Etsy Seller Prompt: Price Your Item From Your Real Costs

Prompt

Act as a pricing coach for Etsy sellers who prices handmade items from the seller's own costs and the fee rates they paste, shows every calculation, and never guesses a fee or a competitor's numbers.

Inputs:
- The item, its size or variations, and how many you make per batch: [ItemAndVariations]
- Material cost per item, line by line: [MaterialCosts]
- Minutes of your time per item and the hourly rate you want to pay yourself: [LaborTime]
- Packaging cost per order, shipping you charge the buyer, and the label cost you pay: [PackagingAndShipping]
- Etsy fee rates from your own fee and payment pages (listing fee, transaction fee, payment processing): [EtsyFeeRates]
- Your current price and prices you have seen for similar items: [CurrentPriceAndCompetitors]
- Profit you want per item after paying yourself: [ProfitGoal]

Generate:
1. Unit cost: materials, labor (minutes times rate), packaging, and shipping label, with each sum shown.
2. Etsy fees at the current price and two higher test prices: listing fee, transaction fee on item price plus shipping charged, and payment processing on the order total, each shown.
3. A pricing table for the three prices: order total, Etsy fees, unit cost, profit, and profit as a share of the order total.
4. The minimum item price that meets ProfitGoal, solved with the formula written out, and a rounded price.
5. A sale floor: the deepest percentage discount on your recommended price that still meets ProfitGoal.
6. A short pricing recommendation that compares your numbers with CurrentPriceAndCompetitors, without assuming anything about other shops' costs.
7. What to recheck: costs that change with batch size, orders with Offsite Ads or other extra fees, and sales tax effects on processing fees.

Rules:
- Use only the fee rates in EtsyFeeRates. If one is missing, ask for it.
- Round money to cents only at the end of each line.
- Not financial or tax advice.

Instructions

Run this in ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini with your own costs and the fee rates shown in your Etsy shop's fee and payment pages for your country. Replace every [bracket] and recheck every sum. Fees change and vary by country and by order (Offsite Ads, currency conversion, sales tax), so treat the result as an estimate. This is not financial or tax advice.

Generated Output

This image was generated using the prompt above.

Etsy Seller Prompt: Price Your Item From Your Real Costs - Result

Examples

Example Input

ItemAndVariations: 8 oz hand-poured soy candle in a glass jar, scent Cedar Smoke. Made in batches of 24.
MaterialCosts: Wax 2.10, fragrance oil 1.60, jar and lid 2.40, wick 0.15, label 0.35.
LaborTime: 10 minutes per candle, including pouring, curing checks, and packing. I want to pay myself 24 dollars an hour.
PackagingAndShipping: Box, padding, and tissue 1.10 per order. I charge the buyer 5.95 shipping. The label costs me 5.40.
EtsyFeeRates (US shop): listing 0.20 per item, transaction 6.5 percent of item price plus shipping charged, payment processing 3 percent plus 0.25 of the order total.
CurrentPriceAndCompetitors: I sell at 24.00. Similar 8 oz soy candles I saw on Etsy were 22 to 32 dollars.
ProfitGoal: At least 10.00 profit per candle after paying myself. Single-candle orders, no sales tax in this example.

Example Output

1. UNIT COST
Materials: 2.10 + 1.60 + 2.40 + 0.15 + 0.35 = 6.60
Labor: 10 / 60 x 24.00 = 4.00
Packaging: 1.10
Shipping label: 5.40
Unit cost: 6.60 + 4.00 + 1.10 + 5.40 = 17.10

2. ETSY FEES (order total = price + 5.95 shipping)
At 24.00 (order 29.95): listing 0.20; transaction 0.065 x 29.95 = 1.95; processing 0.03 x 29.95 + 0.25 = 1.15. Fees: 3.30
At 26.00 (order 31.95): listing 0.20; transaction 0.065 x 31.95 = 2.08; processing 0.03 x 31.95 + 0.25 = 1.21. Fees: 3.49
At 28.00 (order 33.95): listing 0.20; transaction 0.065 x 33.95 = 2.21; processing 0.03 x 33.95 + 0.25 = 1.27. Fees: 3.68

3. PRICING TABLE
| Price | Order total | Fees | Unit cost | Profit | Profit share |
| 24.00 | 29.95 | 3.30 | 17.10 | 9.55 | 31.9% |
| 26.00 | 31.95 | 3.49 | 17.10 | 11.36 | 35.6% |
| 28.00 | 33.95 | 3.68 | 17.10 | 13.17 | 38.8% |
Check at 24.00: 29.95 - 3.30 - 17.10 = 9.55.

4. MINIMUM PRICE FOR 10.00 PROFIT
Profit = order total - fees - unit cost
Fees = 0.20 + 0.25 + (0.065 + 0.03) x order total = 0.45 + 0.095 x order total
So 10.00 = 0.905 x order total - 0.45 - 17.10
Order total = (10.00 + 0.45 + 17.10) / 0.905 = 27.55 / 0.905 = 30.44
Item price = 30.44 - 5.95 = 24.49
Rounded: 25.00. Check: order 30.95, fees 0.20 + 2.01 + 1.18 = 3.39, profit 30.95 - 3.39 - 17.10 = 10.46.
Your current 24.00 is 0.45 below your goal on every candle.

5. SALE FLOOR (recommended price 28.00)
Lowest price that meets the goal: 24.49. Deepest discount: 1 - 24.49 / 28.00 = 12.5 percent, so cap sales at 12 percent.
Check at 12 percent off: 28.00 x 0.88 = 24.64; order 30.59; fees 0.45 + 0.095 x 30.59 = 3.36; profit 30.59 - 3.36 - 17.10 = 10.13.

6. RECOMMENDATION
Move from 24.00 to 28.00. That is inside the 22 to 32 dollar range you saw, earns 13.17 per candle, and leaves room for a sale of up to 12 percent. If 28.00 feels like a big jump, 26.00 still clears your goal at 11.36.

7. RECHECK
- Material costs at a different batch size.
- Orders that come through Offsite Ads have an extra fee; paste that rate to recalculate.
- Sales tax is added to the order total for processing fees, so taxed orders cost slightly more.
This is a pricing estimate from your own numbers, not financial or tax advice.