The calculator What actually reaches you
what the buyer pays for the item
0 if you offer "free" shipping and absorb it
the blank + printing your provider charges you
all-in cut — Etsy ~10% (6.5% + processing), nearer 12–13% UK
flat per-sale charges — Etsy's ~£0.16 listing fee (it renews on each sale) plus the fixed part of card processing (~£0.20 UK); 0 if none
What reaches you
Where the buyer's money goes
Everything the buyer pays, split into your contribution, the platform's fee, the base cost, the provider's shipping and your refund buffer (fixed fees join the platform fee). Hover a segment for its figure, or open the table under the chart for every number.
Know your real contribution before you list — it's the number the whole of Print on Demand: Basics → runs on.
How to read it Contribution is the number the business runs on
Contribution is what a sale actually leaves you once the printer, the shipping and the platform have taken their share. It is not profit for the month — there is no rent or ad spend in it — but it is the honest per-sale reward, and every later decision (how many you must sell, what you can spend to find a buyer) runs on it.
⚠️ Charging the buyer for shipping is not free money. Notice what happens if you move £4.80 from the item price into the shipping box: the buyer still pays the same total, and the platform still takes its cut on that total — so your contribution barely moves. What actually changes it is the total the buyer pays, or your costs.
The formula, in full
Contribution = (item price + shipping you charge) − base cost − shipping you pay − refund buffer − fixed fee − platform fee. The platform fee is a percentage of the whole amount the buyer pays you (item + charged shipping), not just the item; the fixed fee is any flat per-sale charge on top of it (Etsy's listing fee, plus the fixed part of payment processing).
A worked example
A £22 tee with "free" shipping: base cost £9, you pay £4.80 shipping, a 10% platform fee, and a £0.50 buffer for the odd refund. The buyer pays £22, so the platform takes £2.20. What reaches you is £22 − £9 − £4.80 − £0.50 − £2.20 = £5.50 — about a quarter of the sticker price. Add a flat fee — Etsy's ~£0.16 listing fee, say — and the same sale nets £5.34. That is the shape of apparel print on demand, and it is why the price has to be set on purpose.
Edge cases the calculator handles
- Free vs charged shipping at the same total. £22 delivered and £17.20 + £4.80 shipping give the same contribution — because the buyer's total, and the fee on it, are the same.
- A blank or negative price shows "—" rather than a nonsense figure.
- Contribution can come out negative — that is a real answer: the product loses money at that price, and the calculator shows it in the red instead of hiding it.
Common questions
What fee percentage should I use?
Your platform's all-in figure, as a percentage. On Etsy that is roughly 10% — the 6.5% transaction fee plus payment processing, charged separately — and nearer 12–13% for a UK seller once VAT on the fees is counted. The current figures, with dates, are on the Print on Demand resources page.
What is a healthy contribution?
Working guidance for a beginner: if what reaches you is under about £4–£5 a sale, stop and rethink — change the price, the product, the base cost or the shipping — before you go further. A thin margin is not always fatal, but it makes everything downstream harder.
Can I keep a copy?
Yes — download the same calculation as a spreadsheet. It uses exactly the same formula as this calculator.
It is one tool from Print on Demand — Basics, which takes you from a blank file to one product listed safely, with its real margin known.
See the Print on Demand series →