Print on demand profit calculator
Enter the base cost and shipping your print provider charges you, what you charge the buyer, and where you sell. You get profit per sale after platform fees and ads, and the lowest price that doesn't lose money.
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Base cost and provider shipping are inputs because they depend on your provider, product, print method and destination; nothing here is a quoted provider price. Fee defaults are US rates as of October 2026: Etsy 6.5% transaction + 3% + $0.25 processing + $0.20 listing; Shopify Basic 2.9% + $0.30 (the monthly plan fee is not included). Sales tax and VAT are left out.
That's one product. Which of yours lose money?
The Seller Profit Sheet does this math for every product at once. Paste your Etsy or Shopify sales export (or type in Amazon and eBay sales) and it shows net profit per product after fees, labels, discounts, returns and ad spend, with a red LOSING MONEY flag on anything underwater. Excel and Google Sheets, one-time $14, no subscription.
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Where the money goes on a POD sale
On a print on demand sale you pay twice before you see a cent: the provider charges the base cost for printing the item and a separate shipping charge to send it, and the platform takes its fee on everything the buyer paid, shipping included. Ads, if you run them, come out of what is left.
Profit = item price + shipping charged - platform fees - base cost - POD shipping - ad cost
Break-even price = (base cost + POD shipping + ad cost + fixed fee) / (1 - fee %) - shipping charged
A worked example
A t-shirt sells on Etsy for $25 plus $5 shipping. The buyer pays $30.00, so Etsy's fees are $3.30. The provider charges $12.50 for the shirt and $4.75 to ship it. Profit is $9.45 per sale, 31.5% of what the buyer paid. The break-even item price is $14.56: below that, every sale loses money.
Now add ads. If you spend $6.00 in ads for each sale, profit drops to $3.45, and the break-even price jumps to $21.19. Track ad spend per sale, not per day, or you won't see this happen.
The same shirt on Shopify Basic costs $1.17 in card fees, for $11.58 profit and a $13.07 break-even, but you pay the monthly plan and you bring your own traffic.
The shipping gap
Many POD sellers charge less shipping than the provider bills them, or offer free shipping, and forget to put the difference into the item price. Moving shipping into the price doesn't change the fee, since Etsy charges on the total either way: $30 with free shipping and $25 + $5 shipping both leave $9.45. What loses money is charging $3 shipping on a $4.75 label without raising the price. The calculator flags that gap.
Questions
How much profit do you make on print on demand?
It depends almost entirely on your price. A $25 shirt with $5 shipping, a $12.50 base cost and $4.75 provider shipping makes $9.45 on Etsy before ads. At $6.00 of ad spend per sale it makes $3.45.
What is the lowest price I can charge?
Add base cost, provider shipping, ad cost per sale and the platform's fixed fee, divide by 1 minus the platform's percentage, and subtract the shipping you charge. For the example shirt on Etsy that is $14.56.
Should I offer free shipping on print on demand products?
You can, as long as you add the shipping to the item price. Etsy's fees apply to the order total either way, so a $30 shirt with free shipping makes the same $9.45 as a $25 shirt with $5 shipping.
Is Shopify cheaper than Etsy for print on demand?
Per sale, yes: $1.17 in card fees against $3.30 on Etsy for a $30 order. But Shopify adds a monthly plan fee and no marketplace traffic, so you usually pay for visitors with ads instead. Put that ad spend per sale in the calculator to compare honestly.