3D print price calculator
What to charge for a print once every cost, failed print, fee and tax is paid, or what you keep at the price you charge now.
Working it out…
How this is worked out
Every cost is worked out for one sale of one item. The price you list is then the smallest one that leaves your target margin after fees and tax.
Filament = grams ÷ 1000 × price per kg
Electricity = watts ÷ 1000 × hours × price per kWh
Machine wear = hours × printer cost ÷ printing life (a straight line; add spare parts to the cost)
Failed prints = (filament + electricity + machine wear) × (1 ÷ (1 − failure rate) − 1)
Cost = filament + electricity + machine wear + failed prints + labor + packaging
Price before tax = (cost + fixed fees) ÷ (1 − margin − fee % × (1 + tax %))
Profit = price before tax − cost − fees, and margin = profit ÷ price before tax
The fee % is multiplied by (1 + tax %) only when "Fees charged on tax" is Yes; card processors usually charge on the whole amount the buyer pays. Choosing a marketplace sets it from that marketplace's own fee pages: Yes for eBay, No for Etsy (whose 6.5% transaction fee is not charged on tax, though its 3% payment fee is, so Etsy fees come out a little low when tax is added) and for Amazon Handmade. An ad fee is capped in money, as Etsy caps Offsite Ads at $100 an order.
Assumptions
- A failure rate of 5% means that on average 1 in 20 attempts is thrown away, so each good print needs 1 ÷ 0.95 = 1.053 attempts. Failed attempts are charged at the full filament, power and machine time; a print that fails early costs less, so this errs on the safe side.
- Your hands-on time is counted once per sale, not once per attempt.
- Margin is profit as a share of the price before tax. Tax collected for the government is never counted as yours.
- One item per order. If you ship several items together, spread the packaging and the fixed fees across them.
- Shipping is left out. Charge it separately, and note that Etsy's transaction fee also applies to the shipping you charge.
- Machine wear is a straight line over the printer's working life. Add spare parts by lowering the life or raising the cost.
- The marketplace presets are US rates in US dollars. In another currency they are not converted, so enter your own fees.
- The starting values for filament price, electricity price, printer cost, life, labor and failure rate are examples to show how the tool works, not research. Replace them with your own.
Preset figures and where they come from
Each figure was read on the company’s own page, checked on 15 November 2026.
| Preset | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Bambu Lab A1 | 95 W | wiki.bambulab.com |
| Bambu Lab A1 mini | 80 W | |
| Bambu Lab P1S | 105 W | |
| Bambu Lab X1 Carbon | 105 W | |
| Bambu Lab P2S | 200 W | |
| Bambu Lab H2D | 197 W | |
| Bambu Lab H2S | 200 W | |
| Bambu Lab H2C | 200 W | |
| Bambu Lab X2D | 250 W | |
| Prusa MK4S | 80 W | prusa3d.com |
| Prusa Core One | 90 W | prusa3d.com |
| Etsy: Listing fee | $0.20 per listing | help.etsy.com |
| Etsy: Transaction fee | 6.5% of item + shipping | |
| Etsy: Payment processing, US | 3% + $0.25 per order | help.etsy.com |
| Etsy: Fees on sales tax | Transaction fee: not on tax. Payment fee: on tax. Default No. | |
| Etsy + Offsite Ad 15%: Fees on sales tax | Transaction fee: not on tax. Payment fee: on tax. Default No. | |
| Etsy + Offsite Ad 12%: Fees on sales tax | Transaction fee: not on tax. Payment fee: on tax. Default No. | |
| Etsy + Offsite Ad 15%: Offsite Ads fee | 15% (shops under $10,000 a year), most $100 per order | help.etsy.com |
| Etsy + Offsite Ad 12%: Offsite Ads fee, larger shops | 12% (shops at $10,000 a year or more) | |
| eBay: Final value fee | 13.6% of the total sale, up to $7,500 per item | ebay.com |
| eBay: Per-order fee | $0.40, or $0.30 on orders of $10 or less | |
| eBay: Fees on sales tax | Charged on tax. Default Yes. | |
| Amazon Handmade: Referral fee | 15%, at least $0.30 per unit | sell.amazon.com |
| Amazon Handmade: Monthly fee | Waived after the first month ($39.99 plan) | |
| Amazon Handmade: Fees on sales tax | Not charged on tax. Default No. | sell.amazon.com |
Every preset is only a starting value. Change any field if your account, country or plan differs.
Questions sellers ask
How much should I charge for a 3D print?
Start from the break-even price, the price where every cost and fee is paid and profit is zero, then add the margin you need. With the example figures on this page, a 45 g, 2.5 hour print sold on Etsy breaks even at about $6.58 and needs about $11.79 to make a 40% margin. Then compare that with what similar items sell for. If the market price is below your break-even, the item is the problem, not your pricing.
How do I work out the electricity cost of a 3D print?
Multiply the printer’s average power in kilowatts by the print time and by your price per kWh. A Bambu Lab P1S averages 105 W printing PLA by Bambu Lab’s own figures, so a 2.5 hour print uses 0.105 × 2.5 = 0.26 kWh, about 5 cents at $0.20 per kWh. Electricity is usually the smallest cost; your time and the fees are usually the largest.
Should I include failed prints in my price?
Yes. Every failed attempt used filament, power and machine time that only your successful sales can pay for. At a 10% failure rate each good print needs 1.11 attempts on average, so the running cost rises by 11%. Use your own record: count the failures over your last 50 prints.
Do Etsy fees apply to shipping?
Yes. Etsy’s 6.5% transaction fee applies to the item price plus the shipping and gift wrap you charge, and the US payment processing fee of 3% + $0.25 applies to the whole sale. Free shipping that you build into the item price is charged the same fees. The marketplace fee calculator shows the split.
What profit margin should I aim for?
There is no single right number, and nobody has published a reliable one for 3D print sellers. Make sure the margin covers what this calculator cannot see: unpaid design time, returns, messages with buyers and the slow months. If you pay yourself an hourly rate in the labor line, a smaller margin can still be a fair living.