Print-on-Demand Profit Calculator

Print-on-demand (POD) eliminates inventory risk by producing items only after a customer orders. However, this convenience comes at a cost: per-unit production prices are significantly higher than bulk manufacturing. A t-shirt that costs $2-3 wholesale might cost $10-15 from a POD provider. Your pricing strategy must account for these higher base costs.

Successful POD sellers typically target at least a 30% profit margin after all costs, including platform fees, payment processing, and shipping. The most common mistake is pricing based only on the base product cost while ignoring the 8-10% in combined platform and payment fees that eat into every sale.

Design costs should be amortized over expected sales volume. A $100 design that sells 500 units costs $0.20 per unit, while the same design selling only 10 units costs $10 per unit. This is why POD businesses thrive on volume: the more units a design sells, the lower the effective design cost per unit and the higher your margins become.

Ad spend ROI is the make-or-break metric for most POD businesses. A healthy ROAS (return on ad spend) for POD is typically 3x or higher, meaning you generate $3 in revenue for every $1 spent on advertising. Below 2x ROAS, most POD sellers struggle to remain profitable after accounting for all costs.