Business & Seller

Markup Calculator

A 100% markup is a 50% margin.

Last updated July 31, 2026Free, no sign-upHow it works

Selling price

high confidence

$38.4060.0% markup on a $24.00 cost

Exact figure. This calculator has no modeled range — the number follows directly from your inputs.

What makes up the typical figure

Cost$24
Markup added$14

Same in every state
Assumptions 2026.07.1

Why high: this is exact arithmetic on your inputs and the published figures used, so there is no modeled range.

Key figures

Price per unit: $38.40
Markup on cost: 6,000%
Margin on price: 3,750%
Gross profit per unit: $14.40
Price as a multiple of cost: 1.6 ×
Price at a 50% markup: $36.00A 50% markup is a 33.3% margin.
Price at a 100% markup: $48.00A 100% markup is a 50.0% margin — the point where the two are most often confused.

Cost breakdown

Estimated cost of each component, with low, typical, and high values.
Component	Low	Typical	High
CostMaterials	$24	$24	$24
Markup addedOther60.0% of cost, which is 37.5% of the selling price.	$14.40	$14.40	$14.40
Selling price	$38.40	$38.40	$38.40

Every figure here is exact arithmetic on your inputs; the rows add up to the total.

What moved your estimate

60% markup is a 37.5% margin
These two numbers describe the same dollar of profit and they are never equal. Markup measures against what you paid; margin measures against what you charged. Since the price is always larger than the cost, the margin percentage is always the smaller of the two.
The gap widens as you go higher
At this level the two differ by 23 percentage points. A 100% markup is a 50% margin; a 300% markup is a 75% margin. The higher you price, the more misleading it is to treat the two as interchangeable.

How this number was produced

Costwhat you paid$24.00
Price from markup$24.00 × (1 + 0.60)$38.40
Markup$14.40 ÷ $24.0060.0%
Margin$14.40 ÷ $38.4037.5%

Adjustments applied

Markup multiplier×1.60
Cost × 1.600 gives the price.
Share of price kept×0.38
37.5 cents of every dollar charged is gross profit.

Notes and sources3 notes, 1 source

Worth knowing

Markup and margin convert into each other exactly: margin = markup ÷ (1 + markup), and markup = margin ÷ (1 − margin). A 100% markup is a 50% margin; a 50% markup is a 33.3% margin; a 25% markup is a 20% margin.
This calculator deals only in cost and price. It does not subtract platform fees, payment processing, shipping, or overhead, so the margin it reports is a gross margin. The profit margin calculator handles the rest, and the number it produces is usually a good deal lower.
Choosing a markup by convention — many trades use a standard multiplier — is fine as long as you know what margin it produces after your own costs. The convention was set for someone else’s cost structure.

Sources

Published seller fee schedules from each platform: Etsy Fees & Payments Policy and Help Center, eBay Selling Fees help pages, Amazon Selling on Amazon fee schedule, Shopify pricing page, TikTok Shop US Seller UniversitysecondaryJuly 2026retrieved 2026-07-31

A 50% markup is a 33% margin. Businesses lose real money by treating these as the same number, and the mistake always runs in the same direction — toward charging too little. This calculator works in whichever direction you like and always shows you both figures.

Methodology

How this calculator works

The conversion, and why it matters

Markup divides profit by cost. Margin divides the same profit by price. Because price is always greater than cost, markup is always the larger percentage, and the gap grows as you price higher.

The conversions are exact. Margin equals markup divided by one plus markup. Markup equals margin divided by one minus margin. At a 100% markup the two are 100% and 50%; at 300% they are 300% and 75%.

The practical consequence is one-directional. Someone who wants a 40% margin and applies a 40% markup gets 28.6%, a shortfall of more than a quarter of the profit they intended. Nobody ever makes this mistake in the profitable direction.

Working back from a target

To hit a target margin, divide the cost by one minus the margin rather than multiplying by one plus it. A $24 item at a 40% target margin needs $40, not $33.60.

This is the calculation most worth getting right, because it is the one people actually use when setting prices, and the multiplication version feels correct enough that the error goes unnoticed for years.

Location and data

Where the numbers come from

This calculator does not ask where you live, because the answer is the same in every state: it is arithmetic on the figures you enter and the published figures listed below. That is also why the result reports high confidence — there is no regional estimate in it to be uncertain about.

Nothing you enter is transmitted or stored. The calculation runs entirely in your browser, and the only place your inputs appear is in the page URL, so you can bookmark or share a result if you choose to.

secondaryJuly 2026v2026.07.1
Published seller fee schedules from each platform: Etsy Fees & Payments Policy and Help Center, eBay Selling Fees help pages, Amazon Selling on Amazon fee schedule, Shopify pricing page, TikTok Shop US Seller University
Every platform's fee model is versioned separately and carries its own last-verified date and source link, because they change independently and often. Marketplace fees are the most volatile data on this site — a rate can change with a month's notice — so any result built on them is an estimate of what a payout would be under the rates recorded here, never a guarantee of what a platform will actually pay. Each rate is editable in the calculator. Where a figure could not be confirmed by directly retrieving the platform's page, that is recorded on the platform entry rather than glossed over.

Full detail on every dataset is on the data sources page. Spotted something wrong? Report incorrect data.

Cost factors

What changes the price most

Which percentage you mean: The single most consequential decision here. Confusing the two costs a quarter of the intended profit at typical retail levels.
Cost accuracy: Everything is derived from it. A cost that omits shipping or packaging produces a markup that looks fine and is not.
Fees: Not counted here. Platform and payment fees come out of the price, so the real margin is lower than this gross figure.
Discounting: Not modeled. A 20% discount off a 40% margin leaves 25%, so routine sales need to be priced into the markup from the start.
Trade convention: Standard multipliers exist in many trades. They were calibrated for someone else’s cost structure and are worth checking against your own.
Volume: Does not change the percentages, only the totals. A good margin on very few units is still a small business.

Questions

Frequently asked

What is the difference between markup and margin?

Markup is profit as a percentage of cost; margin is profit as a percentage of the selling price. A $10 item sold at $20 has a 100% markup and a 50% margin. Markup is always the larger number, and the difference grows the higher you price.

How do I calculate markup?

Subtract the cost from the price, then divide by the cost. To go the other way and get a price from a markup, multiply the cost by one plus the markup — a 60% markup on $24 is $24 × 1.6, or $38.40.

What markup do I need for a 40% margin?

A 66.7% markup. The formula is margin ÷ (1 − margin), so 0.40 ÷ 0.60 = 0.667. Equivalently, divide the cost by 0.60 — a $24 item needs to sell at $40.

Is a 50% markup the same as a 50% margin?

No. A 50% markup produces a 33.3% margin. To get a 50% margin you need a 100% markup, which means doubling the cost. This particular confusion is probably the most expensive arithmetic error in small business.

What is a standard retail markup?

Conventions vary widely: keystone pricing in general retail doubles the cost, apparel often uses two to two and a half times, and grocery runs far thinner. Any convention is a starting point calibrated to someone else’s costs — check what margin it leaves you after your own fees and overhead.