Merch margin calculator

How the sums are done

The calculator takes one product at one price and takes its costs off, one line at a time. What is left at the foot is what the seller keeps from that sale, before advertising and before anybody is paid for their time. Then it sets the two ways of making the product side by side: printed one at a time as each is ordered, or printed in a run before any is sold.

It runs in your browser, from a table of prices that was read off each supplier’s own page. Nothing you type is sent anywhere. Every sum it does is set out below, so the page can be checked with a pencil.

A $35 tee, sold online

Take a budget tee with a one-colour print, sold from an online store in the United States at $35.00 and printed when it is ordered.

Retail price

$35.00. In the United States that is the price before sales tax, which the checkout adds on top.

Made and printed

$9.63. Printful’s price for a Gildan 64000 Softstyle tee, black or white, size M, one print.

Card fee

$1.32. 2.9% of the price, plus $0.30.

Returns allowance

$0.88. 2.5% of the price, set aside for returns and reprints.

Left from each sale

$23.17, which is 66% of the price.

Filed or disclosedThe supplier’s and the card processor’s own pages. The returns allowance is Divini’s own, and is not a measured figure. · Source: Printful, Gildan 64000 Softstyle tee, Square, processing fees in the US · checked 6 October 2026

Postage is not in that sum. A print-on-demand order is posted from the printer, and the customer pays the postage on top of the price. Advertising, the store’s monthly fee and the hours somebody spends on the store are not in it either. They are real costs, but they are costs of the whole store and not of one tee.

The same tee, from a bulk run sold at a table

Now print 150 of the same tee in one run and sell them at a merch table for the same $35.00. The lines change, because a table has different costs from a store.

Card fee

2.6% of the price, plus $0.15, for a card taken in person.

Venue’s share

20% of what is left after the card fee. Many venues keep a share of what a table sells, and it is taken from the sales after card fees and taxes.

Made and printed

$7.14 a tee. 4imprint: Gildan Softstyle tee, one-colour print in one place. $6.87 a piece for 150, between its listed prices of $6.89 at 144 and $6.49 at 288, plus the $40.00 set-up charge spread over 150 pieces.

The run has to be paid for first: $1,070.50 for 150 tees, before one is sold. And the sum above assumes that every one of them sells. If a tenth of the run is left over, the 135 that did sell cost $7.93 each to make, not $7.14.

Divini’s own dataArithmetic on the prices above. It is a sample run, not a real tour. · checked 6 October 2026

What each line is

Retail price

What the fan pays for the product. In the United Kingdom and the EU a price has VAT in it. In the United States sales tax is added on top, so type the price before tax. If a US table sells at a round price with the tax inside it, take the tax off before you type it.

VAT

In the United Kingdom, 20% is added to the price before tax, so one sixth of what the fan pays is VAT. In the EU the rate is the buyer’s country’s. The calculator uses Germany’s 19%; the standard rates run from 17% in Luxembourg to 27% in Hungary. The calculator assumes a seller who is registered for VAT. In the United Kingdom a business must register once its taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000.

Made and printed

For print-on-demand, the printer’s price for one piece with one print. For a bulk run, the price list’s price for a piece at that quantity, plus the set-up charge divided by the number of pieces.

Card fee

What the card processor keeps from the payment. It is charged on the whole price, VAT included.

Returns allowance

Online only. 2.5% of the price before tax, set aside for refunds and for reprinting a piece that arrives wrong.

Venue’s share

At a table only. The share of sales the venue keeps, taken from what is left after tax and card fees. It is agreed for each show.

Filed or disclosedOne card processor’s published rates. Another’s will differ a little. · Source: Square, processing fees in the US, Square, processing fees in the UK, Square, processing fees in Ireland · checked 6 October 2026

Official sourceThe standard rates of VAT, and when a UK business must register. · Source: GOV.UK, VAT rates, Your Europe, VAT rules and rates, GOV.UK, Register for VAT · checked 6 October 2026

Divini’s own dataThe returns allowance of 2.5% is the one Divini’s own costings use. It is an allowance, not a measured rate of returns. · checked 6 October 2026

The venue’s share has no standard. atVenu, which makes settlement software for merch tables, takes it from the adjusted gross: total sales, less card fees, less taxes. A survey of venue policies published in January 2026 puts typical rates from around 10% up to 25 to 30% at major venues, and calls 15 to 20% an unspoken norm at many theatres and clubs. The calculator opens at 20% as a sample. Type your own rate, or 0 for a venue that takes nothing. The merch table sets out how the share is agreed and settled.

Filed or disclosedHow the share is worked out. · Source: atVenu help, What is Adjusted Gross?, atVenu help, What is a Venue Cut? · checked 6 October 2026

Third-party estimateA ticketing company’s survey of press reports. · Source: Ticket Fairy, Merch Cuts Under Fire in 2026 · checked 6 October 2026

Where a bulk run beats print-on-demand

Print-on-demand costs the same for one piece as for a thousand, so on a chart its cost is a flat line. A bulk run starts dearer, because a small run carries the whole set-up charge, and gets cheaper as it gets longer. The calculator finds the smallest run at which a bulk piece, with its share of the set-up charge, costs less than the print-on-demand one.

Take the budget tee in the United States. Printed on demand it is $9.63 at any quantity. A run of 46 costs $8.80 a tee, and $9.67 with its share of the $40.00 set-up charge, which is still the dearer. A run of 47 costs $8.76 a tee and $9.61 with the set-up. So on these two price lists a bulk run is the cheaper from 47 tees.

In the United Kingdom the same tee is £6.88 printed on demand, before VAT. A run of 38 costs £6.35 a tee, which is £261.30 with the £20.00 set-up charge, against £261.44 for the same 38 printed on demand. That is the first run to cost less.

Filed or disclosedEach supplier’s own product pages, in the United States and in the UK. · Source: Printful, Gildan 64000 Softstyle tee, 4imprint, Gildan Softstyle tee, Printful UK, Gildan 64000 Softstyle tee, 4imprint UK, Gildan Softstyle tee · checked 6 October 2026

A quantity between two on the price list

A bulk price list prints a price at a handful of quantities. 4imprint does not make a buyer round down to one of them. It says an in-between quantity can be ordered, under a scheme it calls Glide, and its product pages work the price out as the quantity is typed. The calculator does the same sum. Between two listed quantities the price falls in a straight line, a hundredth of the way at a time. Between the first two the line is bent: half-way along, only a tenth of the saving has been given. So 46 tees are not charged at the price for 36.

Some things are sold by the case. 4imprint sells this mug in cases of 36 in the United States, and its page rounds a typed quantity to the nearest case. The calculator does that too, and says so: ask it for 200 mugs and it prices 216.

Filed or disclosedWhat 4imprint says about in-between quantities. The prices between its listed quantities were read by typing quantities into its product pages. · Source: 4imprint, Frequently asked questions, 4imprint UK, Frequently asked questions, 4imprint, White coffee mug, 11 oz · checked 6 October 2026

That crossing is about the cost of making a piece, and nothing else. A bulk run that is cheaper a piece can still be the worse choice. The whole run is paid for before a piece is sold, it has to be stored and carried, and whatever does not sell has been paid for all the same. Print-on-demand costs more a piece and leaves nothing over.

The prices behind it: the United States

Filed or disclosedPrintful’s own product pages. · Source: Printful, Gildan 64000 Softstyle tee, black or white, size M, one print, Printful, Bella+Canvas 3001 tee in black, size M, one print, Printful, Gildan 18500 Heavy Blend hoodie in black, size M, one print, Printful, Yupoong 6245CM dad cap in white, embroidered on the front, Printful, matte paper poster, 11 by 17 inches, Printful, white glossy mug, 11 oz, printed, Printful, Econscious EC8000 organic cotton tote in oyster, one print · checked 6 October 2026

Filed or disclosed4imprint’s own product pages. It sells promotional goods, and publishes a price at every quantity. · Source: 4imprint, Gildan Softstyle tee, one-colour print in one place, 4imprint, Gildan Softstyle tee, full-colour print in one place, 4imprint, Bella+Canvas crewneck tee, one-colour print in one place, 4imprint, Bella+Canvas crewneck tee, full-colour print in one place, 4imprint, Gildan 50/50 hooded sweatshirt, one-colour print in one place, 4imprint, Gildan 50/50 hooded sweatshirt, full-colour print in one place, 4imprint, Yupoong classic dad cap, embroidered on the front, 4imprint, poster, 11 by 17 inches, coated paper, full colour, 4imprint, white coffee mug, 11 oz, full-colour wrap, 4imprint, organic cotton tote, 5 oz, one-colour print on the front · checked 6 October 2026

The prices behind it: the United Kingdom

Filed or disclosedPrintful’s own product pages. · Source: Printful, Gildan 64000 Softstyle tee, black or white, size M, one print, Printful, Stanley/Stella Creator 2.0 organic tee in white, size M, one print, Printful, Gildan 18500 Heavy Blend hoodie in white, size M, one print, Printful, Yupoong 6245CM dad cap in white, embroidered on the front, Printful, matte paper poster, 11 by 17 inches, Printful, white glossy mug, 11 oz, printed, Printful, BagBase W101 cotton tote in natural, one print · checked 6 October 2026

Filed or disclosed4imprint’s own product pages. It sells promotional goods, and publishes a price at every quantity. · Source: 4imprint, Gildan Softstyle tee, one-colour print in one place, 4imprint, Stanley/Stella Creator organic tee, one-colour print in one place, 4imprint, Gildan Heavy Blend hooded sweatshirt, one-colour print in one place, 4imprint, Beechfield Authentic cap, embroidered on the front, 4imprint, white ceramic mug, 330 ml, full-colour wrap, 4imprint, cotton tote, 5 oz, one-colour print on one side · checked 6 October 2026

The prices behind it: the EU

Filed or disclosedPrintful’s own product pages. · Source: Printful, Gildan 64000 Softstyle tee, black or white, size M, one print, Printful, Stanley/Stella Creator 2.0 organic tee in white, size M, one print, Printful, Gildan 18500 Heavy Blend hoodie in black, size M, one print, Printful, Yupoong 6245CM dad cap in white, embroidered on the front, Printful, matte paper poster, 11 by 17 inches, Printful, white glossy mug, 11 oz, printed, Printful, BagBase W101 cotton tote in natural, one print · checked 6 October 2026

Filed or disclosed4imprint’s own product pages. It sells promotional goods, and publishes a price at every quantity. · Source: 4imprint, SOL’s Regent tee, one-colour print in one place, 4imprint, SOL’s Snake hoodie, one-colour print in one place, 4imprint, Beechfield Authentic cap, embroidered on the front, 4imprint, white ceramic mug, 330 ml, full-colour wrap, 4imprint, cotton tote, 5 oz, one-colour print on one side · checked 6 October 2026

How fresh the prices are

Suppliers change their prices, so a cost is only as good as the day it was read. Every cost above, and every line of a result, carries the day we checked it on the supplier’s own page. When a cost was checked more than six months ago the calculator says so beside it. The table was last checked in full on 6 October 2026.

A print-on-demand price depends on where the seller is. Printful prices by region, so each price here was read with the page set to that region. The figure a page gives to search engines, and its “from” price, are not a safe guide. On the day we checked, that data gave this tee as $7.50 where the page set to the United States gave $9.63, and an 11 oz mug as £4.95 where the page set to the UK gave £5.09 before VAT.

Filed or disclosedThe product page’s own data, beside the price the page shows. · Source: Printful, Gildan 64000 Softstyle tee, Printful UK, White glossy mug · checked 6 October 2026

What it cannot see

• Pieces that do not sell. Every bulk figure assumes the whole run sells.
• Sizes and colours that cost more. A print-on-demand price is for one colour and size, and the printer’s price varies with both. The UK bulk list charges extra for sizes from 3XL up.
• A second print, or a second colour. Each price is for one decoration in one place. On the US bulk list an extra ink colour or print position costs more a piece, and adds $15 to the set-up charge.
• Getting the stock to the fan. Postage on an online order is paid by the customer. Delivery of a bulk run, the seller at the table and moving the stock from city to city are not in the sum.
• Advertising, the store’s monthly fee and anybody’s time.
• Discounts. A printer’s quote for a tour, a print-on-demand supplier’s discount for ordering many at once and a paid membership can each lower a price shown here.
• Some prices. We have no checked bulk price for a poster in the United Kingdom, and no checked bulk price for a poster in the EU. The calculator says so when it is asked, and works from your own cost if you type one.

Filed or disclosedWhat each supplier’s page says about sizes, colours and extra prints. · Source: Printful, Gildan 64000 Softstyle tee, 4imprint, Gildan Softstyle tee (US), 4imprint, Gildan Softstyle tee (UK) · checked 6 October 2026

The bulk prices are one supplier’s published list, chosen because it prints a price at every quantity in all three regions. A printer quoting for a tour will give different figures. When you have a quote, type its price a piece, with its set-up charge spread over the run, into “Your cost to make one”, and the rest of the sum is worked from that.

For a costing of a whole range on real quotes, send us the act with the form beside the result, or book a call.