To price stickers, start from what a sticker costs: its share of the print run, its share of the design time, the sleeve and the fees. That gives a floor, the least a sticker can sell for at the margin you want. Price = full cost ÷ (1 − margin − fees). In the example below, a die-cut vinyl sticker from a run of 100 costs 35 cents to print, and with the design time spread over three runs, the packing and the sleeve it costs 82 cents. At a 55% margin after 3% card fees, the floor is $2. Stickers sell for $3 to $5 because buyers pay for the design, not the vinyl, so the floor tells you what you can't go below, and the market tells you where to sit above it. Below is a sticker's cost, the floor, run sizes, sheets, wholesale, Etsy's fees on a small order, and a free calculator.
The short version
- Cost a sticker: its share of the print run, the design time, packing, and the sleeve.
- Spread the design time over the runs you expect to sell, not one.
- Floor price = full cost ÷ (1 − margin − card fees).
- Above the floor, price by the design and what similar stickers sell for.
- Bigger print runs cost less a sticker; don't order more than you'll sell this year.
- On Etsy, flat fees take a big share of a single-sticker order; sell packs.
- TaroStack keeps every design counted and costs each run from what the printer charged. More below.
What a sticker costs
Old Capitol Sticker Co., a made-up sticker shop in Iowa City, Iowa, I use in these examples, draws illustrated stickers and has them printed as die-cut vinyl in runs of 100:
| A run of 100 | Cost |
|---|---|
| Die-cut vinyl stickers from the printer, 100 at $0.35 | $35.00 |
| Design time, 4 hours at $20, spread over 3 runs | $26.67 |
| A run | $61.67 |
| A sticker | Cost |
|---|---|
| Print and design share | $0.62 |
| Sorting and packing, 30 minutes a run | $0.10 |
| Sleeve and overhead | $0.10 |
| Full cost | $0.82 |
The design time is real work, and a design that sells three runs carries it lightly. One that sells a single run of 100 carries all four hours: 53 cents a sticker more.
The floor and the price
| Sticker | |
|---|---|
| Full cost | $0.82 |
| Floor at a 55% margin after 3% card fees | $1.94, so $2.00 |
| Left at $2.00 | $1.12 |
| Left at $4.00 | $3.06 |
| Three for $10 | $3.33 each, $2.41 left |
At $4, a sticker leaves $3.06, which pays for the designs that don't sell, the markets that rain out and the time spent on social media. Price by the design and the size: a 3-inch die-cut with a strong illustration sells for $4 where a plain 2-inch one sells for $3. How a whole sticker business adds up is in sticker business plan.
Run sizes
| Run | Printed cost each | Full cost each, design over 3 runs |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | $0.55 | $1.28 |
| 100 | $0.35 | $0.82 |
| 250 | $0.25 | $0.56 |
The example's printer prices are made up; ask yours for its breaks. A run of 250 takes about a third off the cost of a sticker, and only pays if you sell 250 of that design before it stops selling. Order the bestsellers in big runs and test new designs in small ones.
Sheets and wholesale
Sticker sheets printed and cut in the studio use 80 cents of paper and laminate and three minutes at the cutter, about $2.16 with packing and fees, and sell for $6.
Shops buy at about half the retail price, often $2 for a $4 sticker, with a minimum of ten of a design. At $2 a sticker leaves $1.12, which is good money for a sticker that sold itself on someone else's counter. How to set wholesale terms is in how to price handmade items for wholesale.
Etsy's fees on a small order
On Etsy, a US shop pays a $0.20 listing fee, charged again after each sale, a transaction fee of 6.5% of the price plus shipping and gift wrap (Etsy fees), and payment processing of 3% plus $0.25 an order (Etsy Payments). On small orders, the flat parts bite:
| Order | Total with $1.25 shipping | Etsy's fees | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| One $4 sticker | $5.25 | $0.95 | 18% |
| Three stickers, $12 | $13.25 | $2.11 | 16% |
| A $15 pack of five, one listing | $16.25 | $1.99 | 12% |
A pack listed as one item pays one listing fee and one flat processing fee, which is why sticker shops sell packs online. How to keep Etsy stock straight is in Etsy inventory spreadsheet.
Get the calculator
Download the sticker pricing calculator. Type the print run and its cost, the design time share, the packing minutes, the sleeve, overhead, your hourly rate, card fees, the margin you want, a wholesale price and a price to test; it works out the full cost of a sticker, the floor price rounded up to a quarter, and what each price leaves. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Sixty designs, each printed in its own runs at different prices, some selling out and some sitting in a drawer, sold at markets, online and through shops. The calculator prices one design; it doesn't say which ones to reprint, or that the fox sticker you think is a bestseller has sold eight this month.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps every design counted and costs each run from what the printer charged.
Each design counted. Every design is an item with its stock, so markets, online orders and shop orders all take from the same count, and the reorder list in days of cover puts the designs about to run out at the top.
Runs costed. Each print run is received on a purchase order at its price, so each design's cost comes from what its runs actually cost, and margins are reported by product and by customer.
Shops on one list. Each shop's order is a sales order, picked from one list.
| The job | Calculator | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Stickers left of each design | Count the drawer | Stock by design |
| Which designs to reprint | Guess | Reorder list in days of cover |
| What a design really costs | One run's price | Costed from its runs |
| What shops earn | Worked out by hand | Margins by customer |
Stock, purchase orders, reorder lists and margins 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.