Fill in any two fields — cost, markup %, or selling price — we'll solve the third
💡 Why This Matters Setting the right selling price is the difference between a healthy margin and slowly bleeding cash. This tool works either direction — know your cost and target markup and it finds your price, or know your cost and selling price and it tells you your real markup %.
"Keystone pricing" — doubling your cost for a 100% markup — has been standard retail practice since well before modern accounting software existed. It only works out to a 50% margin, though, which trips up a lot of new sellers who assume the two numbers match.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We do our best to link products that we genuinely believe are organic, no disposable junk, sustainable, and built to last.
Markup measures how much you add on top of your cost to reach your selling price, expressed as a percentage of that cost: markup = 100 × profit ÷ cost, where profit = selling price − cost. Flip it around and selling price = cost + (cost × markup ÷ 100) — the formula this calculator uses whenever you leave the selling price field blank.
A 50% markup means you're charging 1.5× what you paid. A 100% markup means you're charging double. Typical retail markups run 50–100% (often called "keystone pricing"), though categories like electronics tend to run lower (20–50%) due to price transparency, while fashion and accessories often run well over 100%.
This calculator handles the pure pricing math but doesn't account for operating expenses, shipping, payment processing fees, or taxes that eat into your actual take-home profit. It also won't tell you if your price is competitive — check what similar products sell for before locking in a number.
Once you know your markup, compare it against your category's typical range. If you're well under, you may be leaving money on the table; well over, and you may be pricing yourself out of the market unless your product genuinely justifies the premium. Try a few different cost/markup combinations to see how sensitive your price is to each.
Example: Say an item costs you $50 and you sell it for $87.50. Profit = $87.50 − $50 = $37.50. Markup = 100 × 37.50 ÷ 50 = 75%. Leave the selling price field blank instead, enter $50 cost and 75% markup, and the calculator gives you back that same $87.50 price.
Markup = 100 × profit ÷ cost, where profit = selling price − cost. It's expressed as a percentage of what you paid, not what you sold it for.
No — markup is profit as a percentage of cost, while margin is profit as a percentage of selling price. A 100% markup only works out to a 50% margin, so the two numbers are never equal above 0%.
Cost, markup percentage, and selling price are mathematically linked — once you know any two, the third is fully determined. This calculator solves for whichever field you leave blank.