How to Price Laser Engraving: Formula, Fee Math and a Price Sheet Template

The formula: add up everything a single order costs you, add the profit you want, then divide by one minus the percentage fees of the place you sell. Then compare the result with what buyers actually pay for similar products, and go higher if the value supports it. Cost sets your floor; value sets your ceiling.

Price = (materials + packaging + labor + machine time + overhead + remake allowance + fixed fees + target profit) ÷ (1 − percentage fees)

Step 1: Count every cost (the floor)

Total cost in this example: $19.13.

The Etsy Seller Handbook uses the same building blocks: supplies + overhead + labor gives your break-even price, and overhead includes things like equipment and Etsy fees.

Why a machine-hour charge?

Your laser wears out and eventually needs replacing. Divide what you paid by the hours you expect to use it. For example: $1,299 ÷ (2 years × 500 hours) ≈ $1.30 per hour. It’s small per order, but it keeps you from pricing as if the machine were free. It also reminds you that a 60-minute job blocks the machine from other orders.

Step 2: Add the fees the right way

Fees are a percentage of the selling price, not of your cost. That’s why you divide instead of adding a percentage on top.

Notes: Etsy also charges optional/mandatory Offsite Ads (12–15% of attributed orders, capped at $100) and 2.5% currency conversion when your listing and bank currencies differ. Faire charges on the wholesale price and adds a one-time $10 fee for each new retailer. Shopify doesn’t bring shoppers, so your marketing cost comes on top.

Common mistake: adding 9.5% on top

In the board example below, cost + fixed fees + profit = $31.58. Add 9.5% on top and you get $34.58. But Etsy takes 9.5% of that whole price, which is $3.29, so you end up about $0.29 short of your target. Dividing by 0.905 fixes that.

Step 3: Worked example, the bamboo cutting board

Cost $19.13 + target profit $12.00:

Shipping is charged separately in this example. On Etsy, the percentage fees also apply to the shipping you charge, so a $10 shipping charge costs you about $0.95 in fees. Either charge slightly more than the label or accept that cost.

Step 4: Time-based vs value-based pricing

The Etsy Seller Handbook calls these top-down (costs + margin) and bottom-up (research what buyers will pay, then work back to costs). Do both: cost sets the floor, and the market decides how far above it you can go.

The 4-to-6× rule of thumb

Blank supplier MakerFlo publishes a rule of thumb: sell finished laser products at 4 to 6 times the blank cost. For our $9.95 board that’s $39.80–$59.70, above the formula’s $35. That gap suggests room to price higher if your photos, design and service support it. The rule breaks down for cheap blanks with long engraving times (a $1.16 slate photo coaster that takes 20 minutes) and for expensive blanks (a $39.95 charcuterie board at 4× is $160). Use it as a check, never as the formula.

Step 5: Bulk and corporate pricing

Corporate buyers usually pay by invoice or card on your own site, so there’s no marketplace commission. Here’s how tiers might look for the board, based on a direct price of $35 and Shopify card fees (2.9% + $0.30). Blank prices drop at MakerFlo’s listed 10% (25+) and case tiers; batching cuts hands-on time (our assumption).

Wholesale to shops

If a store will resell your products, the Etsy Seller Handbook suggests wholesale = break-even × 2 or more and retail = wholesale × 2 or more (keystone pricing). Faire, for example, takes a 15% commission on marketplace orders. If your wholesale price can’t clear your costs at that point, that product isn’t a wholesale product.

Price sheet template

Copy this structure into a spreadsheet. Numbers below use our assumptions ($25.00/hour labor, $1.30/machine-hour, 5% remake allowance) and Etsy fees; blank prices come from MakerFlo, BulkLaser, IdentificationTags.com and CraftedSupplies (see sources).

Notice the last three rows: for cheap blanks, the 4× rule gives a price below the full cost of your time. Low-cost blanks need time-based pricing, or bundles that spread the fixed time across several pieces.

When to raise your prices

• You’re booked out more than two weeks ahead.
• Buyers rarely ask for discounts or compare you with cheaper listings.
• Your actual minutes per order are higher than your estimate.
• Blank or shipping costs went up. Etsy notes you can change prices anytime, but misleading “sale” prices based on fake original prices break its rules.

Next steps: plug your own numbers into the pricing calculator, see the full Etsy fee breakdown, and check whole-business profit in Is laser engraving profitable?.