Pricing Custom Prints
Start from the full cost, not the filament. Margin is profit as a share of the price; markup is profit as a share of the cost, so a 50 percent markup is only a 33 percent margin. Price custom work so it also pays for design time, revisions and quoting, and check what the price is worth to the buyer rather than only adding a fixed markup.
Pricing starts where Working Out What a Print Really Costs ends: with a total cost that includes labor, machine time and failures. Every number in this lesson that is not a formula is a made-up example. The Print cost calculator on the Calculators page prices by margin or by markup from your own numbers.
Margin and markup are different numbers
Both describe the same profit, divided by different things.
Profit as a share of the selling price. It is always below 100 percent.
Profit as a share of the cost. It can be any size.
Example: a print that costs 9.00 and sells for 15.00 makes 6.00 profit. That is a 40 percent margin (6 ÷ 15) and a 66.7 percent markup (6 ÷ 9). Same sale, two very different-sounding percentages.
The common mistake is to decide on a margin, then apply it as a markup. Someone who wants a 50 percent margin and adds 50 percent to cost gets only a 33 percent margin.
Getting from cost to price
Example: cost 9.00 at a 40 percent margin is 9.00 ÷ 0.60 = 15.00. As the margin approaches 100 percent the price grows without limit, which is why the calculator caps it.
Example: cost 9.00 with a 60 percent markup is 9.00 × 1.60 = 14.40.
Use the percentages as decimals: 0.40, not 40.
| Margin | Same as a markup of |
|---|---|
| 20% | 25% |
| 25% | 33.3% |
| 33.3% | 50% |
| 40% | 66.7% |
| 50% | 100% |
| 60% | 150% |
The table is arithmetic from the conversion formula, not a recommendation for what margin to use.
Do not stop at cost plus a percentage
SCORE calls setting prices purely by a fixed markup probably the most common pricing pitfall in small businesses, because such cost-plus pricing never accounts for what customers are willing to pay or the value the product gives a particular customer. Cost tells you the lowest price you can accept. It does not tell you what the work is worth to the buyer. A one-off part that fixes an expensive appliance, or a custom piece designed to a buyer's request, can be worth far more to that buyer than its material and time suggest.
What custom work adds
A custom job carries costs that a reprint of an existing file does not. Decide in advance how each one is charged:
- Design or modeling time. Often the largest cost. Charge it separately, or build it into the first unit's price.
- Revisions. State how many rounds of changes the price includes, and what further rounds cost.
- Test prints. Fit tests and proof prints use material and machine time.
- Quoting and messages. Time spent answering questions before an order is labor too.
- Setup per order. Slicing, plate preparation and material changes happen once per order whether it is one part or twenty. A minimum order or setup charge covers this.
- Rush work. Moving a job ahead of others has a cost to the others.
Put the price, what it includes, and the expected time in writing before you start. Selling Prints covers setting customer expectations.
Whose design is it?
If the buyer supplies a file, or asks for a copy of something that exists, check that the file's license or the rights holder allows you to print and sell it. Buying or downloading a model does not by itself give you the right to sell prints of it. See Model Licenses and Intellectual Property Basics.
Break-even on equipment
If you bought a printer or tools to do paid work, the SBA's break-even formula tells you how many sales recover the cost:
From the SBA. Count your labor in the variable cost, or the result pays nothing for your time. Example: 900.00 of equipment and fixed costs, with parts selling at 15.00 that cost 3.00 in material, energy and packaging plus 3.00 of labor, break even after 900 ÷ (15 − 6) = 100 parts.
Review your prices
Costs change: material, electricity, and your own speed as you get better at a kind of job. Re-run the cost calculation on your common jobs from time to time, and compare your actual failure rate and labor time with what you priced in.
- How To Think More Strategically About Pricing SCORE
- Calculate your startup costs U.S. Small Business Administration
Last reviewed 2026-11-05