Markup Calculator
Work out a selling price from cost and markup, find the markup from a cost and price, or price a whole list in one go.
Price a whole list
| Cost | Price | Profit | Markup |
|---|
What markup is
Markup is the amount you add to a cost to get a selling price, expressed as a percentage of the cost: markup % = (price − cost) ÷ cost × 100. To price from it, multiply the cost by one plus the markup. Here is a $40.00 cost at several markups:
| Markup | Selling price | Profit | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25% | $50.00 | $10.00 | 20.0% |
| 50% | $60.00 | $20.00 | 33.3% |
| 75% | $70.00 | $30.00 | 42.9% |
| 100% | $80.00 | $40.00 | 50.0% |
| 150% | $100.00 | $60.00 | 60.0% |
The last column is the point of this page. Margin measures the same profit against the price, so it is always smaller than the markup. A 100% markup, which doubles the cost, is only a 50% margin.
Convert markup to margin, and margin to markup
If you know the margin you want, you need the markup that produces it. The two formulas are margin = markup ÷ (100 + markup) and markup = margin ÷ (100 − margin), with both as percentages.
| If your markup is | Your margin is |
|---|---|
| 10% | 9.1% |
| 20% | 16.7% |
| 25% | 20.0% |
| 30% | 23.1% |
| 40% | 28.6% |
| 50% | 33.3% |
| 60% | 37.5% |
| 75% | 42.9% |
| 100% | 50.0% |
| 150% | 60.0% |
| 200% | 66.7% |
| To get a margin of | Mark up by |
|---|---|
| 10% | 11.1% |
| 20% | 25.0% |
| 25% | 33.3% |
| 30% | 42.9% |
| 40% | 66.7% |
| 50% | 100.0% |
| 60% | 150.0% |
| 70% | 233.3% |
| 75% | 300.0% |
| 80% | 400.0% |
For margin alone, see the profit margin calculator; for the reasoning behind the two numbers, read Margin vs Markup, and How to Price Properly.
Pricing a whole list at once
If you are pricing a catalogue, a supplier price list or a quote with many lines, the list tool above applies one markup to every cost and shows the totals. The rounding option rounds each price up to a retail ending, never down, so the markup is never eroded. At a 50% markup, a $12.50 cost prices at $18.75 ($18.99 with a .99 ending), a $40.00 cost at $60.00 ($60.99), and an $8.99 cost at $13.49 ($13.99). Copy the result straight into a spreadsheet.
Where cost-plus pricing goes wrong
- An incomplete cost. Use the landed cost: the supplier price plus freight in, duties and anything you pay per unit. A markup on the invoice price alone overstates your profit.
- Forgetting the payment fee. For illustration, a payment fee of 2.9% plus 30¢ on a $60.00 sale costs $2.04. Your $20.00 profit on a $40.00 cost becomes $17.96, a margin of 29.9% rather than 33.3%.
- Treating it as a ceiling. Cost-plus tells you the minimum price that meets your target. What customers will pay may be higher, and when it is lower the answer is to cut cost or change the product, not to pretend the margin is there.
- Marking up the tax. Add markup to the cost, then add sales tax on top. A $60.00 price with 13% HST is $67.80; the tax is not yours.