How to Price Crochet Items to Sell: A Simple Formula With a Worked Example
To price a crochet item, add your materials to your time (hours times a fair hourly rate), add a markup on top, then divide by one minus your platform fee. That final number is your retail price. Wholesale is a separate check, because shops usually pay about half of retail.
Most new sellers skip straight to "what do similar items cost?" and end up pricing their work at the cost of the yarn. Working from your real costs first means you always know whether a sale actually pays you.
Step 1: Add up your materials
Count everything that goes into one finished piece, not the whole supply you bought:
- Yarn actually used (weigh the leftover ball, or use our guide to estimating yarn for amigurumi)
- Safety eyes, stuffing, thread for embroidery
- Packaging, tags or a business card
If you are still working out what you need to buy, how much it costs to start crocheting covers the basics.
Step 2: Pay yourself for your time
Time the piece from the first stitch to the last weave-in, including stuffing and sewing on parts. Then multiply by an hourly rate. Many makers start at their local minimum wage, and a lower rate usually means the work is underpriced. If the final price feels too high for amigurumi, the honest fix is to get faster with practice, not to charge less.
Step 3: Add a markup
Materials plus your time is only the cost to make the piece. A markup is the profit on top of your wage. It covers things that never show up on a receipt: replacing worn hooks, photos, booth fees, the pieces that do not sell, and growth. A markup of 20 to 30 percent is a common starting point, and you can adjust it as you learn what your buyers will pay.
Step 4: Cover the platform or card fee
Etsy, other marketplaces and card readers all take a cut. Add together the listing, transaction and payment percentages into one total. Then divide your price by one minus that fee. Dividing, rather than just adding the percentage, makes sure the fee comes out of the buyer's price and not out of your hourly rate.
Worked example: a small amigurumi animal
These numbers are made up to show the method. Swap in your own.
- Materials: $6.00 (yarn, eyes, stuffing)
- Time: 3 hours at $15 per hour = $45.00
- Cost to make: $6.00 + $45.00 = $51.00
- Markup of 20 percent: $51.00 + $10.20 = $61.20
- Platform and card fees of 10 percent combined: $61.20 divided by 0.90 = $68.00
That is the retail price at which you keep your wage and your markup after fees.
Step 5: Check the wholesale price
If a shop wants to stock your work, they will usually pay about half of the shelf price. In our example, half of $68.00 is $34.00, which is less than the $51.00 it costs to make. So wholesale only works if you can make the piece faster, use cheaper materials, or raise the retail price. Check this before you say yes to a shop, not after.
Common pricing mistakes
- Forgetting your time. Selling at material cost means working for free.
- Comparing only with mass-produced toys. Handmade pieces compete on care and uniqueness, not on factory prices.
- Guessing your hours. Time one piece properly with a timer at least once.
- Ignoring fees. A 10 percent fee on a $68 item is almost $7.
Do the whole thing in a minute
You do not need a spreadsheet. Our free crochet pricing calculator takes your materials, time, hourly rate, markup and fee, then gives you the selling price, what you keep and a wholesale price. No sign-up needed, so try it on a piece you have already made.
Not ready to sell yet and still building skills? Browse our beginner amigurumi kits, or read the FAQ for how our lessons work.