Product Margin Calculator
Your product margin is rarely what the supplier quote says. Subtract payment processing, ad spend amortization, platform fees, and fulfillment, and the real margin is what's left. This calculator does the honest math.
- Retail
- $30.00
- – Product + shipping
- $8.00
- – Stripe fee
- $1.17
- – Platform fee
- $0.90
- – Ad spend
- $5.00
- Net margin per sale
- $14.93 (49.8%)
What eats your margin
Product cost (supplier price + shipping to you).
Payment processing (typically 2.9% + 30¢ on Stripe in the US).
Platform fees (3% on instxnt Free, 0% on instxnt Pro at $19/mo; 6.5% on Etsy; 10% on Gumroad; 9% on Beacons free; 2-3% on Shopify Payments + $39/mo).
Ad spend amortized per sale (test budget ÷ conversions).
Fulfillment costs (POD production, dropshipping shipping, your own shipping if applicable).
A worked example
$30 retail product, $8 supplier cost via CJ Dropshipping. Stripe takes ~$1.17 per sale. Ads cost $5 per conversion. Net before platform fee: $30 − $8 − $1.17 − $5 = $15.83 per sale.
On instxnt Free (3% platform fee): subtract $0.90 per sale. Net margin: ~$14.93.
On instxnt Pro ($19/mo, 0% fee): no platform fee per sale, but subtract the subscription amortized at 50 sales/mo = $0.38/sale. Net margin: ~$15.45. Pro overtakes Free at ~$30 product / 30+ sales/mo.
On Shopify Basic ($39/mo): no per-sale platform fee on Shopify Payments, subscription amortized at 50 sales/mo = $0.78/sale. Net margin: ~$15.05. Pro is cheaper than Shopify on monthly cost ($19 vs $39) and no different on per-sale fees.
On Etsy: subtract Etsy fees (~$2.80 on $30) instead of platform fee. Net margin: ~$13.03. Plus you can't run your own ads as effectively to an Etsy listing.
On Gumroad: 10% platform = $3 per sale. Net margin: ~$12.83.
Frequently asked
What's a "good" margin?
Depends on volume. For low-volume / high-AOV products, 30–50% net margin is common. For high-volume / low-AOV (POD t-shirts), 15–25% net margin is typical.
Should I include my time?
Yes if you're evaluating whether to keep doing this. The calculator focuses on cash margin; opportunity cost of your time is up to you.
How does instxnt change the margin math?
On Free: no monthly subscription, just a 3% platform fee per sale. On Pro: $19/mo flat, no per-sale platform fee. At low-to-medium volume Free is cheaper; once Pro's amortized monthly drops below the 3% per-sale fee (typically ~30-50 sales/mo at $30 ASP), Pro wins.
Skip the math, ship the storefront
Free for unlimited storefronts. Stripe-only fees on the free plan.
See pricing