Photography & events
Photography Markup Calculator
Works markup on products and prints, where margin is the figure that matters.
Result
Markup is measured against your cost, margin against the price you charge. A 50% markup is a 33.3% margin, not a 50% one. Pricing off the wrong one is the most common way a job that looked profitable turns out not to have been.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
Markup applied to the cost of a print, album or product, with the resulting margin shown alongside. Markup is measured against cost and margin against price, so a markup applied in the belief it yields the same margin falls short on every item sold.
What moves the number
- Lab or supplier cost per item.
- Target margin against the markup applied.
- Time spent on design, ordering and fulfilment.
- Packaging and shipping.
Where this one goes wrong
The lab cost is only part of the cost, because album design, proofing, ordering, quality checking and fulfilment all consume the photographer's hours and a markup covering only the lab invoice leaves that time unpaid. Price the time. A 50% markup is also a 33.3% margin, which is the arithmetic that quietly removes a third of the intended margin from an entire product list when the two are treated as the same thing.
Before you quote
- Include design and fulfilment time in the cost base.
- Check the resulting margin, not just the markup applied.
- Add packaging and shipping to the cost.
Questions
About this calculator
Is a 50% markup a 50% margin?
No, it is a 33.3% margin, because markup is measured against cost and margin against price. Treating them as interchangeable removes a third of the intended margin from an entire product list without anyone noticing.
What belongs in the cost of a print or album?
The lab invoice plus the time spent on design, proofing, ordering, quality checking and fulfilment, plus packaging and shipping. A markup covering only the lab cost leaves all that time unpaid, which is why album sales can feel unrewarding.
How do I price to a target margin?
Divide cost by one minus the margin. For a 60% margin, cost divided by 0.4. Adding 60% to cost yields about 37.5% instead, and that gap applies to every item priced the same way.
The formula
price = cost x (1 + markup%); margin = profit / price
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How to use this calculator
- Your cost ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $530.
- Markup on cost (%). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 45%.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to price, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Your cost | $530 |
| Markup on cost | 45% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Price main result | $768.50 |
| Gross profit | $238.50 |
| Margin that gives you | 31.0% |
A 45% markup on $530 prices the job at $768.50, which is 31.0% margin, not 45%.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only your cost, this is what happens to price. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Your cost ($) | Price |
|---|---|
| $265 | $384.25 |
| $398 | $577.10 |
| $530 example above | $768.50 |
| $795 | $1,153 |
| $1,060 | $1,537 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Your cost ($)
- A money amount, starting at $530.
- Markup on cost (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 500, starting at 45%.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Price | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Gross profit | A money figure. |
| Margin that gives you | A percentage. |
Estimating is the easy part
The jobs you never hear about cost more than the ones you mis-measure. BDEVY builds the marketing, systems and automation that bring them in.