EMPIRE / Free tools / Profit margin calculator

Profit margin calculator

What you actually keep from a sale once the card fee comes out — the number most first-time sellers forget to run.

A product photographed for an online shop
—Profit per sale
—Margin
—Markup
—Per 100 sales

Assumes 2.9% + $0.30 card processing, the standard published Stripe rate. Your negotiated rate may differ.

Margin vs markup — they aren't the same

Margin is profit as a share of the price. Markup is profit as a share of the cost. A 50% markup is only a 33% margin, and confusing the two is one of the most common ways small businesses quietly underprice themselves.

Rules of thumb

  • Under 20% margin — one refund, chargeback, or reprint erases several sales. Fragile.
  • 30-50% — workable for most physical products once volume is steady.
  • Over 60% — typical for digital goods and services, where unit cost is near zero.

Remember this only covers the cost of the item itself. It doesn't include your time, your platform, your ads, or your packaging — run those through the break-even calculator.