Most POD calculators forget marketplace fees, so they overstate your margin by 10 to 15 points. This one includes provider base cost, shipping, subscription amortization, and Etsy, Shopify, or Amazon fees.
The reason so many print-on-demand sellers are surprised by their payout is that the obvious math leaves out the marketplace. Base cost subtracted from retail price looks like a healthy margin. Then Etsy takes a listing fee, a transaction fee calculated on the item price plus the shipping you charged, and a payment processing cut. What looked like 45% becomes 28%.
The complete formula has four cost categories:
| Cost Category | What It Includes | Typical Size |
|---|---|---|
| Base product cost | The provider's charge for the blank plus printing | $3.68 – $13.50 |
| Shipping you pay | Provider's fulfillment shipping, first item | $3.99 – $5.99 |
| Marketplace fees | Listing, transaction, and payment processing | 9.5% – 12% + fixed |
| Subscription amortized | Monthly plan cost divided by monthly orders | $0 – $2.50 per order |
Etsy is where most POD sellers start, and its fee stack is the one that most often breaks a margin assumption. Four separate charges apply to a single sale:
The Offsite Ads trap: On a $24.99 shirt with roughly $7 of margin, a 12% Offsite Ads charge on the order total takes about $3.00 — nearly half your profit on that sale. Offsite Ads only fire on attributed sales, not every order, so the practical effect is a reduction in average margin rather than a flat cost. Sellers approaching the $10,000 threshold should reprice before it becomes mandatory.
| Product | Printify (Premium) | Printful (base) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bella + Canvas 3001 tee | $9.04 | $11.69 | Printify 22.7% lower |
| Gildan basic tee | ~$7.00 | $8.17 | Printify ~14% lower |
| 11oz mug | $3.68 | $7.56 | Printify 51% lower |
| Popular tee + shipping | $15.39 | $16.19 | Printify $0.80 lower |
| Catalog size | 900+ products | ~300 products | Printify 3x wider |
| Print providers | 80+ independent | In-house only | Different tradeoff |
Figures reflect published 2026 pricing. Printify base costs vary by selected print provider; the same product can differ by several dollars between providers in the network.
Both major platforms sell a subscription that discounts base costs. Whether it pays depends entirely on your monthly order volume, and the break-even is lower than most sellers assume.
$29/month month-to-month, or about $24.99/month billed annually. Delivers roughly a 20% discount on base product costs and raises the store limit from 5 to 10. On a Bella + Canvas tee, the discount saves roughly $2.26 per unit, so break-even lands near 13 orders per month.
$24.99/month, offering up to 33% off products, 9% off branding fees such as inside labels, and 25% off sample orders. It becomes free for the following year once your store reaches $12,000 in annual sales. Break-even is roughly 10 orders per month on apparel.
Below about 10 orders per month, both subscriptions cost more than they save. New stores should validate designs on the free tier first. The exception is a seller launching with paid advertising and expecting immediate volume, where the discount applies from order one.
| Cost | Amount | When It Applies |
|---|---|---|
| Additional print placement | $2.49 – $5.25 | Back, sleeve, or pocket prints beyond the first |
| Inside label printing | $0.99 | Branded neck labels (Printful) |
| Embroidery digitization | $2.95 – $6.50 | One-time per embroidered design |
| Each additional item shipped | ~$2.00 | Multi-item orders, per extra unit |
| Plus sizes (2XL and up) | +$2.00 – $6.00 | Larger apparel sizes |
| Seasonal shipping surcharge | ~$0.40 | Peak holiday windows |
| Minnesota Retail Delivery Fee | $0.50 | Orders over $100 shipped to Minnesota |
| Sample orders | Full cost, discounted | Quality checks before launch |
Sellers offering a back print and a branded inside label on a shirt can add $3.50 to $6.00 per unit to base cost. On a $24.99 retail price, that is the difference between a workable margin and a loss once Offsite Ads fire.
A Bella + Canvas 3001 tee sold on Etsy at $24.99 with free shipping to the customer, fulfilled through Printify with a Premium subscription, 30 orders per month:
| Line Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Retail price collected | $24.99 |
| Base product cost | −$9.04 |
| Shipping you pay | −$4.69 |
| Etsy listing fee | −$0.20 |
| Etsy transaction fee (6.5%) | −$1.62 |
| Payment processing (3% + $0.25) | −$1.00 |
| Printify Premium amortized (30 orders) | −$0.83 |
| Profit per sale | $7.61 |
| Margin | 30.5% |
Now apply Offsite Ads at 12% on the $24.99 order total, which costs $3.00. Profit drops to $4.61 and margin to 18.4%. That single variable is the difference between a business that can afford to advertise and one that cannot. If a meaningful share of your sales come through Offsite Ads, price with that assumption built in rather than treating it as an occasional surprise.
Change the provider, product, retail price, and platform above to see your specific margin.
Back to Calculator →Printify base costs by product, Premium break-even math, provider-to-provider price variance, and full Etsy fee worked examples.
Read guide →Printful base prices, add-on costs, shipping tiers, Growth plan break-even, and the $12,000 free-year threshold.
Read guide →Product-by-product base cost comparison, subscription value, shipping, quality tradeoffs, and which platform wins by seller type.
Read guide →Gelato's local-production model, target margins by product category, pricing formulas, and the seller mistakes that destroy margin.
Read guide →