The whole guide in one line
Cost floor
x
Your margin
=
Your price
The calculator already gives you the left side exactly. The right side - margin and channel fees - is the part this guide walks you through.
1
Know your cost floor
Your floor is the non-negotiable minimum - what the print actually costs you to make. Sell below it and every order loses money. It's built from five pieces that quietly stack up:
Everything that stacks into your floor
Material
Filament or resin the part consumes.
Electricity
Power the printer draws over the whole job.
Machine wear
Maintenance and part replacement over time.
Failed prints
An allowance for the jobs that don't survive.
Your time
Setup, post-processing and handling at your rate.
= Your cost floor
The number to never sell below
Set your spool price, wattage and labor rate once in the calculator's settings and it carries them into every estimate. Build your floor now
2
Add a margin that fits your channel
Margin is what turns a cost into a business. How much depends on where you sell - marketplaces take fees and put you next to competitors, so they need a bigger multiplier than a direct commission.
| Channel | Typical multiplier | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Direct / commission | 2–3x | No platform fee; trust is already there. |
| Etsy / marketplace | 3–4x | Fees + ads + price-shopping buyers. |
| Wholesale / bulk | 1.5–2x | Volume offsets the thinner margin. |
Don't forget marketplace fees
On Etsy, plan for roughly a 6.5% transaction fee, a ~3% + $0.25 payment fee, and a $0.20 listing fee - about 10–12% of the sale price gone before profit. Bake it into the multiplier, not as an afterthought.
3
Set the price
A 60 g articulated dragon, sold on Etsy. Here's the whole chain from floor to take-home.
| Material - 60 g PLA | $1.40 |
| Electricity + machine wear | $0.35 |
| Post-processing - 10 min @ $20/hr | $3.33 |
| Cost floor | $5.08 |
| × 3 margin (marketplace) | $15.24 |
| − Etsy fees (~11%) | −$1.74 |
| List at $15 → take home | $8.42 |
Round to a clean price point ($15, not $15.24) - it reads better in a listing and the rounding lands in your pocket.
Five pricing mistakes that kill margin
Forgetting your own time
Labor is usually the biggest line. Price as if your time is free and you've built a job that pays below minimum wage.
Ignoring failed prints
One failure can wipe the profit on three good sales. A failure allowance spreads that risk across every order.
Pricing per gram only
Two prints can weigh the same but take wildly different effort. Per-gram pricing undercharges anything fiddly.
Eating the marketplace fee
10–12% disappears before you see a cent. If it isn't in the multiplier, it comes straight out of profit.
Racing to the bottom
There's always someone cheaper. Competing on price alone trains buyers to expect prices that don't cover your costs. Compete on quality, finish and reliability instead.
Seller questions
How much should I charge for 3D prints on Etsy?
Start from your cost floor and multiply by 3–4× to cover Etsy's ~11% in fees, ads and competition. A print that costs you $5 to make typically lists at $15–$20.
How do I price a commissioned print?
Commissions have no platform fee, so a 2–3× multiplier works - but add any modeling or design time to the floor, since custom work usually means more of your hours up front.
Should I charge per gram or per hour?
Neither alone. Weight covers material, time covers labor - and most of your cost is labor. Price on the full cost floor, then apply a margin. Per-gram is a shortcut that undercharges detailed work.
What margin should print farms use?
High-volume operations often run leaner - 1.5–2× - because volume and batching drive the per-unit floor down. The key is keeping machine utilization high so fixed costs spread thin.
Start with your cost floor
The calculator builds the left side of the formula exactly.
Then you add the margin. Free, no sign-up..