Show the math
Every number in the calculator comes from these nine lines. Nothing is hidden and nothing is estimated for you: change an input and the result follows the same steps.
- Pieces per sheet
- along a side = ⌊(sheet side − 2 × edge + spacing) ÷ (piece side + spacing)⌋; pieces = across × down, the better of normal and rotated 90°
- Material per piece
- sheet cost ÷ pieces per sheet ÷ (1 − waste); for blanks, blank cost ÷ (1 − waste)
- Machine cost
- (engrave min + cut min) × machine $/h ÷ 60
- Labor minutes
- handling + setup ÷ pieces per batch + design ÷ units sharing the design + run minutes × attended %
- Unit cost
- (material + hardware + machine + labor) ÷ (1 − failure rate) + packaging + overhead
- Fixed fees per item
- fixed fee per order ÷ items per order + fixed fee per item + booth fee ÷ pieces sold at the fair; Etsy: $0.25 per order + $0.20 per item
- Price before rounding
- (unit cost + fixed fees per item) ÷ (1 − fee % − target margin)
- Rounding
- retail: up to the next price ending in .99; wholesale: up to the next cent
- Effective hourly rate
- (profit + labor already in the cost) ÷ (labor minutes ÷ 60)
For sheet goods, a batch is one sheet, so the setup time is shared by every piece on it. For blanks, a batch is however many blanks you load in one setup.
Worked example: a 2×3-inch acrylic keychain
These are the calculator's default inputs: a $9.80 sheet of 1/8-inch cast acrylic, 12 × 20 inches, cut into 2 × 3-inch keychains with 1/8-inch spacing and a 1/4-inch edge margin, sold one per order.
| Step | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Pieces per sheet | Across 12": ⌊(12 − 0.5 + 0.125) ÷ 2.125⌋ = 5. Down 20": ⌊(20 − 0.5 + 0.125) ÷ 3.125⌋ = 6. Rotated gives 3 × 9 = 27. | 30 pieces |
| Material | $9.80 ÷ 30 ÷ (1 − 0.08) | $0.355 |
| Hardware | Key ring | $0.180 |
| Machine | (1.2 + 1.5) min × $1.944/h ÷ 60 | $0.087 |
| Labor minutes | 2 handling + 10 ÷ 30 setup + 15 ÷ 50 design + 2.7 × 100% attended | 5.333 min |
| Labor | 5.333 min × $25/h ÷ 60 | $2.222 |
| Failure allowance | $2.845 ÷ (1 − 0.03) − $2.845 | $0.088 |
| Packaging + overhead | $0.35 + $150 a month ÷ 200 pieces | $1.100 |
| Unit cost | $4.03 | |
| Etsy price | ($4.033 + $0.25 per order + $0.20 per item) ÷ (1 − 0.095 − 0.40) = $8.877, up to .99 | $8.99 |
| Etsy fees and profit | $8.99 × 9.5% + $0.25 + $0.20 = $1.30 in fees; $8.99 − $1.30 − $4.03 = $3.65 profit, a 40.6% margin | $3.65 |
| Effective hourly rate | ($3.653 + $2.222) ÷ (5.333 ÷ 60) | $66.10/h |
The other channels use the same unit cost. Your own site: ($4.033 + $0.30) ÷ (1 − 0.029 − 0.40) = $7.59, so $7.99. A craft fair, where the $60 booth is spread over 40 expected sales: ($4.033 + $0.15 + $1.50) ÷ (1 − 0.026 − 0.40) = $9.90, so $9.99. Wholesale: $4.033 ÷ (1 − 0.30) = $5.761, rounded up to the cent, $5.77. Wholesale isn't rounded to .99 because the shop buying it sets its own retail price.
Four products from the same shop
Same labor rate, machine rate and margins, four very different products. Switch the calculator to Blanks to reproduce the board and the tumbler.
| Product | Material | Labor | Unit cost | Etsy price | $/h on Etsy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acrylic keychain 2×3" | $9.80 sheet, 30 per sheet | 5.3 min | $4.03 | $8.99 | $66.10 |
| Birch ornament 3.5" | $3.50 sheet, 15 per sheet | 5.5 min | $3.98 | $8.99 | $65.39 |
| Walnut cutting board | $14.50 blank | 29.5 min | $31.78 | $63.99 | $77.23 |
| 20 oz tumbler (rotary) | $6.50 blank | 19.3 min | $17.28 | $35.99 | $71.06 |
The cutting board is the clearest case for counting attended time: 18 minutes of engraving is 18 minutes of your labor, which is why its labor comes to 29.5 minutes and $12.29 per board, nearly as much as the $14.50 walnut blank itself.
Why the laser's run time is billed as your time
That's why attended run time defaults to 100%. Set it to 0% and the keychain's cost falls from $4.03 to $2.87 and its Etsy price from $8.99 to $6.99, but you still spent the 2.7 minutes beside the machine. If you do other paid work right next to the running laser, such as packing the previous batch, you can lower the percentage to reflect that. Stay with the machine either way.
Where laser prices usually go wrong
- Pricing on engrave time alone. The keychain's laser runs for 2.7 minutes, but the piece takes 5.3 minutes of your time once handling, setup and design are counted.
- Catalog design math on one-off custom work. Spread over 50 sales, 15 minutes of design adds $0.13 to each keychain. On a one-off design (units sharing the design = 1) it adds $6.25, and the Etsy price becomes $21.99. Quote custom work as its own job.
- Forgetting Etsy's fixed fees. The $0.25 processing fee is charged on every order and the $0.20 listing renewal on every item sold. On a one-keychain $8.99 order those two alone are 5% of the price. Set items per order above 1 and the $0.25 is shared, the $0.20 is not.
- Ignoring Offsite Ads. Etsy charges 15% on orders one of its ads brought in. If 20% of your Etsy orders come from ads, enter 20 in section D: the blended Etsy fee rises from 9.5% to 12.5%, the keychain's margin at $8.99 falls to 37.6%, and $9.99 restores it.
- Underestimating the craft-fair booth. A $60 booth spread over 40 sales is $1.50 a piece, more than four times the keychain's acrylic. If you sell 20 instead of 40, it doubles to $3.00.
- Wholesale as half of retail. Half of $8.99 is $4.50, barely above the $4.03 cost. Price wholesale from cost at a wholesale margin instead: $5.77 here.
Glowforge, xTool or OMTech: does the machine change the price?
The brand changes two inputs: how many minutes a job takes and what the machine costs per hour. A faster laser shortens engrave and cut time, which lowers both machine cost and attended labor. The hourly machine cost itself is usually small. At $1.944 an hour, the keychain's 2.7 minutes of run time cost $0.087, about 2% of its cost; its labor is 55%. If you've never worked out your machine's rate, the laser engraver cost per hour calculator does it from purchase price, tube or module life, maintenance and electricity.