Craft fair and marketplace fee calculator

Marketplace fees and booth costs eat into handmade profits. This calculator works out the price to list at so you keep a set amount after percentage and flat fees, or how many items you need to sell at a craft fair to cover your booth and travel, and to pay yourself too.

How to use the calculator

1. Online: enter what you want to keep per sale, the marketplace and payment processing percentages, and any flat fees per sale. Check your platform's current fee page; fees change.
2. Craft fair: enter the booth, table and travel cost, your price per item, the card reader fee, the materials per item and, optionally, your labour per item.

How the calculator works

Percentage fees are taken from the whole price, so the price has to be grossed up:

Listing price = (amount to keep + flat fees) ÷ (1 − marketplace % − payment %)

Fees taken = listing price − amount to keep

At a fair, each sale keeps the price after the card fee, less the materials:

Kept per sale = price × (1 − card fee)

Sales to cover costs = booth cost ÷ (kept per sale − materials), rounded up

Sales to also pay your labour = booth cost ÷ (kept per sale − materials − labour), rounded up

Reading your results

• Online: the price to list at, the fees taken (and their share of the price) and what you keep.
• Craft fair: sales to cover costs and to also pay your labour, each with the takings, and what you keep per sale after the card fee.

Worked examples

• Online: to keep $50 after a 6.5% marketplace fee, a 3% payment fee and $0.45 of flat fees, list at ($50 + $0.45) ÷ 0.905 = $55.75. The fees take $5.75, 10.3% of the price.
• Craft fair: a $180 booth, selling $30 plushies with a 2.6% card fee and $5.22 of materials each. Each sale keeps $29.22, or $24 after materials, so you need 8 sales ($240 taken) to cover the booth, or 15 ($450 taken) to also pay $12 of labour on each.

Accuracy and limits

• The arithmetic is exact and covered by our automated tests, on the fees you enter. The default fee values are only examples; use your platform's current fees.
• Shipping, taxes and optional extras such as offsite advertising are not included. Add an advertising fee to the marketplace percentage to test the worst case.
• Cash sales skip the card fee, so the real fair break-even may be a little lower.

Common mistakes

1. Adding the fee percentage to the price. Fees are taken from the higher price too, so adding 10% to your price leaves you short. Divide, as the calculator does.
2. Forgetting flat fees. Listing and transaction fees per sale matter most on cheap items.
3. Bringing just enough stock. You cannot predict which items sell; bring well above the break-even count.

Tips for more accurate results

• Work out the amount you want to keep with the crochet pricing calculator first.
• Include parking, food and display costs in the booth cost.
• Track what sells at each fair and adjust the next booth's stock.

Frequently asked questions