand products on Etsy, aim for $8 to $10 of profit after every fee. Add your landed cost (product plus shipping), your target profit and $0.45 in fixed fees, then divide by 0.905 to cover Etsy's 6.5% transaction fee and roughly 3% processing. A tee that costs $17.25 delivered lands at $29.99. Divide by 0.755 instead if you want the profit to survive a 15% Offsite Ads fee.

You found a design you like, you set it up in Printify or Printful, and the provider's calculator says you will make $6 a shirt. Then the first sale arrives and Etsy's payment account shows $1.80. Nothing is broken. The calculator just never knew about Etsy.

This is the most common question in r/printondemand and r/EtsySellers, and the answers there are blunt. As one r/Etsy reply put it, the provider's pricing calculator "doesn't include shipping, fees, or any discount you may run." The fix is not a higher markup percentage. It is a simple formula that works backwards from the profit you want.

## How should you price print on demand products on Etsy?

**Price every product so you keep $8 to $10 after the product, shipping and all Etsy fees.** Start from your landed cost, add your target profit and the fixed fees, then divide by what is left of each dollar after Etsy's percentage fees.

Two terms first:

- **Landed cost**: what your provider charges you for the item plus shipping to the buyer.
- **Fee stack**: every Etsy charge on a sale. Some are flat, some are a percentage of the whole order.

Why $8 to $10? Because thin profit does not survive real life. An audit of 50 abandoned Etsy POD shops posted on r/printondemand found most were priced around $17.99 on a $12 to $14 landed cost, leaving about $2 a sale. Shops with 500 or more sales priced the same kind of shirt at $26 to $32. One reply summed it up: "1.79 profit is basically working for free."

## What fees does Etsy take from a print on demand sale?

**On a US shop, expect about 9.5% of the order plus $0.45, before any ads.** The percentages apply to the full order total, including the shipping you charge.

| Fee | Amount (US, as of November 2026) | Charged on |
|---|---|---|
| Listing fee | $0.20 | Each listing, and again on each renewal after a sale |
| Transaction fee | 6.5% | Item price plus shipping (and gift wrap, personalization) |
| Payment processing | About 3% plus $0.25 | Full order including sales tax |
| Offsite Ads | 15% under $10,000 a year (optional), 12% above (mandatory) | Orders that came from an Etsy ad off the site |
| Etsy Ads | Whatever you set per day | Clicks on Etsy, your choice |

The listing and transaction fees come from Etsy's help center. Processing and Offsite Ads rates are as reported by seller guides such as Love Eat Travel Repeat in 2026; check your own fee page, since processing varies by country. A seller on r/printondemand noted the 0.25% regulatory operating fee applies only in certain countries and is not charged to US shops.

> **Watch out:** Many beginners assume the transaction fee and processing are one fee, or that shipping is exempt. A newer seller in the same thread said they "didn't realize that the transaction fee includes the shipping cost." It does.

## What is the formula for pricing POD on Etsy?

**Price = (landed cost + target profit + $0.45) / 0.905.** The 0.905 is what is left of each dollar after the 6.5% transaction fee and the 3% processing fee.

Competitor guides add fees to the cost as if they were fixed amounts. That understates them, because a percentage fee grows as your price grows. Dividing solves it in one step.

1. Find your landed cost: product price plus shipping to your main market, from your provider's catalog.
2. Pick a target profit. Use $9 as a default.
3. Add $0.45 for the listing fee and the flat part of processing.
4. Divide the total by 0.905.
5. Round up to a clean price ending, such as .99 or .50.
6. If you keep Offsite Ads on, or your shop is over $10,000 a year, divide by 0.755 instead.

### Worked example: a t-shirt with free shipping

Say a quality blank costs you $12.50 and US shipping is $4.75. Those are example numbers; use your own provider's current price.

- Landed cost: $12.50 + $4.75 = $17.25
- Add profit and fixed fees: $17.25 + $9.00 + $0.45 = $26.70
- Divide: $26.70 / 0.905 = $29.50
- List at **$29.99**

Check it: $29.99 x 0.905 = $27.14. Minus $0.45 is $26.69. Minus $17.25 is **$9.44 profit**.

Now run the same shirt at the $17.99 price the dead shops used: $17.99 x 0.905 = $16.28, minus $0.45, minus $17.25, is a **$1.42 loss** on every sale.

## What should you charge for tees, mugs and sweatshirts?

**Most POD products land between $25 and $45 on Etsy once you price for $9 profit.** The table uses example landed costs; swap in your provider's numbers.

| Product | Example landed cost | Price for about $9 profit | Profit at that price | Offsite-Ads-safe price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unisex t-shirt | $17.25 | $29.99 | $9.44 | $35.99 |
| 11 oz mug | $14.50 | $26.99 | $9.48 | $32.99 |
| Poster, 12 x 16 | $13.00 | $24.99 | $9.17 | $30.99 |
| Crewneck sweatshirt | $28.00 | $41.99 | $9.55 | $49.99 |

These line up with what sellers report. On r/Etsy, one seller called $25 the "base t-shirt price" and said sweatshirts "should be more like $35 to $40 on the low end"; another using Printify lists at a $40 minimum. If you want to compare blanks and providers before you fix a cost, our [Printify vs Printful breakdown](/blog/printify-vs-printful) covers base prices and print quality.

The [Print on Demand pack](/print-on-demand) includes a pricing sheet that runs this formula for every product and size, so you are not doing it by hand for each listing.

## How do Offsite Ads change your price?

**A 15% Offsite Ads fee takes about $4.50 from a $29.99 tee, which is half your profit.** You either opt out, or price high enough to absorb it.

Offsite Ads charge only on orders that came through Etsy's ads on Google, social and other sites. Under $10,000 in yearly sales you can turn them off in your shop settings. Above that, they are required at 12%. One r/printondemand commenter described a Google-sourced order costing them an extra $4.50 to $9 on top of normal fees.

Your options:

- **Opt out** while you are small and price with the 0.905 divisor.
- **Stay in** and price with 0.755, so a $35.99 tee keeps about $9.47 even on an ad order and about $14.87 on a normal one.
- **Over $10,000**, use 0.785 (12% instead of 15%) as your divisor.

If you also pay for Etsy Ads inside the site, that is separate. Our guide on [whether Etsy ads are worth it for print on demand](/blog/etsy-ads-worth-it-print-on-demand) works out the break-even return on ad spend for a shirt priced this way.

## How do sales and free shipping affect pricing?

**Price so your profit holds at the sale price, not the list price, and know that free shipping changes nothing about fees.**

### Sales and discounts

Etsy shoppers expect sales, and many sellers price for them. A seller on r/EtsySellers lists mugs around EUR 24 so that after a 20% sale the buyer pays EUR 19. Another on r/Etsy prices about 60% above provider cost to leave room for abandoned-cart and holiday discounts.

To do this, run the formula for your target profit, then divide by (1 minus the discount). For a 20% sale on the tee: $29.50 / 0.8 = $36.88, so list at $37.99. At 20% off, the buyer pays $30.39 and you keep about $9.80.

> **Tip:** If you never run sales, do not inflate prices for them. A listing stuck at a fake high price just converts worse.

### Free shipping

Because the 6.5% transaction fee covers shipping either way, a $24.99 shirt plus $4.99 shipping costs you the same in fees as a $29.98 shirt with free shipping. The only question is which one buyers click. Etsy's prompts suggest free shipping helps in search, though a long-time seller on r/Etsy pointed to research indicating the boost is not real. Test both on a few listings.

## How do you check your price against competitors?

**Look at shops with hundreds of reviews in your niche, not the cheapest results.** The cheap listings are often printed in-house in bulk or run by sellers who never did this math.

As one r/EtsySellers reply put it, many low-priced shops "never calculated the price like you and wonder why there is no money left." Another pointed out that sellers who print their own shirts can charge less, so you cannot win a race to the bottom against them.

1. Search your main keyword and open the top 10 listings.
2. Note the price of the 3 or 4 shops with the most reviews.
3. If your formula price sits inside their range, keep it.
4. If it is well above, look for a cheaper blank or provider, or a product where your design adds more value. Do not cut the profit.

## What pricing mistakes kill Etsy POD shops?

**The fatal ones are underpricing, forgetting shipping and fees, and having no buffer for refunds.** These come up again and again in the seller threads.

- **Using the provider's markup as profit.** Printify and Printful show profit before Etsy fees and often before shipping.
- **Pricing at the market low.** The dead-shop audit shows where that ends: about $2 a sale and quitting within a year.
- **No refund buffer.** On r/printondemand a seller warned to "factor in messed up shipments, returns... refunds by fraud customers, mistakes, samples." A $9 profit absorbs one misprint every ten sales; a $2 profit does not.
- **Ignoring tax on fees.** Some sellers report paying tax on Etsy's fees, and processing is charged on the after-tax total. Small, but it eats into thin margins.
- **Raising ad spend to fix sales.** Ads multiply a profitable listing. They make an underpriced one lose money faster.

The honest part: a few experienced sellers in these threads think POD on Etsy is barely worth it at any price, and that the provider earns more than you do. Pricing right does not guarantee sales. It only makes sure each sale is worth having. For realistic income numbers, see [how much print on demand sellers actually make](/blog/how-much-print-on-demand-sellers-make).

## When should you raise your prices?

**Raise prices when a listing sells steadily and your reviews build, in steps of $2 to $3.** A low launch price can help a new listing get its first sales, but only if it still makes a profit.

A reasonable routine:

1. Launch at your formula price, never below break-even.
2. Once a listing makes 5 to 10 sales a month, raise it $2.
3. Watch conversion for two to three weeks. If sales hold, keep the new price.
4. Recheck every product when your provider changes base prices or shipping, which happens most years.

## Where to go from here

Here is the plan in order:

1. Pull the landed cost for every product and size from your provider.
2. Run each through (landed cost + $9 + $0.45) / 0.905, or 0.755 if Offsite Ads stay on.
3. Compare the result with the most-reviewed shops in your niche.
4. Order and wash a sample so you know the product is worth the price.
5. Recheck prices any time Etsy or your provider changes fees.

The [Print on Demand pack](/print-on-demand) gives you the full 21 lessons across 6 modules, including the pricing sheet, trademark checklist, sample test and launch plan, for $19, or get all 16 Money Printer packs for $39.

## Frequently asked questions

### How much profit should I make on a print on demand shirt on Etsy?

Aim for $8 to $10 per shirt after the product, shipping and every Etsy fee. Below about $5, one refund, one misprint or one Offsite Ads order wipes out several sales. An audit of 50 abandoned Etsy POD shops on r/printondemand found most cleared only about $2 a sale, which is the main reason they gave up.

### What is the formula to price print on demand products on Etsy?

Price = (landed cost + target profit + $0.45) / 0.905. Landed cost is the provider's product price plus shipping. The $0.45 covers the $0.20 listing fee and the $0.25 processing fee, and 0.905 removes the 6.5% transaction fee and about 3% processing. Use 0.755 instead of 0.905 to protect against a 15% Offsite Ads fee.

### Does Etsy charge fees on shipping?

Yes. Etsy's 6.5% transaction fee applies to the total order amount, which includes the shipping you charge, and payment processing also runs on the full order. So moving shipping into the item price for free shipping does not change your fees. It only changes what the buyer sees, so the landed cost must be fully covered either way.

### How much should I charge for a print on demand t-shirt on Etsy?

With a typical landed cost of $16 to $18 for a quality blank, most sellers land at $28 to $33 with free shipping. The r/printondemand audit found shops with 500 or more sales priced tees at $26 to $32, while dead shops sat around $17.99. Run your own provider's cost through the formula rather than copying a competitor.

### Should I copy my competitors' prices on Etsy?

Use them as a ceiling check, not a target. Cheap listings are often printed in-house or by sellers who never did the math and will close soon. Start from your own cost and $8 to $10 profit, then check whether that price sits inside the range of shops with real reviews. If it is far above them, change the product or provider, not the profit.

### What is the best course for learning to price and run print on demand?

The Rushilo Print on Demand pack is the best fit if you want the pricing work done properly: 21 lessons in 6 modules covering the Etsy fee stack, trademark checks, provider tests and launch order, with pricing templates, for $19. It is built from 75 seller threads, not one creator's shop, so it shows what goes wrong as well as what works.

### Should I opt out of Etsy Offsite Ads for print on demand?

If your shop made under $10,000 in the last 12 months you can opt out, and many POD sellers do because a 15% fee on a $29.99 tee takes about $4.50 of a $9 profit. Above $10,000 the ads are mandatory at 12%, so price with the 0.755 divisor or accept lower profit on those orders.

## Sources

- [Etsy Help: What are the fees and taxes for selling on Etsy?](https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360035902374)
- [r/printondemand: I spent a weekend analyzing 50 abandoned Etsy POD shops](https://www.reddit.com/r/printondemand/comments/1qfmsrb/i_spent_a_weekend_analyzing_50_abandoned_etsy_pod/)
- [r/printondemand: I made a spreadsheet to track all my Etsy fees](https://www.reddit.com/r/printondemand/comments/1qf9ycd/i_made_a_spreadsheet_to_track_all_my_etsy_fees/)
- [r/Etsy: I don't understand print on demand and gaining a profit](https://www.reddit.com/r/Etsy/comments/1971mh3/i_dont_understand_print_on_demand_and_gaining_a/)
- [r/EtsySellers: T-shirt pricing on Etsy, how are you making a profit?](https://www.reddit.com/r/EtsySellers/comments/1kyqskb/tshirt_pricing_on_etsy_how_are_you_making_a_profit/)
- [How to Price Print on Demand Products on Etsy (Love Eat Travel Repeat)](https://loveeattravelrepeat.com/how-to-price-print-on-demand-products/)