How to price handmade items: a simple formula for UK makers

Pricing is where most makers go wrong, and almost always in the same direction: too low. It is easy to see why. Nobody wants to be the expensive one, and it is hard to charge for time that felt like fun. But a price that does not cover your time leaves you working for less than nothing once materials, postage and fees are paid, and it makes it impossible to grow, take on help or sell to shops later.

Here is a simple formula that works for almost any handmade product, with a worked example you can copy.

The formula

Cost = materials + time + overheads

Price before fees = cost + profit

Selling price = price before fees, adjusted for the marketplace’s fees

Each step is below.

1. Materials

Add up everything that goes into one item: the main materials, the small bits (thread, glue, jump rings, wicks), and the packaging (box, tissue, label, card, tape). Work from what you actually paid, including delivery on your supplies.

If you buy in bulk, divide the cost by how many items it makes. A 5 kg bag of wax that makes 25 candles is a fifth of a kilo per candle, not the whole bag.

2. Your time

Time the whole job: making, finishing, photographing, listing, packing and taking it to the post office. Then decide what an hour of your time is worth.

A sensible floor is the National Living Wage, which is £12.71 an hour from April 2026 for workers aged 21 and over. You would not ask someone else to make your products for less, so do not pay yourself less. If your work is skilled, slow or one of a kind, your rate should be higher.

If you make in batches, divide the batch time by the number of pieces. Twelve candles poured in two hours is ten minutes each.

3. Overheads

These are the costs of being in business that do not belong to one item: tools and their replacement, electricity for the kiln or the sewing machine, marketplace subscriptions, insurance, craft fair pitches, your phone tripod. Add up a typical month, then divide by how many items you sell in a month.

If you are just starting and have no idea, add 10% of your materials and time as a placeholder and refine it after a few months.

4. Profit

Profit is not the same as paying yourself. Your wage is in step 2. Profit is what the business keeps to buy better tools, try new products, cover a quiet month or absorb a parcel that goes missing. Somewhere between 20% and 30% of your cost is common for makers.

5. Marketplace fees

Fees are taken from the price the customer pays, so add them last. The simple way is to divide your price before fees by what you keep after fees:

• Etsy: fees and VAT on them come to roughly 15% of the order, so divide by 0.85.
• Crafter’s Market UK, Basic: 5% commission plus card fees, so divide by about 0.93.
• Crafter’s Market UK, Plus or Premium: card fees only, so divide by about 0.97.
• Your own website: your payment provider’s rate, usually 1.5% to 3%.

Our guide to Etsy fees and marketplace comparison have the details for each site.

A worked example: a hand-poured candle

These figures are for illustration. Use your own costs.

One 30cl soy candle, made in a batch of twelve.

Scroll sideways to see the whole table →

Step	Working	Amount
Materials	Wax £1.20, fragrance £0.90, wick and sticker £0.20, jar and lid £0.90	£3.20
Packaging	Box, tissue, label	£0.60
Time	15 minutes at £12.71 an hour	£3.18
Overheads	Monthly costs shared across items	£0.50
Cost		£7.48
Profit	25% of cost	£1.87
Price before fees		£9.35
On Etsy	£9.35 divided by 0.85	£11.00
On Crafter’s Market UK, Basic	£9.35 divided by 0.93	£10.05

Round to a price that looks natural, such as £11 or £12, and charge postage separately (or build it in and divide that by the same number, because fees apply to postage too).

Check against the market, then hold your nerve

Once you have a price, look at similar handmade items. Compare like with like: other independent makers, not factory-made versions from a high street chain. If yours is noticeably dearer, ask what makes it different (materials, size, finish, personalisation) and say so in your listing. If it is much cheaper, you are probably undercharging.

What not to do is cut your price to match the cheapest listing you can find. Handmade buyers are not choosing on price alone, and a very low price can make people wonder what is wrong with it.

If you might ever sell wholesale

Shops usually buy at around half the retail price, then mark it back up. If your retail price only just covers your costs, you can never sell to a shop without losing money. A retail price of at least twice your cost leaves room for wholesale later.

Ways to earn more without raising every price

• Offer a premium version: a bigger size, a gift box, personalisation.
• Make sets and bundles. Three candles for a little less than three singles, with one lot of packing and postage.
• Raise prices on new pieces first, and on bestsellers that keep selling out.
• Review your prices every year. Materials and postage go up; your prices should keep pace.

Keep it in a spreadsheet

A simple spreadsheet with one row per product and the columns from the table above takes an evening to set up, and it means you can answer “can I afford to put this in the sale?” in seconds.