Methodology & assumptions
POD Price Lab is designed to estimate transaction-level profit for U.S. print-on-demand sellers. It is a planning tool, not accounting, tax, or legal advice.
Etsy baseline
The V1 calculator models a $0.20 listing fee, 6.5% transaction fee, U.S. Etsy Payments processing of 3% + $0.25, and optional Offsite Ads at 12% or 15%. The calculator models one item per order and does not attempt to predict every tax- or order-specific charge.
Shopify baseline
V1 assumes Shopify Payments and standard online-card rates selected by plan. It does not allocate the monthly Shopify subscription, apps, advertising, premium/international-card surcharges, chargebacks, or other fixed and optional business costs to an order.
Production presets
Provider presets are starting-point convenience values only. Printify and Printful costs can differ by provider, product variant, print placement, membership plan, destination, and other factors. Every production and shipping field is editable.
Printful Growth discounts vary by product. POD Price Lab does not assume a universal Growth discount; users should enter the actual discounted product price shown in their Printful account.
Sales and reverse pricing
When a seller enters a desired profit, the calculator solves backward for the list price needed after the selected discount, marketplace fees, production cost, fulfillment shipping, and customer shipping charge. The display then rounds upward to a .99-style price so the recommended list price does not undershoot the target.
Important limitations
- USD and U.S. seller assumptions only in V1.
- One item per order.
- No income tax, sales-tax remittance modeling, currency conversion, refunds, returns, advertising spend, or bookkeeping overhead.
- Actual marketplace and provider charges control if they differ from calculator assumptions.
Last reviewed: September 2026.