Calculate product margin, markup, selling price and profit per unit. Add discounts, selling fees and extra unit costs to see what you actually keep from each sale.
Enter product cost and selling price to calculate gross margin, markup and adjusted product profit after the selling costs you choose to include.
Analyze an existing price
Set a target adjusted margin
Set a target markup
Convert margin and markup
Results
CalculatedWork out your product's margin, markup and selling price starting from what it actually costs you. You can also factor in selling fees, discounts and any extra per-unit costs, so what you get is a realistic picture of what's actually left over once a sale goes through.
Product Margin and Markup Formulas
Margin and markup both start from the same profit figure — they just measure it against different things.
Profit = Selling Price − Cost Margin = (Profit / Selling Price) × 100 Markup = (Profit / Cost) × 100
Take a product that costs $40 and sells for $60. Gross profit on that sale is $20.
Markup: ($20 / $40) × 100 = 50% Margin: ($20 / $60) × 100 = 33.33%
Notice the gap. A 50% markup sounds impressive, but it's nowhere near a 50% margin — and mixing the two up is one of the most common pricing mistakes small sellers make.
Working Out a Selling Price from Margin
If you already know what the product costs and what margin you're aiming for, the formula flips around:
Selling Price = Cost / (1 − Margin)
So a $60 product with a 40% margin target needs to sell for:
$60 / 0.60 = $100
WareStat's calculator goes a step further than the basic formula — it can fold in percentage selling fees and fixed transaction costs too, so the price it hands you already accounts for what a marketplace or payment processor will take off the top.
Working Out a Selling Price from Markup
Pricing from markup instead follows this formula:
Selling Price = Cost × (1 + Markup)
A $50 product with an 80% markup comes out to $90. The calculator also converts that back into the equivalent margin automatically, so you're never left guessing which figure you're really looking at.
Margin vs Markup — Why They're Not Interchangeable
Markup is profit measured against cost. Margin is profit measured against what the customer actually paid. Different denominators, different numbers — which is exactly why the two get confused so often.
To convert between them:
Margin = Markup / (100 + Markup) × 100 Markup = Margin / (100 − Margin) × 100
A few reference points worth keeping handy:
- 25% markup → 20% margin
- 50% markup → 33.33% margin
- 100% markup → 50% margin
- 200% markup → 66.67% margin
Don't Forget the Costs That Actually Touch Each Sale
Purchase cost alone tells an incomplete story, and it usually makes a product look more profitable than it is.
That's why the calculator also lets you add extra per-unit costs, percentage selling fees and fixed transaction costs — packaging, fulfillment, marketplace commissions, payment processing, whatever applies to your situation.
What comes out the other end is the Adjusted Product Margin: the profit that's genuinely left after those specific costs. Worth being clear about one thing, though — this isn't the same as your company's overall net profit margin. Salaries, rent, taxes and general overhead sit outside this number entirely.
How Discounts Eat Into Margin
A discount cuts revenue while cost, in most cases, stays exactly where it was.
Say a product is listed at $100 and goes out at 20% off — it sells for $80. If it still costs $50, gross profit drops from $50 down to $30. That's a real hit, and it's easy to underestimate until you see it laid out.
The calculator shows both the discounted price and the margin it produces, so you can stress-test a promotion before it ever goes live.
Finding Your Break-Even Selling Price
The break-even price is the floor — the lowest you can charge and still cover the product and selling costs you've entered.
WareStat adjusts this figure for percentage fees, fixed fees and discounts as well, which makes it genuinely useful when you're sizing up a marketplace listing, planning a promotion, or pricing something new for the first time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is margin the same as markup? No. Margin divides profit by selling price; markup divides the same profit by cost.
What markup gives a 30% margin? Roughly a 42.86% markup.
What margin does a 50% markup produce? About 33.33%.
Should shipping and marketplace fees be included? If your business pays them and they're tied to the sale, yes — leaving them out gives you a number that looks better than reality.
Can I calculate a price from a target margin? Yes. Choose Price from Margin, enter your costs and the margin you want, and the calculator works out the required selling price — accounting for percentage fees, fixed fees and discounts along the way.