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Selling Price Calculator

Enter your cost price and the percentage you want to earn — choose whether that percentage is a margin (share of selling price) or a markup (share of cost). The calculator returns the price to quote and the tax-inclusive price customers see once your sales tax, VAT or GST rate is added.

Handy for shelf pricing, marketplace listings and quotations where the buyer expects one inclusive number.

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Display only. Amounts are not converted.

$
%
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The sales tax, VAT or GST rate you add to the price, if any. Leave blank for no tax.

Selling price

Cost priceProfit per unit
Cost price
$1,000.00
Profit per unit
$333.33
Selling price
$1,333.33
Margin
25%
Markup
33.33%
Margin basis: selling price = cost ÷ (1 − margin ÷ 100).

Charging $1,333.33 on a $1,000.00 cost gives you $333.33 profit per unit at your target margin. Add a tax rate above if you charge sales tax, VAT or GST.

Smart next steps

Formula

Margin basis: Selling price = Cost ÷ (1 − Margin% ÷ 100)

Markup basis: Selling price = Cost × (1 + Markup% ÷ 100)

Margins of 100% or more are impossible — that would mean zero cost.

Worked example

Cost $1,000 with a 25% target margin gives $1,333.33 before tax. With 20% VAT added, the customer pays $1,600.00. Enter your own tax rate, or leave it blank if you quote prices without tax.

How to use this calculator

  1. 1Enter your cost price including freight and handling.
  2. 2Enter the margin or markup percentage you want to earn.
  3. 3Read the selling price to quote, and the customer price once your sales tax, VAT or GST rate is added.

When businesses use it

  • Pricing a new product for the first time from a target margin.
  • Repricing a catalogue after a supplier price revision.
  • Quoting a service where you want a fixed percentage over your delivery cost.

Pricing from cost to shelf price

Setting a price is a chain of decisions, and each link has to be handled in order: landed cost first, then the profit you need, then any commission or discount you expect to give away, and tax last. Reversing that order is why so many businesses end up with a price that looks profitable on a spreadsheet and disappoints in the bank statement.

Working backwards from a target margin is more reliable than adding a habitual percentage. If you need 30% of the selling price to remain as profit, divide the cost by 0.70 rather than adding 30% to cost, which would only give you a 23% margin. The gap between those two methods is one of the most common pricing leaks in trading businesses.

Round the final figure with intent. Prices ending in 9 or 99 are common in many markets, but rounding down from a calculated $13.52 to $12.99 costs real margin. Round up to $13.99 where the market allows, or absorb the difference deliberately rather than by habit.

Build these into the price

  • Marketplace commission and payment gateway fees on online sales.
  • Expected returns and replacement cost for the category.
  • Free delivery, if you offer it above a cart value.
  • The seasonal discount you already know you will give.

Learn the maths behind it

  • How to calculate profit margin

    Margin % = (Selling price − Cost) ÷ Selling price × 100. Always measured against revenue, not cost.

  • Markup vs margin

    Markup is calculated on cost; margin on the selling price. The same rupee profit gives two different percentages.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Price on margin when you report profitability as a share of revenue; use markup when you buy and resell at a standard mark-on.

No. Sales tax, VAT and GST are collected on behalf of the tax authority, so profit is calculated on the selling price before tax.

Price for the margin you need after discount. Use the discount calculator to check the net realisation.

Set the price before tax, then add sales tax, VAT or GST. Where consumer prices must be shown including tax (common with VAT and GST), you display the inclusive figure, but your margin is still worked out on the price before tax.

Add commission, shipping and expected returns to landed cost first, then apply your target margin, then tax.

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