Wholesale Pricing for Handmade Products
A wholesale price is a lower price for shops that buy in quantity and resell. Use a smaller margin than your retail price, and never go below your full cost per unit, including your time and fixed costs.
Calculate your wholesale price
Start from the same full cost per unit as your retail price. For the candle, that is $7.94. A 15% wholesale margin gives $9.35: lower than the $11.99 retail price, still above cost.
The rule: never below cost
A large order at a loss is still a loss, only bigger. If a shop's price is below your cost per unit, the answer is a different product, a bigger minimum order, or no.
Why wholesale can be worth a smaller margin
- One order replaces many small sales and messages.
- No marketplace fee on a direct invoice.
- Your products reach customers you would not find alone.
Questions
Should I set a minimum order for wholesale?
Usually, yes. A minimum quantity makes sure the smaller margin is balanced by a bigger order.
Do marketplace fees apply to wholesale?
Not when the shop pays you directly. If a wholesale order goes through a platform, enter that platform's fees and the price will include them.
A shop asked for 50% off my retail price. Can I afford it?
Check it against your cost. Half of $11.99 is $6.00, below the candle's $7.94 cost, so in that example the answer is no.
Keep reading
- How to Price Handmade ProductsThe full method for pricing handmade products: materials per unit, packaging, your time, fixed costs, marketplace fees and profit, with a worked example.
- Markup vs MarginA 30% markup is not a 30% margin. See the difference in dollars with a real example, and which one to use when you price what you make.
- Fixed Costs per ProductSpread monthly costs like internet, electricity and equipment across the items you expect to sell, so every sale pays its share of the bills.