See what you can charge retailers without wiping out your profit.
Work out a wholesale price that still pays you, plus the retail price your stockists should charge.
This calculator checks whether your product can carry a bulk price. It spreads freight across an order, applies the margin you need, and shows the retail price a shop must charge to make its own margin.
It is for makers and small brands preparing a line sheet or answering a first stockist enquiry.
The wholesale price is what the stockist pays you; the suggested retail price is what their customer pays so the shop earns its margin. Profit per order shows what the whole run is worth to you.
If the suggested retail price is above what you charge direct, your own price is likely too low. Fix that first, because undercutting your stockists ends the relationship quickly.
A brand with a $13.75 delivered unit cost takes a 50-unit order at a 35% wholesale margin. Wholesale lands near $21.15, the order earns roughly $370, and a 50% retailer margin puts the shelf price around $42.
Illustrative example only — the numbers are fictional and not a recommendation.
Both sides need room to profit. If the wholesale price only works for you, the retailer will not reorder; if it only works for them, the order costs you money.
Wholesale means selling in bulk to a shop that resells your product. You give up some margin per unit in exchange for volume and someone else doing the selling. The order matters: total your true cost per unit first, add any freight you're paying spread across the order, then divide by one minus the margin you need.
Dividing rather than multiplying is the part most people get wrong. Adding 35% to your cost does not give you a 35% margin, because margin is measured against the price you charge, not the cost you paid.
Your wholesale price is what a stockist pays you. The suggested retail price is what their customer pays, calculated so the shop earns the margin it needs. Most categories settle near a keystone markup — retail is roughly double wholesale, which is a 50% retail margin.
Keep your own direct-to-customer price at or near the suggested retail price. Undercutting your stockists is the fastest way to lose them.
A minimum order quantity (MOQ) is the smallest order you'll accept. It exists because the fixed work around an order — packing, invoicing, a production run setup, freight — barely changes whether you ship 10 units or 100.
Say a unit costs $6.00 in product, $1.25 in packaging, $3.00 in labor, $1.50 in overhead and $0.50 in other costs — $12.25 per unit. You ship a 50-unit order and pay $75 in freight, which adds $1.50 per unit, so the final cost is $13.75.
At a 35% wholesale margin, your wholesale price is about $21.15, giving you roughly $7.40 of profit per unit and about $370 on the order, with $1,057 of order revenue. With a 50% retailer margin, the suggested retail price is around $42.31. Load the sample numbers above to see it live.
Many makers aim for 30–50% on wholesale. It's lower than your direct-to-customer margin because the retailer takes on the selling, but it should never dip below the point where a big order costs you money.
A store pays rent, staff, card fees and marketing out of the difference between wholesale and retail. Around 50% (a keystone markup) is the long-standing norm in most retail categories.
It's your choice. If you do, put the full freight cost in the shipping field so it's spread across the order and built into your wholesale price. If the stockist pays, enter 0.
That's a signal your retail price is too low, not that wholesale is impossible. Revisit your direct price first, then come back.
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