How to Price Resin Art: Full Cost, Margin, a Calculator

To price a set of four resin coasters you add up its full cost first: the resin, pigments and cork backs by the batch, your time at an hourly rate, the gift box, and a share of overhead like rent and power. That's what one set costs you. Then set the price so that, after card and selling fees, it leaves the margin you want: price = full cost ÷ (1 − margin − fee rate). For a set of four 4-inch coasters that costs $15.87 to make, a 55% margin after 3% fees means $37.78, rounded up to $38.00. Resin is the big cost, and a pour with bubbles or a soft cure is resin thrown away. Wholesale to shops is a different price, set so it still covers the full cost with something left. In the example below, an Arizona resin artist prices coaster sets for markets and a gift shop.

The short version

• Full cost = supplies a set + your time + gift box + overhead.
• Price = full cost ÷ (1 − margin − fee rate).
• Count your time at a real hourly rate, even if you don't pay yourself yet.
• Weigh resin by the batch; it's the biggest cost.
• Count the pieces that cure soft or bubble.
• Check what wholesale leaves after full cost before saying yes.
• TaroStack keeps resin, pigments and backs counted and costs every batch. More below.

What goes into a set's cost

What a resin art business looks like over a year is in resin art business plan, and smaller resin pieces in how to price keychains.

An example: a set of four coasters

Saguaro Resin Studio, a made-up resin artist in Tucson, Arizona, pours six sets of four coasters from half a gallon of resin:

At a 55% margin after 3% card fees, the price is $15.87 ÷ 0.42 = $37.78, so $38.00. At $38.00 a set, each leaves $20.99. It had been asking $35, which leaves $18.08, and kept $35. A gift shop asked for sets at $24.00, which leaves $7.41 each, enough for an order of a dozen. The resin is $35 of the $45.60 batch. Pricing larger pieces is in how to price paintings.

Get the calculator

Download the resin art price calculator. One sheet: type the batch's supplies, amounts and costs, the sets it makes, the hands-on minutes, the box and overhead, your hourly rate, card fees and the margin you want; the full cost, the price for your margin rounded up, and what a wholesale price and a test price leave fill in. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

The calculator prices a set on paper. A gallon of resin bought at a new price, or a hot week of bubbly pours, changes what the sets really cost.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack keeps resin, pigments and backs counted, and costs every batch.

Supplies in their units. Resin bought by the gallon kit is used by the ounce, and cork backs bought by the hundred are counted by the each.

Designs as recipes. Each set is a recipe of its supplies, so a batch takes them off stock and is costed from what they cost, and good and rejected pieces are recorded.

Reordering. Supplies come up on a reorder list in days of cover, worked out from how fast they're used.

Recipes, units, costing and reorder lists are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

How much should I charge for resin art?

Work out the full cost, resin, pigments, time, the box and overhead, then divide by 1 minus your margin and fee rate; the example's $15.87 set of four coasters prices at $38.00 for a 55% margin.

How do you calculate the cost of resin art?

Add the batch's supplies and divide by the sets it makes, then add your time, the box and a share of overhead.

What is a good profit margin on sets?

Set your own target after fees; the example uses 55% on direct sales and accepts less on wholesale.

How much should I sell resin coasters to stores for?

Enough to cover the full cost with something left; the example's $24.00 wholesale price leaves $7.41 a set.