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Handcraft

Jewelry Pricing Calculator

Turn the cost of making one piece of jewellery into a break even price, a retail price and the wholesale and premium prices that follow from it.

Jewelry Making
Pricing handmade jewellery is the point where most makers either undercharge for years or guess a number and hope. This calculator starts from what the piece actually costs you, including your own time at a rate you choose, then works out the lowest price that does not lose money once selling fees are taken, and the price that pays you the margin you asked for. It also shows the wholesale price a shop will ask for and a premium price for a gift boxed or limited piece, so you can see all three before anyone negotiates with you.

At a glance

What you enter
Material cost per piece, Time to make one piece, What your time is worth per hour, Packaging cost, Shipping you absorb, Marketplace commission, Payment processing, Target profit margin, Wholesale as a share of retail, Premium uplift
What you get
Lowest safe price (break even), Suggested retail price, Estimated profit per piece, Wholesale price scenario, Premium price scenario
Formula shown
Yes, every step, right below your results.
Cost and privacy
Free, no account needed, and nothing you type is stored.

See worked examples ↓ Read the FAQ ↓ Share this calculator ↓

Metals, findings, stones and any consumables used up on this piece.

Box, pouch, polishing cloth, care card and the outer mailer if you post it.

Leave at zero if the buyer pays postage in full.

Etsy and similar handmade marketplaces commonly charge between 6.5 and 15 percent of the order total.

Card processing is usually around 3 percent. Your own gateway statement is the figure to use.

A share of the selling price, not a markup on cost. Handmade jewellery commonly targets 35 to 50 percent.

The trade convention is about half of retail.

Applied to the suggested retail price for gift boxed, limited or seasonal pieces.

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Results are estimates for general information only, always verify with a professional or official source before acting on them.

How to use the Jewelry Pricing Calculator

  1. 1 Enter Material cost per piece (USD), Metals, findings, stones and any consumables used up on this piece.
  2. 2 Enter Time to make one piece (hours)
  3. 3 Enter What your time is worth per hour (USD/hr)
  4. 4 Enter Packaging cost (USD), Box, pouch, polishing cloth, care card and the outer mailer if you post it.
  5. 5 Enter Shipping you absorb (USD), Leave at zero if the buyer pays postage in full.
  6. 6 Enter Marketplace commission (%), Etsy and similar handmade marketplaces commonly charge between 6.5 and 15 percent of the order total.
  7. 7 Enter Payment processing (%), Card processing is usually around 3 percent. Your own gateway statement is the figure to use.
  8. 8 Enter Target profit margin (%), A share of the selling price, not a markup on cost. Handmade jewellery commonly targets 35 to 50 percent.
  9. 9 Enter Wholesale as a share of retail (%), The trade convention is about half of retail.
  10. 10 Enter Premium uplift (%), Applied to the suggested retail price for gift boxed, limited or seasonal pieces.
  11. 11 Press Calculate. You get Lowest safe price (break even), Suggested retail price, Estimated profit per piece, Wholesale price scenario, Premium price scenario, and every intermediate step stays visible under "How is this calculated?"
  12. 12 Change one number at a time to see what moves the result, that is usually the most useful thing a calculator can tell you.

Worked examples

Real numbers run through this calculator. Open any example to load it into the form above and change it.

Sterling silver pendant on a marketplace

Twelve dollars of silver and stones, an hour and a half at twenty dollars an hour, two dollars of packaging, ten percent platform commission and a forty percent target margin.

You enter

Material cost per piece
$12.00
Time to make one piece
1.50 hours
What your time is worth per hour
$20.00
Packaging cost
$2.00
Shipping you absorb
$0.00
Marketplace commission
10%
Payment processing
3%
Target profit margin
40%
Wholesale as a share of retail
50%
Premium uplift
40%

You get

Lowest safe price (break even)
$50.57
Suggested retail price
$93.62
Estimated profit per piece
$37.45
Wholesale price scenario
$46.81
Premium price scenario
$131.06

Production cost is 44 dollars, so the price that keeps a 40 percent margin after fees lands near 94 dollars.

Open this example in the calculator →

Beaded bracelet sold at a stall

Four dollars of beads and findings, forty minutes at fifteen dollars an hour, one dollar of packaging, no platform commission and a 45 percent margin.

You enter

Material cost per piece
$4.00
Time to make one piece
0.67 hours
What your time is worth per hour
$15.00
Packaging cost
$1.00
Shipping you absorb
$0.00
Marketplace commission
0%
Payment processing
3%
Target profit margin
45%
Wholesale as a share of retail
50%
Premium uplift
25%

You get

Lowest safe price (break even)
$15.47
Suggested retail price
$28.86
Estimated profit per piece
$12.99
Wholesale price scenario
$14.43
Premium price scenario
$36.07

At a stall the only fee is card processing, so the price is much closer to the cost than an online listing.

Open this example in the calculator →

Gold filled earrings with wholesale interest

Thirty dollars of gold filled wire and ear wires, two hours at twenty five dollars an hour, three dollars of packaging and a 40 percent margin.

You enter

Material cost per piece
$30.00
Time to make one piece
2 hours
What your time is worth per hour
$25.00
Packaging cost
$3.00
Shipping you absorb
$0.00
Marketplace commission
6.50%
Payment processing
3%
Target profit margin
40%
Wholesale as a share of retail
50%
Premium uplift
30%

You get

Lowest safe price (break even)
$91.71
Suggested retail price
$164.36
Estimated profit per piece
$65.74
Wholesale price scenario
$82.18
Premium price scenario
$213.66

Check that the wholesale figure still covers the gold filled materials before you agree to a trade order.

Open this example in the calculator →

Guides that go with it

How to Measure Beads and Jewelry Materials Correctly

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How Much Yarn Do You Need for a Blanket?

Yarn math is the part of blanket making nobody warns you about. Run out at row 180 of 200 and you have a problem: dye lots rarely match perfectly, and a substitute yarn can change how the whole thing...

Standard Paper Sizes for Crafts and Handmade Projects

If you are pricing a paper project, the honest headline is this: most small handmade paper projects cost somewhere between a few dollars and about $30 in materials, and a bigger run of cards, journals...

Frequently asked questions

How much should I charge for a handmade necklace?
Work from the cost, not from the price of a similar necklace in a shop. If a piece uses twelve dollars of silver and stones, takes an hour and a half at twenty dollars an hour and needs two dollars of packaging, it costs forty four dollars in materials, time and packaging. With ten percent platform commission and a three percent processing fee, the lowest safe price is about fifty one dollars, and a forty percent margin puts the retail price near ninety four dollars. If comparable necklaces near you sell for sixty, the piece is not overpriced, the market is a mismatch, and either the design, the materials or the venue has to change.
What is the difference between margin and markup?
A markup is added to the cost and a margin is a share of the selling price, and they give very different numbers. Doubling a fifty dollar cost is a hundred percent markup but only a fifty percent margin. Once a marketplace and a card processor take their share of the sale, only the margin tells you what fraction of the money you actually keep, which is why this calculator asks for a margin and puts the fees in the same denominator.
Should I include my own time in the cost of a piece?
Yes, at a rate you would accept for the same hours doing something else. Labour is usually the largest single cost in a handmade piece, and leaving it out means every sale pays you nothing for the bench time. If the resulting price will not sell in your market, that is useful information about the design, the materials or the venue, and it is far better learned before you make twenty of them.
What should my wholesale price be?
The trade convention is about half of retail, because the shop has to double what it pays you to cover its own costs and margin. At a ninety four dollar retail price the wholesale figure is about forty seven dollars, so a production cost of forty four dollars leaves only three dollars per piece. If half of retail does not leave a real profit, raise the retail price rather than accepting a wholesale order that only breaks even.
Why did the price rise so much when I added the marketplace fee?
Ten percent commission and three percent processing take 13 percent of the price, so a forty percent margin needs half of the selling price to be yours after the piece is paid for. The production cost of forty four dollars therefore divides by 0.47 rather than by 0.60, and the retail price lands near ninety four dollars instead of the seventy three dollars a margin applied to cost alone would give.

More money questions answered →

Terms used here

Short, plain-language definitions of the words this calculator uses.

Findings The small metal components that hold a piece of jewellery together: jump rings, clasps, ear wires, head pins, eye pins, crimp beads and bead caps.Findings are usually a small... Profit margin Profit expressed as a share of the SELLING PRICE. Troy ounce The unit precious metals are priced in, equal to about 31.1 grams. Wholesale price The price a maker charges a shop, which then sells at retail.

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