A walkthrough, end to end.
- 1
Enter the cost (what you pay) and the desired margin %.
- 2
The calculator returns the selling price, profit per unit, and the equivalent markup %.
- 3
Switch modes to solve for any value from any two known inputs.
Margin vs. Markup
Margin and markup are different views of the same profit. Margin is profit as a % of selling price; markup is profit as a % of cost. A 50% margin = 100% markup. The calculator handles both.
What you can do with this.
E-commerce product pricing
Cost $20, desired 40% margin → sell at $33.33. Common e-commerce target margins: 30–50% on physical products. Don't forget to subtract platform fees, shipping, and returns from your effective margin.
Retail markup pricing
Cost $40 with 100% markup → $80 retail. Retail rule of thumb: keystone pricing (100% markup) for most categories; jewelry and apparel often use 200%+ markup; grocery margins are 1–3%.
Service business pricing
Service businesses often think in margin not markup. Hourly cost (loaded labor + overhead): $40. Target 60% margin → bill at $100/hr. Include time spent on non-billable work in your cost calc.
Solving for cost from desired price
Selling at $99 with target 35% margin → cost must be ≤ $64.35. Useful when negotiating with suppliers or sourcing inventory at competitive prices.
Margin vs markup confusion
A 25% markup is only 20% margin. A 50% markup is 33% margin. A 100% markup is 50% margin. Pricing decisions made on the wrong measure routinely under-price by 10–30%.
Discount impact on margin
30% discount on a 50% margin product cuts margin to ~29%. Heavy discounting requires high baseline margin or volume gains to offset. The calculator helps quantify the trade.
Multi-tier markup (wholesale → retail)
Manufacturer cost → wholesale (100% markup) → retail (50% markup) is typical. Each tier's margin gets compounded — final retail price is 4× manufacturing cost.
Margin calculator 2026 — what's current
E-commerce platform fees (Amazon, Etsy, Shopify) eat 5–15% of revenue. Add these to 'cost' before computing target margin — many sellers forget and discover their effective margin is half what they thought.
Frequently asked.
Margin is more useful for profitability analysis (% of revenue you keep). Markup is more useful for pricing math (how to price up from cost). Most managers think in margin.
Wildly industry-dependent. Software 80%+. Restaurants 60–70%. Retail 30–50%. Grocery 20–30%. Compare against your industry, not a universal number.
Compute fully-loaded hourly cost (wages + benefits + overhead + non-billable time). Apply target margin. Common service business margin is 50–70%.
No. Calculations run entirely in your browser.