How to calculate your real margin on a 3D printed product

The starting point is the production price of the part. It starts from our cost price: €1.67 of labour per part, the material actually printed (walls and infill) and machine time, depending on the print quality chosen. This cost is multiplied by 3, with a cap: shipping included, the price never exceeds 90% of what the part would cost someone printing it at home.

This figure is reliable because it does not depend on a print run: it is calculated from the file, the material, the infill and the print quality. The pricing is explained in detail in how the price of a part is calculated.

Until you have this number, you are not calculating a margin, you are hoping for one. Set it first, before you even pick a selling price.

Let's take a concrete case: our reference bedside lamp, in PLA, with standard infill and standard quality. Production comes to €14.64 per unit, not counting the assembly of components.

This lamp sells for around €39.90 in an online shop. On paper, the difference is €25.26, a gross margin of about 63%. That is the figure that makes people get started, and it is the one that will shrink over the next paragraphs.

What follows is removing, one by one, the lines the spreadsheet forgets.

Direct shipping to the end customer costs €5.87 excl. VAT, box included, in an unbranded package under your shop's name, with tracking sent back to the shop. Shipping to the seller costs €6.90.

If you advertise free shipping, that €5.87 comes out of your margin: €19.39 is left on the lamp. If you charge the customer for it, the displayed price goes up to €45.77 and the conversion rate drops. Both choices can be defended, but they have to be made before the listing goes live.

Shipping to the seller adds up two trips: one from the workshop to you, then yours to the customer. That is why direct shipping is the main offer. The full process is described on the production page.

A marketplace takes a cut of every sale. Your own website avoids the fee but adds hosting, payment fees and above all traffic acquisition, which is not free either.

The right habit is to use the exact fee schedule of your channel, payment fees included, and apply it to the selling price including VAT. A rough percentage is enough to throw the calculation off by several euros.

The specifics of online shops are covered in selling 3D printed products on Etsy.

If you are registered for VAT, the €39.90 displayed is a price including VAT: the VAT is not yours. Reason in amounts excluding VAT on both sides, for the selling price as well as the production cost.

The classic mistake is comparing a production cost excluding VAT with a selling price including VAT. The resulting gap is mechanically too favorable, and the illusion lasts until the first tax return.

If you are under the VAT exemption scheme, the question does not arise as long as you stay below the threshold. Check your tax status before building your price list, not after.

A product that sells well generates some returns, lost parcels and goodwill gestures. These incidents do not fall on the average sale, they fall on the month: set aside a percentage rather than handling them case by case.

There are also the photos, the product page, replies to messages, and possibly test copies before the model is approved. A prototype printed once is still a paid order.

Finally, if the product needs assembly (bulb, socket, screws), you request it in the production note and the workshop confirms the price before starting. Include that amount in the cost before setting your price.

The first lever is the part itself. The material counted follows the walls and the infill: light infill instead of standard brings the reference lamp from €14.64 down to €14.22, and draft quality brings it to €14.07. Choose the setting that is enough for the use, not the highest one.

The second is the quantity ordered: 3% off from 10 parts, 6% off from 50, 10% off from 200. Reaching a tier takes cash flow, but the discount applies with no time commitment.

The third is lead time. Express in 3 business days adds 30% to production; standard in 7 business days costs nothing extra. Keeping express for the cases that justify it avoids eroding the margin out of habit.

A margin is never a given. Fees change, shipping changes, the product changes. Going over the calculation every quarter takes an hour and keeps you from finding out after six months that a product is losing money.

Also keep the tipping point in mind: when volumes become large, printing is no longer the most economical process and plastic injection molding becomes relevant. Bobitech offers it as well.

To rework your figures, the pricing page gives the current rates and the simulator calculates the price of a part from your file. If you are just starting out, the overall reasoning is laid out in selling without buying a printer.