Soap Profit Calculator

Profit per bar and per batch after marketplace and payment fees, with the margin, the break even price and the effective hourly earnings.

Soap Making

A selling price is not what you keep. Marketplace commission, payment processing and a fixed fee per order all come off the top before the money reaches you. This calculator shows the fee on each sale, the profit per bar and across the batch, the margin, the lowest price that still covers the cost after fees, and what the work actually pays per hour once everything is counted.

At a glance

What you enter: Selling price per bar, Your cost per bar, Bars in the batch, Bars in a typical order, Marketplace commission, Payment processing, Fixed fee per order, Hours the batch takes
What you get: Profit per bar, Profit margin, Revenue for the batch, Fees on the batch, Cost of the batch, Profit on the batch, Effective earnings per hour, Break even price
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 ↓

Selling price per bar USD

Your cost per bar USD

From the pricing calculator, including ingredients, packaging, your time and overhead.

Bars in the batch bars

Bars in a typical order bars

Marketplace commission %

Payment processing %

Fixed fee per order USD

The flat part of the payment fee, which is why a multi bar order is more profitable per bar.

Hours the batch takes h

Making, cutting, wrapping and admin for the whole batch.

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 Profit Calculator

1 Enter Selling price per bar (USD)
2 Enter Your cost per bar (USD), From the pricing calculator, including ingredients, packaging, your time and overhead.
3 Enter Bars in the batch (bars)
4 Enter Bars in a typical order (bars)
5 Enter Marketplace commission (%)
6 Enter Payment processing (%)
7 Enter Fixed fee per order (USD), The flat part of the payment fee, which is why a multi bar order is more profitable per bar.
8 Enter Hours the batch takes (h), Making, cutting, wrapping and admin for the whole batch.
9 Press Calculate. You get Profit per bar, Profit margin, Revenue for the batch, Fees on the batch, Cost of the batch, Profit on the batch, Effective earnings per hour, Break even price, 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.

Twenty four bars online

A 6.50 bar costing 3.00 to produce, sold in orders of two, with 9.4 percent in fees and a 30 cent fixed fee.

You enter

Selling price per bar: $6.50
Your cost per bar: $3.00
Bars in the batch: 24
Bars in a typical order: 2
Marketplace commission: 6.50%
Payment processing: 2.90%
Fixed fee per order: $0.30
Hours the batch takes: 2.50 h

You get

Profit per bar: $2.74
Profit margin: 42.1%
Revenue for the batch: $156.00
Fees on the batch: $18.26
Cost of the batch: $72.00
Profit on the batch: $65.74
Effective earnings per hour: $26.29
Break even price: $3.48

About 2.74 profit a bar and roughly 66 dollars for the batch, which is about 26 dollars an hour for the work.

Open this example in the calculator →

A market stall of forty bars

A lower price at a market with no marketplace commission but a card reader fee.

You enter

Selling price per bar: $5.50
Your cost per bar: $3.00
Bars in the batch: 40
Bars in a typical order: 2
Marketplace commission: 0%
Payment processing: 2.60%
Fixed fee per order: $0.10
Hours the batch takes: 4 h

You get

Profit per bar: $2.31
Profit margin: 41.9%
Revenue for the batch: $220.00
Fees on the batch: $7.72
Cost of the batch: $120.00
Profit on the batch: $92.28
Effective earnings per hour: $23.07
Break even price: $3.13

About 2.21 a bar even without commission, because the price is lower. The stall fee is not included and comes off the batch profit.

Open this example in the calculator →

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Frequently asked questions

How much profit do I make on a bar of soap?

It depends on the price, the cost and the fee. At a 6.50 selling price, a 3.00 production cost including your time and about 9.4 percent in fees plus 15 cents, you keep roughly 2.74 a bar, which is a margin near 42 percent. Across twenty four bars that is about 66 dollars before tax and any stall costs. Put your own numbers in above, because a small change in cost moves the margin quickly.

Why is my margin lower than the price suggests?

Because fees come off the selling price rather than off your profit. A 6.50 bar with 9.4 percent in fees loses about 0.61 before any of your costs are counted, so the fee takes about 22 percent of the profit rather than 9 percent. The usual fix is to price the fee into the bar rather than absorb it from the margin, and to encourage orders of more than one bar so the fixed fee is spread further.

What is a break even price and why does it matter?

It is the lowest price at which a sale covers the bar and the fees. Below it, every sale costs you money even though the bank balance rises for a moment. It matters most before a sale event or a discount code, because a percentage discount and a percentage fee stack in a way that is easy to miss when you are busy, and it is possible to price below break even without noticing.

Do marketplace fees apply to postage?

On most platforms commission applies to the order total including whatever the buyer pays for postage, so an offer of free postage usually comes out of your margin. Check the current fee schedule for your platform and treat postage, packaging and refunds as separate costs, because this calculator models the sale itself rather than the whole running of the business.

What is a good effective hourly rate for handmade soap?

That depends on what else you could do with the time, but a figure below the minimum wage is a warning rather than a season. Soap is labour heavy, so the levers are batch size, packaging simplicity and price rather than speed alone. Run a bigger batch through this calculator and watch the hourly figure: the making time barely changes while the profit line grows, which is the whole argument for batching.