Soap Pricing Calculator

Turn the production cost of a bar into a retail, wholesale and premium price, with the profit at each and the margin.

Soap pricing has three answers rather than one: what you charge at a market, what a shop pays wholesale, and what a gift box or a seasonal bar can carry. This calculator starts from the cost of a bar, including your time, and returns all three prices with the profit at each, so you can see whether a wholesale order is worth accepting before you agree to it.

At a glance

What you enter: Ingredients per bar, Packaging per bar, Minutes of work per bar, Your hourly rate, Overhead per bar, Retail margin, Wholesale margin, Premium uplift
What you get: Production cost per bar, Retail price, Wholesale price, Premium price, Profit at retail, Profit at wholesale, Profit per hour at retail
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 ↓

Ingredients per bar USD

From the ingredient cost calculator, including delivery.

Packaging per bar USD

From the packaging cost calculator.

Minutes of work per bar min

Making, cutting, trimming, wrapping and labelling, divided by the bars in the batch.

Your hourly rate USD/h

Overhead per bar USD

Electricity, equipment, failed batches and samples.

Retail margin %

Wholesale margin %

Premium uplift %

How much more a gift box or a seasonal bar sells for.

Reset

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

How to use the Soap Pricing Calculator

1 Enter Ingredients per bar (USD), From the ingredient cost calculator, including delivery.
2 Enter Packaging per bar (USD), From the packaging cost calculator.
3 Enter Minutes of work per bar (min), Making, cutting, trimming, wrapping and labelling, divided by the bars in the batch.
4 Enter Your hourly rate (USD/h)
5 Enter Overhead per bar (USD), Electricity, equipment, failed batches and samples.
6 Enter Retail margin (%)
7 Enter Wholesale margin (%)
8 Enter Premium uplift (%), How much more a gift box or a seasonal bar sells for.
9 Press Calculate. You get Production cost per bar, Retail price, Wholesale price, Premium price, Profit at retail, Profit at wholesale, Profit per hour at retail, and every intermediate step stays visible under "How is this calculated?"
10 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.

A wrapped bar at a market

Ingredients of 1.00 and packaging of 0.35 a bar, six minutes of work at 15 dollars an hour and 15 cents of overhead.

You enter

Ingredients per bar: $1.00
Packaging per bar: $0.35
Minutes of work per bar: 6 min
Your hourly rate: $15.00
Overhead per bar: $0.15
Retail margin: 60%
Wholesale margin: 40%
Premium uplift: 35%

You get

Production cost per bar: $3.00
Retail price: $7.50
Wholesale price: $5.00
Premium price: $10.13
Profit at retail: $4.50
Profit at wholesale: $2.00
Profit per hour at retail: $45.00

A production cost of 3.00 gives a retail price of 7.50. At 15 dollars an hour the labour is half the cost, so a cheaper pair of hands is not the answer: a bigger batch is.

Open this example in the calculator →

A simple unwrapped bar

A plainer bar with cheaper packaging and a faster wrap, priced for a shop.

You enter

Ingredients per bar: $0.85
Packaging per bar: $0.18
Minutes of work per bar: 4 min
Your hourly rate: $12.00
Overhead per bar: $0.10
Retail margin: 55%
Wholesale margin: 45%
Premium uplift: 20%

You get

Production cost per bar: $1.93
Retail price: $4.29
Wholesale price: $3.51
Premium price: $5.15
Profit at retail: $2.36
Profit at wholesale: $1.58
Profit per hour at retail: $35.38

A production cost of 1.93 gives a retail price of about 4.29 and a wholesale price of about 3.51.

Open this example in the calculator →

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Frequently asked questions

How much should I charge for a bar of soap?

Work from cost and then check the market. A bar costing 1.60 to produce at a 60 percent margin sells for 4.00, and that is in line with a lot of handmade soap. If comparable bars near you sell for 5, your costs are comfortable. If they sell for 3, either your costs are too high, your hourly rate is generous or your margin has to come down, and it is far better to learn that before a price list is printed than after a market.

What is the difference between margin and markup?

A markup is added to cost, a margin is a share of the selling price. Doubling a 1.60 cost is a 100 percent markup but only a 50 percent margin. Once a marketplace takes commission and a card processor takes a fee, only the margin tells you what fraction of the money you keep, which is why this tool and the profit calculator both work in margins.

What should my wholesale price be?

Commonly about half of retail, which corresponds to a 40 to 50 percent margin if your production cost is low enough. If a bar costs 1.60 and a shop wants to pay 2.20, you are making 0.60 a bar for six minutes of work, which is below any sensible hourly rate. Decide the wholesale price from the arithmetic and the margin you need, then hold it, because a shop that buys at a loss-making price will order again.

Should I pay myself for the time?

Yes, even at a modest rate. Handmade soap is labour heavy: a batch of twenty four bars can take several hours once cutting, trimming and wrapping are counted. Leaving the time out means every sale quietly subsidises the customer, and it makes a wholesale price look acceptable when it is not. If the market will not pay a price that covers your time, that is a signal to change the recipe, the packaging, the batch size or the market rather than to work for free.

Why is my profit per hour higher than my hourly rate?

Because the price is set from a margin on the selling price, so it earns your time back plus a profit on top. If you price at cost plus your hourly rate alone, you have a job rather than a business: there is nothing left for equipment, failed batches, samples or growth. Compare the figure with your hourly rate to see whether the margin you chose is actually paying for the risk you carry.