How to Price a Print-on-Demand T-Shirt Before Listing It on Etsy

Pricing a Print-on-Demand t-shirt looks simple until you write down every cost.

The common mistake is to start with a competitor's price, subtract the supplier cost, and call the rest profit. That ignores Etsy fees, shipping, payment processing, listing renewals, discounts, and Offsite Ads.

Here is a practical workflow for checking a basic Etsy t-shirt listing before publishing.

The Example Product

For this walkthrough, assume a simple unisex graphic tee.

• Production cost: $10.00
• Shipping cost charged by the supplier: $5.00
• Shipping charged to the customer: $4.99
• Target profit margin: 30%
• Seller country fee model: US Etsy Payments
• Listing renewal: on
• Offsite Ads: checked separately

These are not universal numbers. Your blank, print provider, shipping region, and discount strategy can change the result quickly. The point is the process.

Step 1: Start With Your Real Supplier Cost

Open your PoD provider and check the product cost for the specific variant you plan to sell.

Do not use the cheapest listed price if you are not actually selling that variant. A Bella+Canvas shirt, a Comfort Colors shirt, and a basic Gildan shirt can have very different base costs.

For this example:

• Item production cost: $10.00
• Actual shipping cost: $5.00
• Total supplier cost before Etsy fees: $15.00

That $15.00 is the amount you pay before Etsy takes anything.

Step 2: Decide Whether Shipping Is Separate or Baked In

If you charge the customer shipping, Etsy still includes that shipping amount in parts of the fee calculation.

For this example, the buyer is charged $4.99 shipping. That means a sale price of $24.99 creates an order total of $29.98.

If you offer free shipping, the math changes. You need to recover the shipping cost inside the item price instead of treating it as separate revenue.

Step 3: Use the Pricing Generator First

Before guessing a public listing price, use the Pricing Generator with the target margin.

Inputs:

• Item production cost: $10.00
• Actual shipping cost: $5.00
• Shipping charged: $4.99
• Target margin: 30%
• Auto-renew listing fee: on
• Offsite Ads: none for the base scenario

The point of this step is not to find one correct price. It is to find the lowest sale price that still matches your target after Etsy's standard fees.

If the suggested price feels too high for the niche, you have a few options:

• Use a cheaper blank
• Raise shipping instead of item price
• Lower the target margin
• Sell a higher-value product
• Skip the listing because the math is weak

That last option is underrated. Not every design deserves to be listed.

Step 4: Check the Candidate Price in the Profit Calculator

Once you have a candidate price, run it through the Etsy Profit Calculator.

Example candidate:

• Item sale price: $24.99
• Shipping charged: $4.99
• Item production cost: $10.00
• Actual shipping cost: $5.00
• Discount: 0%
• Auto-renew listing fee: on
• Offsite Ads: none

This gives you the clearer breakdown: revenue, production cost, Etsy fees, net profit, margin, and ROI.

This second check makes the tradeoffs visible. A price can look fine in your head and still look thin once every fee line is visible.

Step 5: Test the Offsite Ads Scenario

For new shops, Offsite Ads can be optional. If Etsy brings the buyer through an offsite ad, the fee can be 15% for shops under the threshold. For shops at or above the threshold, the rate is lower.

That does not mean every sale gets this fee. It means you should know whether a sale still works if it happens.

Run the same listing with Offsite Ads set to 15%.

If the profit turns negative, you have a decision to make:

• Turn Offsite Ads off if your shop is eligible
• Raise the listing price
• Reduce costs
• Accept that ad-attributed orders will be weaker

For thin-margin PoD products, this is often the difference between a sale that feels good and a sale that quietly loses money.

Step 6: Check Discount Room Before Running a Sale

Discounts are easy to add on Etsy, but they come out of your side of the equation.

If a t-shirt is priced at $24.99, a 20% sale drops the item price to $19.99. Shipping may still be charged, but the margin can shrink hard.

Before running a sale, test the discount in the calculator:

• Discount: 10%
• Discount: 15%
• Discount: 20%

If a 20% discount wipes out your profit, do not build your whole shop around constant sales. Price the product honestly or choose a product with more room.

Step 7: Save the Numbers You Actually Use

Once the price looks workable, write down the setup:

• Product type
• Supplier and blank
• Production cost
• Shipping cost
• Listing price
• Shipping charged
• Expected margin
• Offsite Ads result

You do not need a complicated spreadsheet. A simple note is enough. The goal is to avoid redoing the same thinking every time you upload a similar shirt.

A Useful Rule of Thumb

If a t-shirt only works when nothing changes, it is probably too fragile.

A listing should survive at least a few normal problems: a small discount, a shipping-cost change, or an Offsite Ads order. If the margin disappears immediately, the price is probably too low or the product is not worth the slot.

The safest habit is boring: run the numbers before you publish.