Most POD pricing advice says "charge 2–3× your base cost". That rule of thumb quietly ignores the four other hands in your pocket: listing fees, transaction fees, payment processing, and ads. Here's a method that starts from the number you actually care about — what lands in your account.
Decide what a sale must be worth to you. Say £6 per t-shirt. Then stack the costs on top:
| Layer | Example (UK Etsy + Printful tee) |
|---|---|
| Target profit | £6.00 |
| Provider base cost | £9.50 |
| Fulfilment shipping you absorb | £3.99 |
| Listing fee (per sale) | ≈£0.16 |
| Transaction fee (% of price + buyer shipping) | 6.5% |
| Payment processing (% + flat) | ≈4% + £0.20 |
The percentage fees apply to your price, not your costs, so you can't just add them up — you have to solve for price. If fixed costs are F and percentage fees total p, then price = (F + target) ÷ (1 − p). With the numbers above: (£19.85) ÷ (1 − 0.105) ≈ £22.18. Round to £22.99 and the spare covers the odd offsite-ad fee.
Free shipping isn't free — if you offer it, the fulfilment shipping moves into your cost stack and your price must rise to match. Percentage fees on buyer-paid shipping surprise people too: most platforms charge their transaction fee on the shipping amount as well. And offsite/marketplace ads can take a double-digit percentage of a sale you didn't expect them to touch — decide up front whether your price can survive an ad-attributed order.
Backwards maths gives you a floor, not a strategy. If your floor price lands well above what comparable products sell for, the fix is rarely "charge less" — it's a cheaper base product, a design that justifies a premium, or a different product category entirely. Selling at a loss with volume dreams is how POD shops die.